John Kerry: Voting against the National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act

Here is a letter I just received from John Kerry in a nearly 2-month delayed response to my letter urging him to support the National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act of 2012:

Thank you for writing me with regard to your views on gun control. I appreciate hearing from you on this issue.

While Americans should have the freedom to legally purchase and own firearms we must do more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and mentally ill individuals, and do a better job of halting illegal gun trafficking. Law enforcement has told us time and time again that stricter control of the purchase and use of handguns will lead to an increase in public safety.

For that reason I have supported and will continue to support legislative measures that keep us safe from gun violence while protecting the Second Amendment rights afforded to us in the Constitution. I have always supported closing the gun show loophole and am a cosponsor of the Gun Show Background Check Act. It is just common sense that anyone who wants to purchase a firearm be subject to a background check – regardless of where they purchase it.

I supported the Assault Weapons Ban and have worked to restore many of its provisions since it expired in 2004. These are dangerous weapons that have no place in civilian life. I am a co-sponsored the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act which would restore the ban on sales of high capacity ammunition magazines.

Additionally, I have been a longtime supporter of the COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) Program, which provides valuable resources to local law enforcement to put more cops on the street. The Government Accountability Office found that for every dollar spent through the COPS program per resident, crime fell by almost 30 incidents per 100,000 residents. In 1994 I fought to fund this program to add police officers to our nation's streets, increase funding to enhance technology in our police agencies and add resources to hire additional community prosecutors to ensure that criminals are placed behind bars.

You can be certain that I will continue to work to promote better policies concerning gun control that keep our citizens safe and keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me on this or any other issue of concern to you.

Does anyone have evidence that stricter gun legislation correlates with an increase in public safety? I thought this correlation wasn't proven to be true.

What does COPS have to do with the right to carry?

Ugh.