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To the Editor:
Every time a shooting occurs the rabid antigun liberals come out of the closet. They take advantage of the normal high emotional state associates with the situation. Their motto is immediately take advantage of the crisis to move forward their liberal antigun agenda. But it has been proven time and time again that you should not make major decision when emotions are running high. A common example is when a person suddenly and unexpectedly loses a spouse. They are warned not to make any immediate decisions but to take some time to recover their thoughts and carefully review their situation. The same applies to a mass shooting situation. This is even more important due to the sensationalizing of such events by the liberal media which often prints inaccurate and biased statements.
First of all is to review all the facts and statistics involved. For instance determine what caused the evil person to take such dreadful actions. Ask why? Was it part of a planned assault that might have involved other further actions if not stopped? Were their warning signs that no one reported to the authorities? If so, why not? Answers to these questions recognizes the fact that a gun alone cannot kill people. It is the responsibility of a person. This is true regardless of the weapon used be it a knife, an axe, a gun, a blunt club, etc.
It is equally important to realize that for every shooting event there are hundreds if not thousands of events where the presence of a legally owned gun has prevented a shooting, a robbery, an assault, etc. What prevents a robber or killer entering your home? It is the fear that the homeowner or a neighbor may have a gun. This is not what the rabid antigun lobby wants to hear. They either ignore the facts or have become so blinded by their antigun agenda that facts mean nothing. Their actions are based on hysteria/emotions and thus are not rational.
The other major question that the liberal antigun group must answer is: what will you do if one or more persons come at you with a knife (machete), an axe, blunt club, etc? What defensive weapon would you like to have? What will neutralize the threat?You need an equalizer and that is a gun. I am yet to have an antigun liberal objectively answer this question. They want to ignore the question and move the discussion to emotions and not the facts. You should note that many of the protestors are paid for their actions. Others are indoctrinated by organizations that specialize in using emotions as a means of indoctrination. Isn’t it sad that it takes an assault (a beating, rape, a stabbing, etc.) to make liberals to wake up to the truth about guns, i.e., that the equalizer is an asset. In a recent statement on the internet it was noted that the Second Amendment and the associated right to carry has made more women equal than the entire feminist movement. This coincides with the fact that women, especially single women, are at present the largest purchasers of hand guns.
What is the best way to counteract school shootings since you cannot prevent criminals from obtaining guns? One way is to allow qualified teachers, especially principles, to carry concealed weapons. Another way to help is to eliminate gun free zones around schools. At present gun free zones are an asset to the criminal; i.e., he does not have to worry about interference with his plan. Why shouldn’t a parent who comes to pick up their child have the right to have a concealed weapon to protect their child? Of course having a trained officer at the school will help but that person cannot be everywhere. To be fully effective you would have to restrict the school to one entrance with all other escape routes open only from the inside which is not very practical. If the criminal does not know who or how many have concealed weapons he will think twice before attacking the school to do his/her dirty work. It is important to note that since 1990 when the gun free zones were established over 90 percent of large mass shootings have occurred in gun free zones.

J. Ronald Winter
Elizabethton