MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

Opinion

Discussion

February 19, 2013

THE PEOPLE SPEAK – Editorial about guns ignorant and biased

— The Phoenix editorial of Feb. 9, regarding banning teachers and staff having firearms in schools espouses a viewpoint born of bias and ignorance, not facts. And unfortunately just such a policy likely cost many children their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Facts tell us that had there been armed civilians in the building that the death total would have been far fewer. Statistics show that the average death toll in similar shootings when stopped by law enforcement is 14. When stopped by an armed civilian the death toll is 2.3, and the incident never becomes a mass shooting, and therefore not newsworthy! An example is the mall shooting in Oregon shortly after Sandy Hook where a shooter with a rifle, after shooting two victims, was confronted by a concealed carrier with a handgun. The shooter then shot himself without the handgun carrier ever firing a shot. As the saying goes, “When seconds count the police are only minutes away.”

Incidents such as Sandy Hook make a celebrity of the deranged and encourage such irrational behavior. Stories such as my example above do not serve the gun control advocates (including the mainstream media) agenda and are widely suppressed. Nothing being proposed by the gun control lobby would have made a difference at Sandy Hook. A gun in the hands of a teacher could have.

Your editorial statement “It interjects firearms into situations where children are present.” is frankly outrageous. At Sandy Hook Elementary firearms were injected into the situation by a deranged shooter and no one could defend themselves or the children. That may make sense to you, but not to me.

ANDY ANDERSON

Muskogee

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