Submitted by James Stepan, Apr 24, 2007 22:54

JSP

JAMES P. STEPAN

New York City

For the moment let us look at a conventional scenario be it Long Island, Westchester or the Upper East Side. Into this scene of affairs is a father with wife and family the children all of a vulnerable age. Suddenly, out of the blue, a threat appears on the scene and all in the family are at risk. The threat is armed and dangerous while the family is totally without firearm support. The Laws – in this case – make it illegal to possess a personal firearm unless trained and employed by law enforcement. Subsequently, the family household has no defense other than to lockdown hoping not to be intruded upon by the threat. The threat passes and the family –for the time being – remains safe.

I have been that father and it is true that I never thought of or felt inclined to go to an arms store and purchase a handgun. I, nevertheless, believe it to be totally unjust to be forcibly denied the right to be or become armed and self defensive. The reverberations from the monster that slaughtered on the campus of Virginia Tech University is that of an absolute anomaly completely estranged from the weights of everyday life. So, therefore, for society or the legislatures to suddenly take up or expound rash opinions on gun ownership is irresponsible. Americans are becoming subjects to string analysis for the sake of selling fast unabridged journalism; rather then, instead, we should be seeking logic and reason to better understand and manage effectively such circumstances.

For the record, I have had the wife and the vulnerable family and have never in my sixty years owned a handgun; but, that said, I deny government – local or national – from interfering with my right to purchase self defensive firearm protection to protect my family and/or assist law enforcement in providing community safety be it here in New York or anywhere else in the United States.

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