Dear Editor:
After reading a recent letter to the editor submitted by Senator Brian P. Stack I was astonished by a sitting Senator’s lack of knowledge on immigration, gun control, and federal government agencies. Rather than request more federal government intervention into our everyday life how about we simply enforce the laws on the books? Get arrested with an illegal gun, go to jail. Enter the country illegally and get caught, get deported. Senator Stack seems more concerned with the rights of illegals then the rights and safety of law abiding citizens. Where Senator Stack states the federal government is too busy deporting “illegal aliens,” instead of spending money and saving lives I guess the senator was unaware that 55 percent of those deported last year were deported for criminal activity.
Where Senator Stack states,” Let’s take the guns that are purchased in Florida off of the streets in Union City, Jersey City, Newark and New York City. I guess Senator Stack was unaware that Florida is not the main source of illegal guns being imported into other states. Why he felt the need to single out Florida is beyond me. Senator Stack States: “To offer an example of the federal government’s misguided priorities, it is worth noting that the budget for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – the federal agency responsible for keeping illegal guns off of our streets – was just over $1.1 billion, while the budget of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is approximately $5.8 billion.”
Senator Stack failed to mention that ICE is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government with over 20,000 employees. Whereas AFT employs 5,000 employees. Additionally, whereas local and state law enforcement has the authority to enforce gun laws, assisting AFT in removing illegal guns from our streets, local law enforcement has no power to enforce immigration laws and the sole responsibility of keeping our borders safe falls on ICE. Hence, that would explain why ICE justifiably has a larger budget.
If I had more time I would also explain to Senator Stack how the 2nd and 10th Amendment to the Constitution play a role gun control, but I will save that for another day. As a Professor of Criminal Justice if Senator Stack’s letter to the Editor was a class assignment I would have sent it back to him with an F.
Sincerely,
Joe Blaettler
Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice
Mendham, NJ