Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

Thank you for your coverage in Sunday’s newspaper of my Congressional campaign. I’d like to clarify a couple of points.

The Jan. 8, 2011 mass shooting was in Tucson. That mikeb303000.blogspot.com (actually mikeb302000.blogspot.com) site is not mine - it is by a gentleman who supports what I propose. My campaign website is http://www.mjbarkl.com/run.htm . Examples of the hate mail I’ve received are on my campaign website near the bottom under the heading “hate mail”. On slavery, the 85 years was to ban it, with another 100 years before the Civil Rights Act added teeth to the Civil War Amendments. The point is that fundamental change to the Constitution takes decades or centuries, which is appropriate.

The legislation for the graduated tax on gun possession would follow the Amendment and, unless the Amendment was adopted first, would probably be unconstitutional as is most gun control under the Supreme Court’s Heller & McDonald decisions. The Amendment itself would repeal the right, but leave possession a privilege, like driving a car. The tax on the privilege would stop things like the Waco standoff and the Oklahoma City bombing, both of which were about guns, and make shootings like Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Tucson logistically more difficult for the shooters.

Mike Barkley
Manteca
June 11, 2011