GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA

Letters/My View

Discussion

PLEASE NOTE CHANGES IN POLICY: Commenters are required to have a username with a valid and verified email address. Gloucestertimes.com reserves the right to ban the IP address of any commenter (person) found using multiple aliases under multiple e-mail addresses in a deceptive manner. Posts that do not meet site standards, which can be found here, will be removed.


If you are experiencing problems logging in or posting comments, please contact Disqus' help center by clicking here.
comments powered by Disqus
January 14, 2013

Letter: Guns and our defense vs. tyranny

Gloucester Daily Times

To the editor:

FBI statistics show that, every 12 seconds, a home is invaded.

There are 6,646 break-ins every day, more than 3.5 million burglaries per year; 38 percent of all assaults occur during a home invasion and 60 percent of all rapes occur during a home invasion. In Switzerland, all males are issued assault rifles for their militia service and are required to keep them at home, yet little crime exists there. If there is a Schuetzenfest in town, you will find rifles slung on hat racks in restaurants, and you will encounter men and women, old and young, walking, biking, and taking the tram with rifles over the shoulder, to and from the range. The Swiss Federal Police Office reports that, in 1997, there were 87 intentional homicides and 102 attempted homicides in the entire country. Some 91 of these 189 murders and attempts involved firearms.

In a word, Switzerland, which is awash in guns, but has substantially lower murder and robbery rates than England, where guns are banned. The only conclusion is that, in countries where gun ownership by legal citizens is banned, only the criminals have guns and they like to use them.

The Second Amendment gives us our God-given rights to a firearm for defense against tyranny and for self-defense. That was and is the intent and that is the law our government officials are sworn to uphold.

BILL WEIMAR

Salem

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Letters/My View

NDN Video
AK-47-wielding thug may be the most bumbling crook ever Oklahoma Survivors, Heroes Survey Damage Trout's cycle a boost for Angels Raw: New Video of Deadly Oklahoma Tornado Kim Kardashian Flaunts Pregnant Bikini Body in Greece NBA star pledges $1M to help tornado recovery Shakira's Shocking Talent Morgan Freeman falls asleep on air GRAPHIC: Blood-Soaked Machete Killer Caught on Tape Elin Nordegren Furious With Lindsey Vonn For Parading Kids in Public Camera Captures Climber As He Loses Grip And Falls Helen Mirren Meets with Dying Boy in Queen Elizabeth's Place Crowd Chants '¡Si, Se Puede!' After Passage of Immigration Bill DWTS Crowns a Winner Police Ram House to End Hostage Standoff Demi Moore a Rocks Bikini at Harry Morton's Family House Anthony Weiner: I'm running for New York City mayor Kate Middleton's Dress Flies Up VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal The Hangover Baby All Grown Up