Gun bill

Responses to "Shoot down gun bill," @issue, May 1

People are already carrying

Our governor considers the recent gun bill and the AJC urges him not to sign it into law. No one seems to comment on a reasonable speculation on reality. Many gun owners, licensed or not, who otherwise are law-abiding citizens, carry their weapons in parks, to work and elsewhere. I don't recall the AJC pouncing on any illegal-carry incidents related to this speculation. It's because it either doesn't happen or because those who carry demonstrate why expanded carry laws do not present a significant problem.

You can say this "illegal" firearm concealment doesn't happen, or you can speculate that many reasonable people would rather have to explain why they had a gun when they needed it than need it and not have it.

BERWICK P. BABIN

Ellenwood

Consider on merit, not on emotions

The editorial attempts to link gun ownership and violent crime statistics in New York, the United Kingdom and Australia with an argument for Gov. Sonny Perdue to veto House Bill 89. However, the editorial fails to note that passing HB 89 will have no impact on the number of guns owned in Georgia or the number of individuals holding Georgia firearms licenses.

Similarly, the editorial fails to note that a veto of the bill will not affect ownership or sale of a single gun by a law-abiding Georgia citizen. In other words, the editorial plays to the emotions surrounding the gun issue rather than to the merits of and facts surrounding HB 89.

The editorial board (and the governor) should consider HB 89 on its merits and not on the emotion surrounding it.

MATTHEW H. PODOWITZ

Atlanta

Fewer guns don't mean less crime

According to the AJC editorial board, fewer guns equal less crime. Therefore, one would think that in Washington, D.C., where handguns are outlawed, the crime rate would be among the lowest in the nation. Oh, wait —- Washington, D.C., has one of the highest crime rates in the nation.

CLINT BARBOUR

Peachtree City

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U.S. needs to increase oil production

I am amused by the rantings of presidential candidates regarding oil pricing and "excess profits." I wonder how they are going to go to England and Holland to collect excess profits taxes from BP and Royal Dutch Shell.

None of the candidates has come up with a plan to increase oil production in the USA. All we are getting is a negative spin on what is wrong; never do they put the spin on what is right. Only George W. Bush hit the nail on the head last week calling for increased oil production. If Brazil and China can go into the wilderness and the sea to find oil, we could also.

FRED HAHN

Roswell

Miley Cyrus photos a sad commentary

Those inappropriate photos of Miley Cyrus are, indeed, a sad commentary. I am pretty much beyond shock these days, but not disappointment. She is young but not so naive as to be entirely blameless. It is the adults, however, who should know better.

Shame on Vanity Fair for its avaricious exploitation of a young girl. Shame on photographer Annie Leibovitz for self-serving complicity and rationalization of the photos as "art". Shame on Miley's dad for his tacit approval. And shame, too, on those who have no problem with this and too many similar unseemly depictions of today's societal values.

DAN COWLES

Cumming

Universal default hikes have to go

Your recent editorial about the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights almost got it right ("Credit the cardholder," @issue, April 23).

It correctly pointed out that consumers need relief from ever-shrinking repayment periods and more than a stingy two-weeks' notice when card companies arbitrarily hike interest rates. But contrary to the editorial, the legislation does not ban the widely derided practice of universal default —- hiking the interest rate for account holders in perfect standing but whose credit scores may have declined or who may have paid late on a completely unrelated account.

Three of the nation's biggest card issuers have disavowed this unfair practice, which suggests it's used less to manage risk and more to illegitimately inflate profits. Universal default rate hikes, imposed on old and new balances, can cause monthly payments to skyrocket, making default more, not less, likely.

Card companies have more legitimate, less abusive and equally effective risk-management tools. It's time for this one to end.

JEANNINE KENNEY

Kenney is a senior policy analyst at Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports, in Washington, D.C.