Archive Entry #24: March 9, 2000

In nearly thirty years and almost 500 “And from Bill...” columns, I have taken strong stands on divisive social, cultural, or political issues only on a very small number of issues. Capital punishment – which has already appeared in this archive – racial tensions – which is coming soon – and today’s issue, gun control.

If you side with the majority of Americans when it comes to gun control, you won’t agree with what I wrote in this entry, especially with what I wrote about handguns. Just so you know: My attitude hasn’t changed in the fourteen years since we published these words, but neither has my genuine respect for opinions and perspectives different from mine.

In the years since this column, we’ve experienced countless other shootings, some more “mass” than others. Among the more prominent ones: April 2007 - Virginia Tech University (33 dead), February 2008 - Northen Illinois campus in Dekalb, December 2012 (6 dead) - Sandy Hook Elementary School (28 dead). There have been and will be many, many others; whatever your point of view about guns, surely that fact saddens you.

COMING NEXT: From January 1987, a return to one of my favorite lampoon targets, television evangelists. Starring in this archive entry is one of the first “seed faith” preachers I ever encountered, before I even knew the phrase “seed faith.” So back then I didn’t call him a seed faither. I called him.....You’ll see. Find it HERE.