Confirmed as received by city council, and received a compliment by one of the members.
Subject: The Glendale Gun Show
To:
manoukiancouncil@gmail.com
Cc:
anajarian@ci.glendale.ca.us,
lfriedman@ci.glendale.ca.us,
dweaver@ci.glendale.ca.us,
fquintero@ci.glendale.ca.us,
rdepompa@ci.glendale.ca.us
Mister Manoukian and Mister De Pompa,
I arrived in Glendale, CA in 1982. While I was born in the US, I was raised abroad in a number of different countries, returning to the US never having spoken English.
I attended Roosevelt Junior High School, Glendale High School, and Glendale College. I ran cross country in virtually every school I attended in Glendale. Like you, I had thoughts of joining the Air Force after drilling with the Civil Air Patrol at the National Guard Armory, instead joining the US Marine Corps from the Glendale Recruiting Center. I left for Officer's Candidate School from Glendale to see the world again.
I am a veteran of Desert Shield / Desert Storm.
I am disappointed and surprised that a city as progressive and diversified as Glendale is considering the banning of gun sales at the Civic Auditorium.
Mr. Manoukian, one would think that given your background having served in the Air Force, you would understand the importance of citizens being able to purchase firearms for self defense and all lawful uses. Given your Armenian heritage, I'd like to call attention to the Armenian Genocide: In January of 1915, Armenians were disarmed by the Young Turks as you well know, resulting in hundreds and hundreds of thousands of deaths carried out under the guise of disarmament, public safety and crime prevention.
Having the City of Glendale, one of the last great bastions of conservatism and quality life in Los Angeles County, buy into any scheme to enable, perpetuate, or enhance any manner of gun control or restriction or their purchase is un-American and irresponsible. If the conclusion of the Nordyke Case in Northern California is any indication, it is also costly to the city and unwise to break the kind of contract that you maintain with the show's promoters simply to pander to gain political favor of constituents.
As Mister Najarian has stated previously, prohibiting gun sales is nothing more than a superficial fix.
If you truly want to reduce crime and enable gun control, you would be best served by working with Chief de Pompa to radically increase the number of citizens who go through a background check to obtain Concealed Carry permits, rather than providing a blanket denial and typically passing the buck on Conceal Carry Permits to the Sheriff of the County of Los Angeles..
In the case "Warren vs. District of Columbia", the appeals court held that the Police have no duty to provide police services to individuals, leaving the ladies to be raped, tortured, beaten and robbed for 14 hours. In "Castle Rock vs. Gonzales", even with a court restraining order in place, the Supreme Court held that the police have no obligation to provide police services - Ms Gonzales still ended up with 3 dead daughters even though she notified the Police that her ex husband intended harm. How then can citizens defend themselves? Chief de Pompa cannot have his officers be everywhere at all times to prevent crime, and even if they were, the Supreme Court has stated time and again that they're not obligated to defend them. What would Chief de Pompa say to his daughters Lainey, Alyssa or Dena if an intruder was to try to break into their home to wish them harm? Don't buy a gun (in Glendale we banned their sale in the City), call the cops and wait for them to get there?
Why continue to restrict a citizen's ability to defend themselves either by refusing to license a citizen to carry a firearm for self protection or worse, by preventing them even from purchasing firearms at the Gun Show? One need only look at the Sandy Hook incident, or the Aurora Colorado shootings to readily see that "Gun Free Zones" such as schools are effectively "victim rich zones" where criminals are free to commit mass murder unopposed given the type of legislation that governments frequently indulge in. If they work, why not turn the City Hall, Police Headquarters, the Courts, and other locations into "Gun Free" zones? If legislation is, in fact, that effective, that should work, no? Why not remove metal detectors from the city buildings and council chambers? You don't need Police Officers with guns to protect you, do you? Neither do the judges in their chambers, right?
Why do legislators continue to infringe upon a citizen's ability to defend themselves, all while enjoying police protection?
No good deed goes unpunished. We always begin these conversations by talking about "reasonable measures" to prevent crime and protect the children, and "reasonable" as they sound, the result is always to restrict law abiding citizens from owning or carrying firearms, or criminalizing otherwise legal behavior on the part of gun owners.
Criminals simply don't care.
You can't purchase a gun in the State of California, and specifically in Glendale, without running an instant background check on every buyer and having them wait ten days to get their firearm. There is NO GUN SHOW LOOPHOLE in Glendale. What would banning Gun Sales accomplish?
How may crimes have been committed during the Gun Show in Glendale resulting in firearms being discharged? Can you name one? three?
How many votes does it garner you? Are you of the belief that somehow the majority of your voters will think you're doing a good thing? My opinion is that restricting sales in Glendale is socially reckless.
I will say this again: as a descendant of an Armenian family, Mister Manoukian, you shame the memories of all those who died at the hands of criminals during the genocide under the auspices of "Safety" and "Gun Control" by suggesting bad policy and regulations limiting access to guns by citizens.. Please consider focusing your efforts on new city regulations that are actually positive for the citizens of Glendale, and not items that further marginalize their safety.
Sincerely,
Mister Globetrotter