To the editor:

How to be on both sides of an issue. Send me a bill extending the assault weapons ban, and I will sign it. This is a safe thing to say as long as you know who controls the Congress and their obligations to certain organizations; you can be sure that you won’t have to worry about signing.

You might have someone from the NRA office at the White House (NRA’s 2000 election claim not mine) swing by the leadership in the Congress to let them know how the vote will go. This way you can flip on the ban with others doing the flopping. That’s the safe way of doing business for your friends. Of course a cynical person might call this cowardice. Not me; I call it what it is, good old political bait and switch.

Larry M. Brizendine,

Lawrence