To the editor: Truth versus bias
8/10/2018
This Oct. 2, 2012 file photo shows U.S. Border Patrol agents patrolling the border fence near Naco, Ariz.
A recent Readers’ Forum letter brought to mind one of my beliefs regarding citizen responsibility (Aug. 5, “Don’t be fooled by certain bias”). A certain catch phrase often used by the President was repeated in the letter to demonstrate the “liberal bias” that purportedly exists in the “liberal media” regarding illegal immigration. The oft-used phrase repeated by the writer, “foreigners...pouring across our southern border,” is a great example of how, when the president states something often enough, it becomes truth to his supporters.
The actual (not alternative) truth, according to the United States Border Patrol website, is that in the nine fiscal years from 2000 to 2008, undocumented immigrant apprehension from Mexico averaged 1,024,000 annually, as compared to 273,000 annually during the nine fiscal years from 2009 to 2017. That seems to indicate a reduction in the number of illegal attempts to cross our southern border.
As a concerned citizen, I believe it is incumbent upon every one of us to be informed citizens and to check the actual truth of what our leaders tell us and not just believe what we want to believe.
MICHAEL RICE
South Toledo
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3-D guns are not practical
Did The Blade talk to anyone with knowledge of 3-D printers regarding the hysteria about the possibility of people manufacturing plastic guns with them (Aug. 6, “A plastic gun battle”)? Apparently not.
I’m pretty sure you can’t walk into some box store with a couple hundred dollars and walk out with a 3-D printer. If you could, how does it operate? I doubt that one in every thousand people would know how to use one. It’s not the same as copying a fake drivers license.
People without a high degree of machining skill, the ability to read blueprints, or the knowledge of cutting tools are at a dead end. They probably couldn’t even find the proper switch. It would take a lot of schooling to learn how to do that.
And, as The Blade opined, it’s easier to go to the local stolen goods man and buy one off the street. I doubt you’ll be seeing a 3-D gun on the streets any time soon.
KENT SNYDER
West Toledo