Speech can be as dangerous as a gun

In response to Mr. Constable’s article, “Guns Fail,” no matter what anyone can do to prevent something like the shooting in Tucson from happening it is going to happen. Think of Dallas and Kennedy. What if he had used a car, driven into the group of people? Barriers, that’s what we’ll do. Then he could have parked a vehicle like they did in Oklahoma.

Maybe you missed the interview of the young man who helped restrain the shooter. He was a conceal-carry holder, and he was armed and responding to the shots. The shooter was already on the ground when he got there, otherwise maybe things might have been different.

In response to Mr. Cohen’s article, “Insane Handgun Laws,” there are millions of legal gun owners in this country not doing this kind of thing. But it only takes a thing like this to cause people like you and Constable, our secretary of state, the sheriff of that county and others to spew rhetoric like this.

This is another case of someone like this falling through the cracks and not being taken care of. Virginia Tech comes to mind. One of this shooter’s teachers had an order of protection against him. I think if that had been followed through with he could not have legally purchased the firearm. The school police force had been called numerous times but did not notify the local police department. The list goes on.

Maybe it is because there is no money for programs to help people like this. But we have billions of dollars going in foreign aid, programs and health care for illegal immigrants and their anchor babies, waste in government, huge benefit packages for our elected officials.

The pen is mightier than the sword. But is it mightier than the handgun? Both in the wrong hands is a terrible weapon.

David Snowwhite

Elgin