Vol. 71, No. 2, February
1998
Letters
The Wisconsin Lawyer welcomes letters to the editor on any law-related
subject, whether that subject has been a topic of a Wisconsin Lawyer
article. The magazine publishes as many letters in each issue as space permits.
Please limit letters to 500 words; letters may need to be edited for length
and clarity.
Letters responding to previously published letters and to others' views
should address the issues and not be a personal attack on others. Letters
endorsing political candidates cannot be accepted.
Please mail letters to "Letters to the Editor," Wisconsin
Lawyer, P.O. Box 7158, Madison, WI 53707-7158, fax them to (608) 257-5502,
or email them.
Bar should not advocate gun control, or other political stance
You may add my name to the list of opponents of the State Bar's embrace
of a political position; advocacy of gun control (August
Wisconsin Lawyer). With all due respect to Past President Saichek,
this is unquestionably a political issue, as it directly impacts constitutionally
protected freedoms. In addition, even if this were not clearly a political
issue, it has nothing whatsoever to do with advancement of the legal profession
or provision of legal services to those in need.
Mr. Saichek also indicates his belief that "Proliferation of cheap
and unduly dangerous handguns has definitely affected our courts and the
investment of judicial resources." Ignoring for the moment the glaring
failure to define the terms "cheap" and "unduly dangerous"
(as if any firearm is not dangerous), Mr. Saichek misses the point. That
being, every single act the State Bar Commission on Violence and the Justice
System is worried about is already against existing law. Rather than
a hysterical and elitist rush to judgment, couched in terms of protecting
our courts, the Commission would do the public a greater service by emphasizing
protection for individual liberties while focusing on the root causes of
violence in our society.
Again, guns, even the "cheap and unduly dangerous handguns,"
are not the problem. Every time a firearm has caused an injury or fatality
there has been a human hand involved. Rather than employ sophistic arguments
to finesse the membership of the Bar and the public at large into giving
up their hard-won rights, the Commission could support existing efforts
to identify and ameliorate the root causes of unrest and violence in our
society. Regrettably, these efforts usually lack the glamour and appeal
of parroting Handgun Control Inc.'s party line.
If the State Bar is to retain and enhance its position as a beacon of
dispassionate reason in our modern legal climate, we must studiously avoid
taking political positions as an organization. All the members of the Commission,
indeed, all the members of the Bar, are free to vote for political candidates
and espouse their individual political beliefs as they so choose. However,
it is an affront to the individuality of each of the Bar's members and to
the dignity of the Bar itself to engage in a political assault, especially
where the freedoms to be affected are so dear as to be protected by the
Bill of Rights.
Gerald R. Fox
Black River Falls
I object to the State Bar's use of membership dues to fund "junk
findings" on the subject of gun control. The Commission on Violence
and the Justice System's recommendations regarding handguns are nothing
more than a slick back-door attempt to ban handguns. The Commission's recommendations
will be received with glee at the headquarters of Handgun Control Inc. I
am shocked, however, to learn that Wisconsin lawyers are willing to play
the same kind of shell game with the facts that we have come to expect from
the national media.
The Commission's recommendations on gun control will cause people to
be skeptical of other portions of the Commission's work. It also tends to
reinforce, if not confirm, the popular belief that the State Bar is run
by a handful of big-city lawyers who have no idea what is going on in the
rural parts of this state, and who don't care. Civil libertarians interested
in actively defending the Bill of Rights are urged to contact me at P.O.
Box B, Juneau, WI 53039; fax (920) 386-0251.
Joe Sciascia
Juneau
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