Taxpayer-subsidized concealed carry permits a disaster waiting to happen

Ottawa County’s Board of Commissioners is considering paying all the costs of acquiring a concealed pistol license (CPL) for county employees.

Administrator Gibbs estimates the policy will cost taxpayers about $2,000 annually based on the assumption that county employees will take up CPLs at the same rate (8%) as the county population overall. This is an erroneous assumption. People will do more of an activity the lower its price. More than 8% of county employees will likely want CPLs if the price falls to $0. Furthermore, CPL fees are likely to rise in the future. Mr. Gibb’s cost estimate is too low.

Gibbs claims scientific evidence shows that more CPLs lead to less crime, but he provides no evidence to back this claim up. He cites no studies and the information packet distributed with the agenda contains no copies of any scientific studies.

As a retired professor, I know how to search scientific literature. I found a peer-reviewed study showing no relationship between concealed-carry laws and the number of school shooting victims. Another reported that assaults by firearms rose in states that relaxed their concealed carry laws. A review of high-quality studies on concealed carry laws reports that “shall carry” laws are associated with more homicides. I didn’t find any peer-reviewed studies showing that more CPLs lower crime.

Gibbs also justifies the proposal by appealing to the importance of self-defense. A review of guns and crime studies reports that guns are much more frequently used in accidental and criminal shootings, and suicide than in self-defense.

Paying for county employees’ CPLs will do nothing to increase safety for county citizens — it’s all cost and no benefit for taxpayers. This is a waste of taxpayer money by the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners.

Pat Smith

Holland

Huizenga couldn’t bring himself to vote Santos out

I have just read that Rep. Huizenga voted moments ago “nay” on expelling George Santos from Congress. The list of charges against George Santos is long and some of the charges are enough to curl your hair. As a veteran, I am very offended that Santos stole money that had been raised to buy a service dog for a wounded veteran. Where is Bill Huizenga’s sense of conscience? Does our representative have any red lines on right and wrong? What does this say about his support of veterans?

His record is becoming more of a concern the longer I have been following his voting pattern. Huizenga seems to find no merit in supporting social programs but throws all of his activity and support behind programs that promote business only. His record is very clear on this.

I am calling on Rep. Huizenga to broaden his perspective. Please support a broader base of programs that are more reflective of the faith we both share and are held by a large segment of the population in West Michigan.

Ken Kuipers

Park Township

The gathering storm

Have we as a country actually gone bonkers? How in the world does a person who is a proven misogynist, a suspected criminal and treasonous person with four indictments and 91 charges against him run for president of the U.S. lead in the polls?

If you are a Christian like me with a modest education and love democracy but cannot stand what has happened to our county board of commissioners with the chaos, lack of critical thought, ineptitude and arrogance that has brought it to the brink of bankruptcy — you ain’t seen nothing yet.

If Donald Trump is elected president, Ottawa Impact will seem like the sniffles versus full-blown cancer with some amputations for good measure. Do not be desensitized to the words and actions of this would-be dictator.

In his own words, he has said, his presidency will have the Department of Justice go after left-leaning “scumbags and vermin,” shut down the press and anyone else who opposes him “on day one.” He will scrap the Constitution, and round up all immigrants and ship them out of the country. He will cut taxes for the wealthy and at the same time do away with the safety nets for the less fortunate among us.

And he is leading in the polls? Are you kidding me? This guy wants to be a dictator. A third-world strongman (a weak bully with a gun).

We all should be in the streets crying to high heaven for God’s mercy that this is just a bad dream. But alas, it is not. The grim reality is we are faced with the crisis of a lifetime (as if we haven’t had enough of those).

Our way of life, freedom to be who you want to be, and to live the way you want to live. Read what you want to read, watch what you want to watch. Speak your mind freely with love. Love who you want to love. Worship who or what you want to worship. All of that will be over.

Be afraid, my friends, be very, very afraid.

The storm is gathering.

Michael Mooney

Park Township

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Letter: Taxpayer-subsidized CPLs a disaster waiting to happen