LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — Sept. 26

Published 10:45 am Friday, September 26, 2008

To the Editor:

To: Dwain Walden

Subject: Your recent rant against concealed carry.

Dwain, the weak and snarky sarcasm you needed to use to try to make your point against ordinary people carrying concealed weapons should have told you that your argument was too feeble to stand by itself. Shooting the chef because you didn’t like the meal? You had to reach pretty low for that one.

Talk to Suzanna Gratia-Hupp, who helplessly watched her parents killed by a mass murderer in the Luby’s Cafeteria massacre. I have. She is convinced that she could have dropped him easily…had she been allowed under local law to carry her gun at the time.

Talk to Joel Myrick, who single-handedly stopped the Pearl, Mississippi high school massacre when he took the perpetrator at gunpoint with his Colt .45 pistol. I have.

Talk to John Lovell, the 71-year-old Marine veteran who was among the victims being herded into the back room, execution style, by two armed robbers in South Florida last year. I have. Lovell drew his licensed ParaOrdnance .45 pistol and shot them both down, preventing incalculable tragedy with no harm to the innocent bystanders he saved from murder.

In the hands of responsible private citizens, firearms carried concealed have a long history of saving lives.

Respectfully submitted,

Massad Ayoob

Live Oak



To the Editor:

Your article on pistol packing Peter. Because I believe in the right to protect innocent lives from death or bodily harm does not make me a fire power romantic. Not feeling a need to carry is your right and your descion. But your misinformed statements go beyond opinion. You might be surprised to know how many times you have been sitting next to or standing with a law abiding citizen who is carring concealed. And the only way you would ever know is if at that church or restaurant or other function, people came under fire from some deranged person. I myself would like to know under some unforeseen circumstance that a cc person was also sitting in the church next to me when things went bad. Some of the parents and kids who had a loved one killed in church, school and restaurant incidents would have liked a cc person who could have taken out the perp. About handguns being accurate and safe. A handgun is a very accurate weapon.

You can do some research and find out just how accurate they can be. I do beleive people should know their gun and how to safely use it. Their are alot of good courses for people to take just for this reason. Anyone who has had any firearms training knows you should not have one shot wildly fired let alone three. Not saying there has not been this type of accident. With this I would just like to say I am happy to go places with my friends knowing we are carrying concealed, and if anything goes wrong we can help each other. But it does let me know I would not want to be around you or your friends in the woods or in public with a firearm. This just means with proper education and gun handling you could see this logic. Thanks Your response welcomed

Terri Strayer

Live Oak