There are other ways to fight back

I feel I must respond to Mr. Ronald Navara's letter of March 1.

I too refuse to be a victim. But there are ways to fight back without a gun.

Over 30 years ago I was a recent NIU graduate and I was mugged. I was grabbed from behind, thrown against parked cars and found myself staring at four guys and a Saturday night special.

As in so many cases, even if I had had a gun in my pocket, I could not have used it -- It was already too late and reaching for a gun may just have been the worst thing I could have done.

When you're in this situation, the issue is not who is the fastest draw. The issue is surviving any way you can.

I was left alone with the gunman while the others went to get my car and I lunged for the gun.

We struggled and in the interim, one of the others returned to stab me in the neck from behind. The gun went off, the bullet passing through my chin and into the hand of my assailant.

Suddenly I noticed a police car on the corner and yelled for help. Two of my attackers were arrested and I was out of the hospital that night.

Was I lucky? You bet.

My heart also goes out to the families of those brave young people who senselessly lost their lives at Northern.

But do you honestly think if any of those students had a gun on them, the situation would have been different?

Even if someone with a gun would have had the time or the inclination to stay in that lecture hall and shoot back, would it have been in time to save any of those wonderful young people? Probably not.

Or would even more people have been killed by being caught in the crossfire?

I refuse to tell my children that in our civilized country, they are not safe without a concealed weapon.

Yes, protect yourself and your loved ones any way you can. I did and will continue to.

But not by making the world worse than it already is.

The answer is less guns, not more and certainly not concealed ones.

The time for wearing a gun on your hip has long passed. To paraphrase from "Inherit the Wind," let's not teach our young people to march boldly into time backward.

Robert Kerman Arlington Heights