"Ask the Rabbi" by R. Mermelstein
Comments from Webmaster: Please refer to http://www.gunownersalliance.com/Rabbi_0118.htm
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Sirs:
Following are excerpts from an announcement made by your firm. My comments are interleaved.
PAX is a non-profit, anti-violence organization which strives to reach youth all over the country
by making a difference and attaining a society free of gun violence. No amount of new laws will
make our society safer. America now has 25,000 laws on the books at the state and federal levels,
many of questionable constitutionality, regulating every facet of firearms ownership by law abiding
citizens. Possession of a firearm on a school campus is already a felony in every state of the US.
Violence is a societal problem, not a gun problem. If 25,000 laws, many of which are never enforced,
cannot solve the problem of American violence then another 100,000 laws will not solve the problem.
Is this too difficult for your firm to understand?
Levi Strauss & Co. supports PAX's goal to bring all Americans together to support common
sense solutions to the gun violence epidemic. PAX does not seek to ban firearms. It only seeks
to end firearm violence through measures which the majority of Americans, including gun owners,
can support.
I am a law abiding owner of firearms. I am part of the majority of
American gun owners you refer to, and I cannot support any further
infringement on my rights.
If the freedom of speech, guaranteed by the First Amendment, were to be
slowly eroded as are the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment,
every movie theater, television production company, and purveyor of
lewd and violent films would be out looking for a job. Control,
instead, the noxious immorality churned out by the entertainment
industry. That is a worthy goal for your firm to seek if you must
engage in any sort of political activism.
Until you get out of the business of misplaced, emotional, and "feel
good" political activism I will not purchase your firm's products. I
will do everything possible to convince other law abiding American gun
owners to do likewise.
Rabbi R. Mermelstein
North Hollywood, CA
24 Dec 1999
Addendum, February 19:
Levi Strauss & Co. has its worldwide and LSA headquarters in San Francisco at Levi's Plaza.
Levi Strauss & Co.
1155 Battery Street
P.O. Box 7215
San Francisco, CA 94120-6914
telephone: 415-501-6000
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