As a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party of Lane County, I enjoyed Michael Moore's "A liberal pledge" (Register-Guard, Nov. 22). He had some good tongue-in-cheek thoughts on how disheartened conservatives can rest assured that the new government will not harm them. However, I take exception to Moore's flippant comments regarding our Second Amendment right:

"We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, take up another sport. In the meantime, we will arm the deer to make it a fairer fight."

I agree with Moore quite often, but he sometimes makes us look silly to outsiders. He apparently doesn't realize that you are a superstar marksman hunting god or a stalking savant if you can kill a bird or a deer with a handgun.

Without tons of practice, I can hardly hit a target 20 feet away with a handgun. However, I could shoot my 30.06 once a year and hit the same target 100 percent of the time.

Other than alienating virtually every rural Democrat, there is no practical reason to ban handguns. We cannot take handguns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens when criminals would still buy them illegally or steal them. ...