It seems very difficult for people in the East, or those who have spent their lives in or near big cities, to grasp why gun ownership is so valued by those who have them and why it is so important to keep our rights. I guess John Denver said it best: "Thank God I'm a country boy." If I were not, if I had never been in the Boy Scouts, which gave merit badges in marksmanship, or if I had not grown up within walking distance of a woods, a lake or the city dump, I guess I would be narrow-minded and ask.

But I was lucky. My dad taught me to shoot before he taught me to play baseball. I learned how to shoot clay pigeons with a .22 Smooth Bore that mimicked a shotgun with "bird shot." Gosh, it was great.

Why is it that every time a crazy person acts out with a gun, the government wants to penalize all of us who had nothing to do with it ? This is a nation born by gunfire, won by gunfire and still free by gunfire.

We should never take for granted that those who would control our lives in the guise of keeping us safe have only our welfare in mind. "Those who would give up freedom for security may soon find that they have neither." -- Benjamin Franklin.

Never forget that no one can really protect you from life. Recently someone in St Louis attacked a school bus with rocks and injured the children.

Rocks. Life. Deal with it.

Joseph M. Reichert

Belleville