http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/opinions/voices040201a.html

This is in response to the commentary ?We cannot risk concealed handgun law?
(March 26) by Beverly Miller. Mrs. Miller is pressing for more ?sensible gun
legislation? all in the name of safety for America?s children.

Robert Pounds

Please do not get me wrong, I am in favor of safety (and firearms education)
for all children. However, I feel that Mrs. Miller (and Million Mom
Marchers) better look at the actual facts about guns and concealed carry
instead of trying to predict what an armed citizen may or may not do and try
to pass it off as fact.

For example, according to Department of Justice statistics, guns save an
average of 557 lives a day. FBI statistics reveal that the violent crime
rate in right-to-carry states drops. On average, these states have 26
percent less total violent crime, 20 percent less homicide, 39 percent less
robbery and 22 percent less aggravated assault.

Another fact that Mrs. Miller should be aware of is the leading causes of
accidental death in children are motor vehicle accidents, drowning, burns,
suffocation and falls, in that order. One more thing, no permittee has ever
killed a police officer; in fact, some police officers? lives have been
saved by citizens who were lawfully armed.

Here?s a scenario to ponder. What about the mother who has to walk across a
dark parking lot late at night? Or a woman who is being stalked or has left
an abusive relationship?

Sure, a woman can get an ex-parte (restraining order), but the police can?t
be everywhere all the time. I know firsthand because I am a deputy sheriff.
I have seen women who are literally afraid to go anywhere because they feel
unsafe.

More often than not, most of these women have children too. What happened to
people?s rights of wanting to protect themselves (and/or their children) and
why is there a cry for more gun legislation to prohibit honest, hard-working
people from obtaining a firearm?

How about making more stringent laws that restrict violent adults/juveniles
and enforcing the gun laws already in existence? A person cannot prevent
stupidity, nor can one predict when it will happen, but more gun laws are
not the answer.

I urge people to get the facts and to look further than the propaganda
distributed by Rosie O?Donnell and the evening news. You might be
enlightened and realized what a right it is to live in a country that grants
law-abiding citizens the Second Amendment.

Robert Pounds, Battlefield, is a deputy with the Greene County Sheriff?s
Department