The tragedy in Colorado has once more brought forth the deep divide that afflicts our country. The letter from Gladys Graham illustrates how we as a nation are so divided. Our Founding Fathers did not write the Second Amendment so I could go hunting or shoot at beer bottles. It was written for one reason and one reason only: so the individual citizen could protect himself from crime and tyranny.

Without the Second, our nation would be a land of tyranny and oppression, controlled by criminal gangs and a corrupt political system. There would be no freedom here. One has only to look at the crime in New York City and Washington, the devastation in Detroit and the murders in Chicago, all areas with strict gun control, to see what our entire country would be like without the Second. Colorado was a very real tragedy, and there will be others in the future. There will always be nuts out there. But on one weekend in Chicago, more people were killed by criminal gangs. Guns are very hard to get in Chicago by honest citizens.

Over the last decade, literally millions of firearms have been sold, many of them semiautomatic rifles and pistols. More states have passed concealed carry laws and castle doctrines. At the same time, violent crime nationwide has gone down, not up. This is a simple fact, not my opinion. Yet folks like Ms. Graham would gladly destroy my rights, and the rights of all National Rifle Association members for her version of security. No doubt she is a firm Obama fan.

Some time within the year I hope George Zimmerman will be found not guilty in Florida. If he is, I expect large-scale rioting and looting, particularly in major cities, exclusively by our minority communities. Where it will not occur is the well-armed white suburbs who possess large numbers of M-16s, M-14s and AK47s, and know how to use them. The cops will be nowhere to be found.

So for all you folks who want to be slaves, or who want to impose your socialist Marxist views on the rest of us, remember there are millions of men and women just like me who will never let that happen, even if it means another Revolution or Civil War. Have a nice day.

Bart S. Bonner

Watertown

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