There Should Not Be Stricter Gun Control Laws - Statement Of Harold W. Glassen, Representing The Michigan Rifle And Pistol Association, Before The Subcommittee On Crime, House Committee On The Judiciary, June 9, 1975

The problem of crime is criminals, not guns. Less than .2% of all firearms in the United States are used for illegal purposes…. The other 99.8% are used legally for hunting, target shooting, for protection. The crime problem is created by the small percentage of people who have discovered that our lenient legal system makes it easier for them to prey on innocent victims than to work a respectable job at a good salary.

To a criminal, a firearm is a tool of the trade. He would no more register or turn in his gun than a doctor would turn in his stethoscope. Obviously, a law or laws requiring registration and/or confiscation would only affect the law-abiding. Like the era of prohibition, organized crime would find ways to turn this into a wholesale nationwide money-making and crime-making venture.

… We feel that the citizen has a right to be protected from the criminal by invoking mandatory penalties for the commission of a crime with a firearm, speedy and decisive adjudication of criminal cases, and appropriate incarceration for recidivists.

… The handgun is to kill only. I want to give a rebuttal to this assertion…. There are five handgun events in the shooting portion of each of the famous Pan American and Olympic Games, plus a pistol-shooting competition as one part of the Modern Pentathlon event of those games.