When Harry Aslan was elected president of Lion's Club International, he was a leader that epitomized the standards of conduct on which the service club was founded and intended. His private life was not unlike the persona he projected when he was traveling or speaking. He was proud of his affiliation with the mission of Lions. He was proud of his American heritage. He was also proud of his Armenian roots. Harry Aslan's family came to America to escape the Armenian holocaust. He knew full well what tyranny of government and hatred of segments of society could be. His family had been devastated and slaughtered.

He vowed that never again would his family be put at risk of the affects of such hatred. He vigorously supported the use of gun shows for financing of the primary mission of his club being the distribution of eyeglasses to the poor. He viewed the service enterprise as a symbolic reminder that never again would his family or his heritage be threatened by a government supremacy that killed defenseless citizenry. Guns were not the problem. The absence of guns killed over a million of his ancestors.

Prior to walking through the local Lion's gun show Saturday morning, I had read that morning's Sun-News "Their View." The author, one of the stable of Sun-News progressives who have arrived here to spend their pension funds ridiculing socio-economic flunkies in their midst, is the fellow who seems to need to hide his identity behind sunglasses. He is the one with the affinity of presenting his education as an accord of eminence.

I had a copy of the article and intended to share portions of it with some of the yellow vested club attendants who administered the show. They were busy. The place was packed to the rafters. I was taken by the faces in the crowd and I endeavored to pick out of its ranks the "immature males of any age virtually all white, most are rural, and many live in southern, south-central, or western mountain states" the bewhiskered one had written so disparagingly about. It could have been the banker, the retired businessman, the surgeon, the policeman, or me for that matter.

Most club members had not seen the column because they had to get to the show early to help open. Their responses were various as I read excerpts. Interestingly, most observed objectively that they no longer read the green sage's stuff anyway because it was predictable and condescending. I was struck by that. I was also struck by the multiple responses admitting they no longer read the paper. They no longer took the paper. It had long ago lost any semblance of their view of issues.

My own opinion is similar. In fact, it altered my entire view of a still distasteful circumstance. I changed my intention of responding in kind to the angry old white man to a more fundamental assessment. There is little benefit in going toe to toe or mano a mano with a mouthpiece for a liberal news outlet failing a huge portion of its readership.

The Sun-News has control of what appears on its pages. The Gunboys article was purposely run on Saturday morning, Feb. 23, because the gun show was going to open. There is simply no question of what was orchestrated. There is no justification in the phrasing "their paranoia derives from their race and region." How dare you Sun-News for allowing that to be printed. This is overt antagonism that cannot be tolerated.

As I was entering one of the many display areas, I observed a friend who was engaged in a spirited discussion with another gentleman. They obviously knew each other as a lively back and forth was in progress. They were also shadowed by at least two security types. A closer look revealed that the security was present for none other than the first gentleman of New Mexico, Chuck Franco. He was one of the many Gunboys in attendance.

The greatest irony of the poison penned by the desiccated miscreant came to light. I actually unfolded and read from near the end of the column's venom where it related, "Gunboys fear the cultural and demographic changes which are marginalizing them because of their educational and socio-economic deficiencies." Which of these two are your referencing?

Sun-News, this community deserves more. This was offensive. It was inflammatory and a public apology is in order to the Lion's Club and it's thousands of gun show attendees.

You can start with the first gentleman.

John Bacon is a Doña Ana County resident. He declines to elevate his educational and professional background to substantiate any social elitism that seems to frequent this column.