Op Eds

OP ED Articles

Linked on this page are the articles and letters prepared and submitted to the news media and a series of letters prepared to respond to Maryland Politicians. Most of them have not been published, but the articles record ideas and work.

Maryland’s Automated Ballistic Fingerprinting IBIS System Wasn't Used to Convict a Murderer

On April 2, 2005 the Washington Post published the article “Ballistics Database Yields 1st Conviction, Oxon Hill Man Tied To Murder Weapon” asserting that Maryland’s ballistic fingerprinting database was successful in convicting a murderer. This reply analyzes the official transcripts of this murder trial where police testimony and a time line of evidence development contradicts that assertion.

Some Letters Showing the Diabolical Schemes of Gun Control Activists

With apologies to C. S. Lewis and, like him, I have no intentions to explain how these messages came into my hands. Readers are reminded that gun control proponents are liars and they even lie to each other.

· A Warning to Avoid Reason, 4/28/2007

· Use of Assertions, 5/6/2007

· Use of Speculations & Hypotheticals, 5/21/2007

If the Anti-Gun Activists Have a Good Argument to Make, Why Lie?

This series of briefs document proven deceptions produced by the gun control organization CeaseFireMD and their board members and Directors and representatives from other gun control organizations. These are not differences in opinions, but lies told by individuals and allowed to be told by organizations for whom they are speaking to accomplish a legislative agenda. And spokespersons for other gun control organizations (e.g., CeaseFirePA, the Violence Policy Center, the Brady Organization) are telling the same lies.

· HCI (Brady) lies about the number of murders in Maryland, 3/25/2000

· Lying About Assault Weapons Used to Kill Cops, 5/25/2007

Also a board member lies about his qualifications.

· Lying About the Gun Used to Kill FBI Agent Mike Miller, 9/27/04

Miller’s siblings claim two different guns were used, both guns were wrong and the wrong type.

General Articles

· Firearm Disability Appeal Process, Phil Lee, 9/1/2009
From the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007. Information only.

· Comparing International Crime Statistics, Phil Lee, 1/4/2009
Governments count crimes (even homicides) in sufficiently different ways that care is needed to make meaningful
comparisons. This articles links to some accounts of those differences.

· Regarding the Preamble of the Second Amendment, Phil Lee, 10/30/2008
This article offers legal justification for the notion that the preamble to the Second Amendment to the US
Constitution does not limit the freedom guaranteed there.

· You can lie with Time Magazine articles, Phil Lee, 8/11/2008
Certain TIME magazine articles can be linked in a way to create the wrong date for the article; the linking provides a
tool for deception.

· The National ACLU isn’t Neutral on Gun Control!, Phil Lee, 9/11/2008
The ACLU is actually against the Second Amendment protecting individual rights to keep and bear arms.

· Did the D.C. handgun ban improve public safety?, Philip F. Lee, 7/8/08
Both homicides and suicides are examined in D.C. for any effects from it's 1976 ban on handguns. The data shows
D.C. public safety was not improved compared to nearby Maryland and Virginia.

· Maryland’s Gun Laws Since 1966, Philip F. Lee, 4/9/06
Functionally accurate but sardonic descriptions of Maryland’s Gun Laws.

· Distortions by Anti-Gun Advocates on "Shall Issue", Philip F. Lee, 3/16/04 (brief prepared as testimony for the
2004 "shall-issue" policy bill HB859/SB137. Spoken script introduction to the testimony is on the first page.)

· Letter to the editor pointing out misstatements on the DC police Dept. shooting, Philip F. Lee, 9/27/04 (prepared
to respond to articles and letters by the siblings (Bryan Miller and Lisa Miller Delity) about the killing of their
brother FBI agent Mike Miller in which they misstate the firearm used in the shooting)

· Letter to the editor on Maryland's Proposed Ban on Semi-automatic Rifles, Philip F. Lee, 2/11/04 (prepared to
    respond to a Baltimore Sun Article quoting the Violence Policy Center "Officer Down" Report) and a second letter
    to respond to a Washington Post editorial calling for the ban on semi-automatic rifles (and admitting that the
    VPC "Officer Down" contained some misstatements).

· Analysis of the Johns Hopkins University Study Entitled Effects of Maryland’s Law Banning “Saturday Night Special”
     Handguns on Homicides, Philip F. Lee, Prepared 3/10/02 as testimony to the Maryland Legislature on SB223,
    Revised 8/30/03 & 4/24/06 and added at request of Col. Mark Wilson, US Army Ret. as an example analysis
    showing distortions published by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as gun control research.

· Handgun Involvement in Children's Deaths, Philip F. Lee, 12/7/01 (prepared to respond to a question from
a Maryland Legislator concerning a Violence Policy Center report on children killed with guns)

· Banning terror suspects from possessing guns – again the refrain, Philip F. Lee, 9/21/2007,
(Responds to several editorials calling for more dumb gun-control)

· Response to "Keeping Guns Away From Terrorists, Philip F. Lee, 10/28/01, submitted to Washington Post
(Responds to an editorial by former Deputy Attorney General, Eric Holder published on Sept. 25, 2001.)

· Terrorist attack -- Parametric Study of the Possible, Philip F. Lee, 10/2/01, submitted to Washington Times
(Discusses the effectiveness of proposed Air Marshal Program in defeating a terrorist attack like that of
Sept. 11, 2001.)

· Response to "Realistic solutions to gun violence", Philip F. Lee, 1/7/01, submitted to Boston Globe
(Debunks HCI President Michael Barnes argument for gun control that “rate decreases in control states
more than in free states”.)

· Commentary on 'Gun control focus narrows', Philip F. Lee, 1/1/01, submitted to Minneapolis Star Tribune
(Debunks conclusions of Senator Schumer used in article and based on ATF crime gun trace statistics.)

· Letter to Attorney General Curran, Philip F. Lee, 5/9/00, sent to draw attention to an error he made.
(Identifies some Supreme Court Decisions stating the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as an individual right.)

· ATF Time-to-Crime Bias Statistics, Philip F. Lee, 4/19/1999, prepared to show statistical bias produced
by ATF gun trace methodology which increases gun trafficking estimates.

Response to the Washington Post Editorial by Dr. Arthur Kellermann on the Supreme Court DC Gun Ban Decision

The Washington Post published an editorial by Dr. Kellermann attempting to scare people from exercising their rights to have firearms in the home. This reply refutes some of Dr. Kellermann's foolish assertions.

Response to a Washington Post Editorial on Banning Long Guns

The Washington Post published an editorial calling for the Maryland legislature to ban semiautomatic long guns and suggested that the lies told by the Violence Policy Center on this issue were not important. This reply uses the Post's logic to show their real position is for a ban on all guns and gives our reasons for not banning these guns.

Responses to an Article by Del. Richard Weldon

Del. Weldon published an article objecting to certain arguments offered by both sides of the gun control debate. At a minimum, his article leaves the impression that Del. Weldon does not support the right to keep and bear arms. Del. Weldon did respond to assert he would "vote against ANY attempt to restrict the rights of law abiding gun owners ...." The following articles were written as messages to Del. Weldon and certain Republican leaders to help their understanding of gun control issues and the rights of law abiding gun owners.

· Response to ‘Del. Weldon Says, "I can tell that Sarah Brady is a good woman"’, Ed Patrick
Prepared 10/16/03 as lead-off message to Del. Weldon. This message addresses history of our Constitution,
recent developments relating to the fight for the right to keep and bear arms, and some recent Brady activities.

· Second Response to ‘Del. Weldon Says, "I can tell that Sarah Brady is a good woman"’, Phil Lee
Prepared 10/16/03 with documentation on misbehavior of Sarah Brady, and a short history of the development
of professional police forces.

· Third Response to ‘Del. Weldon Says, "I can tell that Sarah Brady is a good woman"’, Phil Lee
Prepared 10/20/03 to identify the particular way Constitutionally protected rights are protected by courts.

· Fourth Response to ‘Del. Weldon Says, "I can tell that Sarah Brady is a good woman"’, Phil Lee
Prepared 10/20/03 to discuss more history of the right to keep and bear arms, the role of the militia, modern uses
of the militia and some of the political initiatives by voters showing they support that Constitutional Right.

· Fifth Response to ‘Del. Weldon Says, "I can tell that Sarah Brady is a good woman"’, Phil Lee
Prepared 10/26/03 to present practical reasons why gun control doesn't reduce crime and to show why bias and
deception by gun-control advocates make it difficult to understand gun control effects.

· Sixth Response to ‘Del. Weldon Says, "I can tell that Sarah Brady is a good woman"’, Phil Lee
Prepared 11/3/03 to discuss several studies that show gun control doesn't reduce violence and several more
that show gun control increases violence.

· Seventh Response to ‘Del. Weldon Says, "I can tell that Sarah Brady is a good woman"’, Phil Lee
Prepared 11/17/03 to discuss crime and how gun control is used by politicians to disguise the fact that they
are doing nothing about crime and how extremes of gun control is working in Britain and Canada.

Updated by Phil Lee on 10/5/10. Contact maryland_alert# at Yahoo dot com (remove the #;sorry for being obscure, but web mail address scavenge programs make this practice necessary).