From: Rob Ramage
To: Rep. McKell, M.,
Subject: Re: Gun Control Analogy
Date: 2014-10-03T21:56:47Z
Body:
Kay,

I appreciate your response and actually giving my letter some thought. My basic premise is that the citizens of Utah would not tolerate their beloved guns being treated the same way that alcohol is treated in this state. I stand by my contentions that all the liquor rules and regulations being controlled by teetotalers would be the equivalent of all gun control rules and regulations being controlled by anti-gun individuals that have never even touched a firearm. The people of Utah would not stand for that.

I urge all the legislators and members of the DABC to take a field trip to the border towns. Find the biggest warehouse liquor store in Evanston, Grand Junction, Mesquite, and Wendover. Look at the percentage of license plates in the parking lot that are from Utah. That will give you an idea of how the Utah system is not curtailing consumption, but is driving that precious tax revenue to our neighbor states. This is not a hypothetical situation, I have personally seen the Utah plates grossly outnumber the native states.This is the free market working as designed. 

To me the way the state is handling the sale of alcohol is akin to group of Jewish or Muslims owning a Honey Baked Ham franchise. Their belief systems really wants the business to fail. I believe it is time to start working toward turning this over to private enterprise where it belongs.

Sincerely,

Rob Ramage

On Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 9:33 AM, Kay Christofferson <kchristofferson@le.utah.gov> wrote:
Rob,

The main difference in your analogy is that owning guns is a Constitutional right for the protection of our selves, our families and our property.

Also, owning and using guns don't contribute as a major cause of divorces, family break-ups and abuse.  They don't factor heavily in vehicle accidents that steal the lives of many on our highways.  They aren't the motivating and mind-numbing catalists that cause much of the crime in our neighborhoods.  The question that must be asked, is, if alcohol has any societal benefits that outweigh the damage done by it's use?  

Regards,

Kay


From: Rob Ramage <robbiedogma@gmail.com>
Date: Monday, September 22, 2014 5:51 PM
To: Ronda Menlove <rmenlove@le.utah.gov>, David Lifferth <dlifferth@le.utah.gov>, Jack Draxler <jdraxler@le.utah.gov>, Edward Redd <eredd@le.utah.gov>, Curt Webb <CURTWEBB@le.utah.gov>, Jacob Anderegg <janderegg@le.utah.gov>, Justin Fawson <justinfawson@le.utah.gov>, Gage Froerer <gfroerer@le.utah.gov>, Jeremy Peterson <jeremyapeterson@le.utah.gov>, Dixon Pitcher <dpitcher@le.utah.gov>, Brad Dee <bdee@le.utah.gov>, Richard Greenwood <rgreenwood@le.utah.gov>, Paul Ray <pray@le.utah.gov>, Curtis Oda <coda@le.utah.gov>, Brad Wilson <bradwilson@le.utah.gov>, Steve Handy <stevehandy@le.utah.gov>, Stewart Barlow <sbarlow@le.utah.gov>, Roger Barrus <ROGERBARRUS@le.utah.gov>, Jim Nielson <jimnielson@le.utah.gov>, Becky Edwards <beckyedwards@le.utah.gov>, Doug Sagers <dougsagers@le.utah.gov>, Susan Duckworth <sduckworth@le.utah.gov>, Jennifer Seelig <JSEELIG@le.utah.gov>, Rebecca Chavez-Houck <rchouck@le.utah.gov>, Joel Briscoe <jbriscoe@le.utah.gov>, Angela Romero <angelaromero@le.utah.gov>, Mike Kennedy <mikekennedy@le.utah.gov>, Brian King <BRIANSKING@le.utah.gov>, Lee Perry <leeperry@le.utah.gov>, Janice Fisher <janicefisher@le.utah.gov>, Larry Wiley <lwiley@le.utah.gov>, LaVar Christensen <lavarchristensen@le.utah.gov>, Craig Hall <chall@le.utah.gov>, Johnny Anderson <janderson34@le.utah.gov>, Mark Wheatley <MARKWHEATLEY@le.utah.gov>, Patrice Arent <parent@le.utah.gov>, Carol Moss <csmoss@le.utah.gov>, Eric Hutchings <ehutchings@le.utah.gov>, Jim Dunnigan <jdunnigan@le.utah.gov>, Lynn Hemingway <lhemingway@le.utah.gov>, Daniel Mccay <dmccay@le.utah.gov>, Jim Bird <jbird@le.utah.gov>, Earl Tanner <earltanner@le.utah.gov>, Tim Cosgrove <tcosgrove@le.utah.gov>, Steve Eliason <seliason@le.utah.gov>, Marie Poulson <MARIEPOULSON@le.utah.gov>, Ken Ivory <kivory@le.utah.gov>, Keven Stratton <kstratton@le.utah.gov>, Richard Cunningham <rcunningham@le.utah.gov>, Robert Spendlove <rspendlove@le.utah.gov>, Greg Hughes <greghughes@le.utah.gov>, John Knotwell <jknotwell@le.utah.gov>, Melvin Brown <MELBROWN@le.utah.gov>, Kraig Powell <kraigpowell@le.utah.gov>, John Mathis <jmathis@le.utah.gov>, DTS <kchristofferson@le.utah.gov>, Brian Greene <bgreene@le.utah.gov>, Jon Cox <jcox@le.utah.gov>, Val Peterson <vpeterson@le.utah.gov>, Dana Layton <dlayton@le.utah.gov>, Keith Grover <keithgrover@le.utah.gov>, Jon Stanard <jstanard@le.utah.gov>, Dean Sanpei <dsanpei@le.utah.gov>, Becky Lockhart <blockhart@le.utah.gov>, Francis Gibson <FGIBSON@le.utah.gov>, Michael Mckell <mmckell@le.utah.gov>, Marc Roberts <mroberts@le.utah.gov>, Merrill Nelson <mnelson@le.utah.gov>, Jerry Anderson <jerryanderson@le.utah.gov>, Kay Mciff <kaymciff@le.utah.gov>, Brad Last <blast@le.utah.gov>, John Westwood <jwestwood@le.utah.gov>, "mnoel@kanab.net" <mnoel@kanab.net>, Lowry Snow <vlsnow@le.utah.gov>, Don Ipson <dipson@le.utah.gov>
Subject: Gun Control Analogy

Imagine if the only party able to sell guns or ammo in the state, was the state. Sure pellet guns and paint ball guns could be sold at sporting goods stores, however actually firearms could only be purchased at state stores. The state stores would have a limited selection, they would be off the beaten path, their parking lots would be relatively small, their operating hours would be very short and their prices would be high. If you were to purchase both a firearm and ammo together, they would have to place them together in a bag in the back of the store and not assemble them in front of you. If you decided to go to a shooting range, you would first have to order food before you could shoot.


The board creating all the rules, regulations, restrictions and laws for guns would be controlled by individuals that have never owned a gun in their life nor had any intention of ever owning a gun. Yes all the authority for guns would be from anti-gun individuals. After all who knows better about gun safety than someone who has never handled a firearm?  Can you imagine how a large part of the gun sales and that revenue would be driven to neighboring states? The parking lots of the warehouse gun stores in these other states would be filled with cars with Utah license plates. Can you imagine how the free market capitalists would demand that the government get out of the way and let private enterprise sell firearms because the state government was doing so poorly and half wanting the business venture to fail? Imagine the citizens upset because the state was not treating gun owners like adults. Can you imagine how the governor and state legislature would hold special sessions to repeal these antagonistic gun laws? 


As crazy as this screwball scenario that I have just concocted seems, can someone now please explain how this is any different than the way the state of Utah handles its liquor laws?


Rob Ramage 

Farmington