Letter: Tragedy shouldn’t alter right to bear arms

Thursday, April 19, 2007 | 6:56 a.m.

Do-gooders have been awakened by the horrific act of a maniac at Virginia Tech. Consumed by emotions ranging from helplessness to fury, many are bellowing about making guns illegal, and placing blame on everyone from the National Rifle Association to guns themselves and to foreigners in general.

Normal human emotions all, in light of the feeling of helplessness in our ability to cleanse the world of any and all atrocities such as this. Bonnie Erbe's commentary in the April 18 Las Vegas Sun states, in part, "As long as weapons are widely available these massacres will continue unabated." Before being consumed by our own disgust, blaming the wrong perpetrator and attacking our constitutional rights over this, I submit that a reality check is in order.

Consider these facts: Guns do not kill people ; people do. For every gunman with a mind sick enough to commit a horrific, unthinkable act such as taking a human life, there are tens of millions of responsible people with hundreds of millions of guns that are not being used to kill someone but are held with respect to, and in accordance with, our constitutional right to bear arms for self - protection self - protection from people who are twisted enough to threaten our lives, or the lives of another.

This is not a time to jump to judgment. A good analogy: Cars kill hundreds of times more people than guns do. Should we make cars illegal? The answer is no. Because it is the drivers of the cars who hold the responsibility to operate them safely and responsibly. Such is also the case with guns. If guns were illegal, the only people with guns would be the criminals.

Frank Musaraca, Henderson