Dear Editor,

A disarmed people are the food of tyrants. The gun is civilization. Human beings have two ways to deal with one another - reason and force. If you want me to do anything for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument or force. Every human interaction falls into one of these two categories. Reason or force, that's it, nothing else.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people will always interact through persuasion. Force has no place in our social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it sounds to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 90 lb. woman on the same footing with a 200 lb.+ mugger, a retiree on equal footing with hopped-up gang-bangers. My pistol, if needed, can whittle eight numbers in 8 seconds.

Some people want to remove all guns from society. God forbid. When God fearing Christian people loose their firearms, they are held helpless. The gun is civilization for civil peoples. An armed mugger can only make a successful living in a society where the state had granted him a force monopoly. Watch who you elect down to the state shack. Understand. If the attacker and the defender are both armed, the field is level. When I carry a gun (legally), I don't do it for a fight, but because, I'm looking to be left alone.

Carrying a gun legally removes force from the equation and that is why carrying a gun is a civilized act. When guns are outlawed, only outlaws and police will have guns and only a fool trusts the police with his life because police are never there when you need them most.

I am a 70 year old, with limited physical abilities. The 12-gauge semi-automatic loaded with 000 magnum makes me equal with any thug who wants to force his way into my home.

W. Emmerson Wright writes, "No law ever written has stopped any robber, rapist, or killer like cold blue steel in the hands of their last intended victim."

- Bill Monroe, Maynardville, TN




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