aTTERS

LETTERS from page 5

LISA
JENKS

that Jews were defenseless during the
Nazi regime does not apply here.
Marj Jackson Levin

president,
Michiga n Citizens
for Handgun Control Group
Birmingham

Weapons Controversy
Deserves A Look

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2001

6

WE'VE MOVED - ORCHARD MALL (OUTSIDE ENTRANCE)
248-418-2310

The previous concealed weapons per-
mit law was subject to the personal
whimsy and prejudice of political
appointees. There was no defined
approval criteria that was applied from
one Michigan county, or from one
applicant, to the next. There was a
constant suspicion of favoritism and
discrimination throughout the
approval process.
There are real risks to conducting
ordinary business and living in a society
where everyone does not have a con-
science. The concealed weapons law is
an honest admission by government
that a policeman is not available on
every street corner, home or business.
Nor is a policeman required to act as a
personal shield to protect a citizen from
harm. In the final moment, we are
responsible for our own survival.
The new law ("Petition Power,"
March 16, page 10) codifies a stan-
dard that must be met and acted upon
before an individual can obtain a con-
cealed weapons permit. It proposes to
be an improvement over the past sys-
tem, whose goal was not safety related
but whose hallmarks were abject dis-
crimination and favoritism.
Obtaining a concealed weapons
permit carries great responsibility.
"Petition Power" suggests that with
the new law, all applicants will auto-
matically be guaranteed a concealed
weapons permit without hesitation or
reflection.
Although it has been nine years
since I attended my first "concealed
weapons" safety class, I can still see
the stunned faces of everyone there.
Walking into that class, no one had
honestly contemplated the reality or
responsibility for using lethal force.
No one walks out of a concealed
weapons safety class thinking that
hero status awaits on the open streets.
The personal and financial liabilities
for being involved in a gun-related
incident are vividly exposed.
The new law is not perfect. It pri-
marily corrects the arbitrary approval
process of the old law. Personally, I
would like to see more required train-

ing and an annual skills qualification
requirement.
It is admirable that the Jewish News
would work to support ideas that
would stem violence or gun accidents
in our community. Still, those that
think tossing aside those elements that
make personal self-protection possible
seems extremely misguided.
Irwin Danto

West Bloomfield

Impressions Differ,
Minds Were Changed

It is often said that people attending the
very same event can draw totally differ-
ing impressions of what actually took
place. Case in point, in covering a very
timely and riveting debate between "two
polar opposites" on the future of the
"peace process" in Israel, your reporter
begins by saying, "No minds were
changed, but the discussion was lively."
("Differing Views, March 2, page 20).
Maybe your reporter left the meeting
too early to hear the questions and com-
ments of an audience that seemed to be
overwhelmingly supportive of the views
of Jerome S. Kaufman, former president
of the Zionist Organization of Ameri-
ca/Michigan Region. Not a single criti-
cism was raised against his historical
review of previous partitions of the land
and past concessions culminating in the
complete failure of then Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak and his latest
peace plan. Nor did anyone argue
against Kaufman's conclusions that the
Barak plan, plus the return of all Arab
refugees, was not a solution for Israel's
future survival.
On the other hand, sharp criticism
was raised against the opposing
"humanistic" viewpoint expressed by
Rudy Simons, arguing that the Barak
plan failed and resulted in a bloody
intifada because Israel was an oppressor,
and the Barak plan did not give back
enough to meet Arab-justified demands.
As a member of the audience in the
traditionally "humanistic" and
"peacenik" atmosphere of Rabbi Sher-
win Wine's Birmingham Temple, I was
amazed at the response of the congrega-
tion to the two opponent speakers. I do
not share your reporter's conclusion that
"no minds were changed." There has
been a rude awakening to reality in both
the Israeli and American Jewish com-
munity, which forcibly and radically
changed many minds.
Sabina Heller

Southfield