The two republicans competing to run against democrat Congressman Leonard Boswell in the fall met in a radio debate this morning. Phil Ferren of Ottumwa criticized this weekend’s so-called “Million Mom March” against gun violence. Ferren says the event was orchestrated by a woman who has done a lot of legal work for the Clinton’s. He says it’s a lot of demagoguery.Ferren says the feds should worry about enforcing the nation’s current gun laws. Ferren says law-abiding gun owners are getting a bad rap as being deranged. He says that’s not true as many people have guns in their home for self-protection.Jay Marcus of Fairfield says it’s time to put the gun violence issue in perspective. He says with 80-million guns, there were 42 accidental deaths of children from guns in 1988. He says that’s tragic, but at the same time there were 800 deaths from drowning and two-thousand from motor vehicle accidents.Marcus says licensing gun owners like car drivers is an interesting concept, but he’s not ready to endorse it. He says states like Vermont that don’t register guns, still have low crime rates.Marcus ran in a couple of elections as a Natural Law Party candidate, then switched to the Republican party in 1998, losing the G-O-P primary to Ferren. Ferren was beaten by Boswell in the fall. This morning’s debate was broadcast on the Internet by K-M-G-O radio in Centerville.
