Guns can kill, but guns also can protect

The background facts surrounding accused Tucson assassin Jared Loughner (apolitical, occult-dabbling, pothead) were quite different from the knee-jerk impression enhanced by segments of the mainstream media.

Precious innocent lives were lost that day in Tucson by use of a gun. But precious lives are also saved daily by the use or threat of a gun. Gun control advocates have no more claim to moral outrage over the Tucson murders than any other law-abiding American, gun owner or not.

Gun-control advocates refuse to admit that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens deter violent crime. The evidence is there.

We live in an increasingly sick and dangerous culture. The point is not that gun laws have made our culture sick, but that gun laws will not make the sick well. They will only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and the ones they love.

Michael Mallie

Kalona