Letter: Placement of gun ad lacked judgment

On page 5A of the Dec. 14 paper, a story appeared about the Portland, Ore., mall shooting. There were pictures also of the two people who were killed by this cruel act.

However, what raises my concern is how could the paper allow an ad for the sale of an assault rifle posted next to this sad, tragic story.

This to me is in very poor taste, and the paper should be held accountable and to do a better job of posting these kinds of ads in the right layout. Clearly this ad should not have been on the same page nor adjacent to this story.

I don’t think that this was deliberately done, but still it was in poor taste and judgment. Look at this page and tell me what do you think? It was not the right thing to do considering the contents of this story.

Pat B. Fredericks

retired

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by Attila - 26/12/2012

@Whanow: go back and read the part of my post that pertains to an "impaired driver". I believe that includes those who drive drunk...just saying.

2) Comment by Springer98 - 26/12/2012

First of all, the Advocate does NOT advertise assault rifles & never has. The guns in question are NOT assault rifles. They are semi-automatic rifles. Please educate yourself as to what an assault rifle is. An M-16 is an assault rifle, because it is capable of automatic fire. Automatic fire is a gun firing multiple times, with the trigger depressed. An AR 15 type rifle is not capable of automatic firing, only semi-automatic gunfire. Semi-automatic means the trigger has to be depressed & released for each round that is fired.....

3) Comment by Whatnow - 24/12/2012

I guess cars drive themselves while drunk.

4) Comment by Attila - 24/12/2012

The only "accidents" pertaining to cars are those caused by mechanical failure, and a large percentage of those are due to the owner/operator's failure to property maintain the vehicle. All other accidents are caused by a negligent, inattentive, distracted, physically ill, impaired driver, or by someone who disregards safety and the rules of the road in their haste to get somewhere with complete disregard for the consequences of their actions. So, yest DMJ cars are a good analogy.

5) Comment by DMJ - 24/12/2012

Getting very tired of the cars vs. guns analogy. If someone isn't smart enough to know the difference already, it's probably pointless to explain it....but I'll try. You see....cars are for transportation; when someone dies in a car, it's an accident. Guns, on the other hand, are weapons, designed to kill. Anyone still confused? Got some more false analogies to easily debunk?

6) Comment by Hello Baton Rouge - 24/12/2012

Im glad someone finally had the courage to write about this. For years i've been seeing news about deadly car crashes and guess whats printed right there adjacent to the article? Yep. An ad for a freaking Toyota Corolla. How insensitive can this paper be! I demand change!

7) Comment by gary - 24/12/2012

Pat, u done gone and did it - get ready for the torches and pitchfork folks - dis is Loozina.