Law-abiding gun-toters protect society

January 2, 2013 12:10 am

We will and should mourn the tragic murder of children in Connecticut and be introspective with regard to how we can prevent such happenings in the future. I applaud Gov. McDonnell for reviewing what we can do to keep school campuses safe in Virginia. But we need to keep this tragedy in perspective.

Since Cain took a rock and killed his brother, people have murdered out of jealously, fear, anger, greed, and vengeance.

The first school shootings in America happened in 1764, when 10 children and a teacher were murdered near Greencastle, Pa. The most-deadly school killings happened in 1927, when 38 children and six adults were killed with 58 more injured in Bath Township, Mich.

Since that 1927 school mass murder, there have been 125 school shootings in America. And we hear almost nothing of the 446 children killed this year in Chicago, a city with the strongest gun laws in the nation. Chicago loses more children yearly to gun violence than the U.S. loses soldiers in Iraq.

Cowards will continue to strike soft targets. The sure way to increase murder rates and violence is to take firearms away from law-abiding citizens.

Firearms sales in Virginia have increased 73 percent since 2006. Crimes involving handguns have decreased by more than 27 percent in that same period.

I supported an assault weapons ban until I saw Korean store owners on their roofs during the Los Angeles riots when social structures broke down and law enforcement was unavailable.

The Second Amendment isn't about hunting or sport shooting. It's about a citizenry that can protect itself.

How many of those children would be in their beds tonight if a teacher or that brave principal had been allowed a concealed-carry firearm?

Stan Huie

Spotsylvania