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Wright County MonitorThursday, March 8, 1S51JHiipht CEuimtg MonitorPublished every Thursday at 207 N. Main St, Clarion, Wright County, Iowa, and entered at the Post Office in Clarion asSecond Class Matter. _IjyPEMEyEK BEVERIDGE, PublishersOfficial Newspaper of Wright County and the City of Clarion“ SUBSCRIPTION BATESOne .Tear, Wright and adjoining counties..33.00One. Year, all other addresses....................34.00_ memberIowa Press Association National Editorial Association Audit Bureau of CirculationsPHONE 50CENTRAL AVENUE NEEDS NEW PAVINOCentral avenue east and west in the city of Clarion carries the traffic of Iowa No. 3. That traffic is getting heavier year by year. More and more trucks are using that route across the state.But Central avenue's paving, built 23 years ago with local taxpayers’ mone5’, wasn’t built to stand that kind of traffic. It was just a residential street. Under the beating it is getting it is breaking down every spring and eostlv repairs have been made each year.In the matter of repairs, the city of Clarion has done its part along with the highway commission.This spring the street is worse than. ever. Gaping holes have appeared and are now in the process of being filled.It is time that Clarion be put on the list for new paving along Central avenue at state expense. Let’s ask the highway commission to schedule the project for the near future.LIMITING THE USE OF FIREARMSIn a recent issue of the Humboldt Republican, Editor Lawrence Jaqua comments at some length regarding the alleged fallacies and inconsistencies of a certain bill which Clark McNeal of Belmond, Wright county'- representative in the state legislature, introduced. Briefly, the idea was to have every citizen carrying a rifle or shotgun be required to take out a license.As McNeal reported himself, he was quickly deluged with protests from hunters and farmers, andas a result he ultimately withdrew the bill.When Editor Jaqua objected to the bill as such that was his inalienable right. But when he tried to link the purpose of McNeaTs bill to police state methods of Hitler, Mussolini, Peron and Stalin, he ^vas reading something into the bill which wasn't there at all. least of all McNeaVs purpose.With frequent occurrences of men going berserk with a rifle or shotgun, the Monitor predicts it will not be many years before every person owning a riflo or shotgun will have to prove his physical and mental capacity for handling one. That would not be taking away anybody’s right to carry a rifle or shotgun who is capable of handling it.Why does the state of Iowa require motorists to have drivers’ licenses? For the sole purpose of weeding out the unfit who are unable to handle a car. If requiring the owner of a rifle or shotgun to have a license is abridging American freedom, why isn't the same true of the requirement for a driver’s license? Sorry, Editor Jaqua—you missed the boat on that one.But let’s go a bit farther. Shouldn't every police officer and marshal have tbe right to carry a revolver? That w'ould seem the most fundamental of principles. And yet every mother’s son of them has to get a gun permit from the sheriff of his county. Is that abridging American freedom? That regulation has been on the books for lo these many years.Then Editor Jaqua proceeds to refer to the Bill of Rights guaranteeing the American people the right to bear arms. That is Article H of the Bill of Rights and refers only to state militias. It doesn’t guarantee the private citizen the unqualified right to bear arms—not by a long shot.But let's quote that Article II in full and see what it says: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the rights of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”Come to think of it there are a lot of limitations on the use of firearms: A person cannot carry a loaded gun in a car; he can't shoot on the public highways; before tbe owner of a rifle or shotgun can go hunting, he has to have a hunting license.McNeal had no thought of abridging tbe liberties of hunters. But we are faced with the problem of weeding out the incompetents and preventing as far as possible such incidents as occurred at Greenfield recently.McNeal may have been much ahead of public opinion. But the fact remains Jaqqua's position is indefensible when firearms can be obtained by those incompetent to handle them.
Newspaper Details
Clarion Wright County Monitor
Clarion, Iowa, US
Thu, Mar 08, 1951
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
James T.
NA, NA 18 Dec 2024
Other Publications Near Clarion, Iowa
Standard Atlas of Wright County Iowa
Clarion Wright County Monitor
Goldfield Gazette
