A recent letter in the San Antonio Express-News burned me up a bit…not unusual when morons send in their misguided opinions. I’ve copied the letter here and afterwards my response:

Weakest gun argument

In his May 25 column (“Rights evolved, but didn’t disappear), J. Francis Gardner dredged up the weakest of all pro-gun arguments ? that citizens need to be armed against the possibility of the U.S. government becoming a tyranny.

Leave aside the claim’s inherent paranoia. Assume that the U.S. government, with its three branches, two political parties and dozens of competing political agendas, could somehow fuse into a monolithic dictatorship. What would Dr. Gardner and his gun buddies expect to accomplish against the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines?

Before Operation Desert Storm, Iraq had the fourth-largest and best-equipped army in the world, and U.S. armed forces destroyed it without working up a sweat. So how is the NRA going to stand against them?

If the idea is to make a gesture of defiance, it works better without the gun. Whom does the world remember and revere ? the idiots at Waco and Ruby Ridge or the unarmed dissidents at Tiananmen Square?

John Maxstadt,
Laredo

In his recent letter to the editor of this paper, a Mr. John Maxstadt of Laredo snorted at the possibility that a few patriotic citizens might someday resist an oppressive central government, calling it a weak arguement for gun ownership. His comments might lead one to believe that resistance is always wrong and “turning the other cheek” is always right. Fortunately, there are honorable people out there who think otherwise.

Years ago a small group of men here in Texas decided to resist what they considered a repressive government. They stood up to a well trained, professionally led, seasoned army. Initially they pled for help, yet resolved to stand to the last man in the face of tyranny. They were overrun in the end, butchered, their bodies were burned as opposed to being buried-yet few have scoffed at them for their sacrifice.

I wonder if Travis, Crockett and Bowie would have considered the concept of bearing arms in the defense of liberty a weak arguement? I also wonder how they’d feel knowing the principals that they died for are scoffed at by Mr. Maxstadt today?

David A. McKimmey
San Antonio, Texas