I was touched to read Casey Hoff's heartfelt appeal for the safety of Wisconsin cabbies in your Nov. 22 edition, using them as a platform to make the case that Wisconsin should allow concealed weapons to be carried in public. I can respect Mr. Hoff's opinion that he holds personally on the issue, but when I read his disingenuous nonsense I had to write in.
First off, the reason Wisconsin does not have concealed carry laws on the books is because solid majorities of Wisconsin residents oppose it.
Mr. Hoff tries to bait and switch majority support for the 2nd Amendment, which allows citizens the right to bear arms for the country's defense, and implies that it translates to majority support for people carrying guns around in the streets. He even goes so far as to imply Russ Feingold supports concealed carry because of his college thesis on the importance of the 2nd Amendment. Hilarious. The University of Wisconsin Survey Center in Madison polled 511 Wisconsin residents randomly and 69 percent said they oppose allowing people who can legally own handguns to carry concealed weapons in public.
Secondly, Mr. Hoff refers to FBI statistics that show "substantial reductions" in violent crime rates in states that allow concealed carry. However, Mr. Hoff leaves out the part about the same FBI statistics showing states with no concealed weapons carry laws or states that significantly restrict it did much better in comparative percentages reducing violent crime.
I was particularly humored by Mr. Hoff's blatant bashing of "lefty's lefties" that are oppressing his dreamt-up majority. I wonder if he would call Wisconsin's Law Enforcement agencies in the Justice Department leftists for consistently opposing concealed weapons legislation as a bad idea for public safety.
Mr. Hoff should just drop the pretense that he gives a damn about cabbies and have the candor to make his case without slandering elected officials and denying the reality that solid majorities of Wisconsin's residents do not support his view. I would hope the Badger Herald would have higher standards and not publish such bogus journalism. Mr. Hoff should hail a cabbie and go to a library and get his facts together before he makes a fool of himself in print.
Certainly not the first time and probably not the last.
Todd Schantz