I write in response to the letter state Sen. Brian Stack penned in support of national gun control. First and foremost, I write this letter with no disrespect intended. I understand the emotions and thinking behind gun control. I would hope Sen. Stack delves deeper into the issue, and think about the facts involved.

Sen. Stack points out that the ICE budget is five times that of ATF, and that ICE is wasting valuable government resources deporting “illegal aliens” who are not criminals, but good people working jobs Americans are not willing to do. I strongly agree with that statement and his other statements about the valuable contributions these workers make to our economy. We don’t need more ICE raids, or I-9 audits, we need bi-partisan immigration reform -- the type of bi-partisan reform then-Sen. Obama worked against in 2007 to gain support for his presidential campaign from the AFL-CIO.

What I don’t agree with is increasing funding for the ATF. It’s understandable that Sen. Stack, someone with an outstanding commitment to state and local government, is possibly uninformed about the recent activities of the ATF. I suggest he read up on Operation Fast and Furious, an Obama Administration/ATF initiative that handed over more than 2,000 guns to Mexican drug cartels. The deaths of more than 200 Mexican citizens have been linked to these guns, more than twice the number of police officers who died last year in America. The officials involved were not charged with any crimes, but instead were reassigned to other positions.

As reported by CBS News, the goal of this operation was to push for a greater desire for gun control, and it was successful. The L.A. Times reported last summer that the Obama Administration adopted a new regulation mandating the reporting of multiple sales of long guns to federal authorities. These, and other gun control regulations, have failed to stem violent gun crime.

There are more than 250 million guns in the United States and gun control will not reduce that number. If anything, gun control will only limit law-abiding citizens’ ability to defend themselves from armed criminals, who will always be armed thanks to the underground market. I understand why Sen. Stack would hope these regulations would work; I just hope he does not approve of Operation Fast and Furious.

Since 2006, the year Rep. Sires and Sen. Menendez were appointed to the House and Senate, respectively, a minimum of 50,000 Mexicans have died. Sen. Menendez and Rep. Albio Sires both voted to support this war when they voted YES for the Merida Initiative (U.S. funding for the drug war in Mexico). So much of Latin America, where many of the immigrants Sen. Stack cares about come from, is being turned into war zones from drug violence. More than 1,110 people were killed last year in Puerto Rico alone. If Sen. Stack cares about gun violence he should vote for a candidate ready to end the “War on Drugs,” and push for full marijuana legalization (not mere decriminalization).

MICHAEL J. SHURIN

Democratic Candidate for Congress

NJ’s new 8th Congressional District