Look beyond anti-gun propaganda

This is in response to the commentary “We cannot risk concealed handgun law” (March 26) by Beverly Miller. Mrs. Miller is pressing for more “sensible gun legislation” all in the name of safety for America’s children.

Robert Pounds

Please do not get me wrong, I am in favor of safety (and firearms education) for all children. However, I feel that Mrs. Miller (and Million Mom Marchers) better look at the actual facts about guns and concealed carry instead of trying to predict what an armed citizen may or may not do and try to pass it off as fact.

For example, according to Department of Justice statistics, guns save an average of 557 lives a day. FBI statistics reveal that the violent crime rate in right-to-carry states drops. On average, these states have 26 percent less total violent crime, 20 percent less homicide, 39 percent less robbery and 22 percent less aggravated assault.

Another fact that Mrs. Miller should be aware of is the leading causes of accidental death in children are motor vehicle accidents, drowning, burns, suffocation and falls, in that order. One more thing, no permittee has ever killed a police officer; in fact, some police officers’ lives have been saved by citizens who were lawfully armed.

Here’s a scenario to ponder. What about the mother who has to walk across a dark parking lot late at night? Or a woman who is being stalked or has left an abusive relationship?

Sure, a woman can get an ex-parte (restraining order), but the police can’t be everywhere all the time. I know firsthand because I am a deputy sheriff. I have seen women who are literally afraid to go anywhere because they feel unsafe.

More often than not, most of these women have children too. What happened to people’s rights of wanting to protect themselves (and/or their children) and why is there a cry for more gun legislation to prohibit honest, hard-working people from obtaining a firearm?

How about making more stringent laws that restrict violent adults/juveniles and enforcing the gun laws already in existence? A person cannot prevent stupidity, nor can one predict when it will happen, but more gun laws are not the answer.

I urge people to get the facts and to look further than the propaganda distributed by Rosie O’Donnell and the evening news. You might be enlightened and realized what a right it is to live in a country that grants law-abiding citizens the Second Amendment. [Ed. note by WMSA:  Actually, the Second Amendment is  acknowledgement of the G-d given right to self-defense and a prohibition on government to infringe, restrict, hinder or otherwise affect that right]

Robert Pounds, Battlefield, is a deputy with the Greene County Sheriff’s Department.