I fear that America has fallen and been trapped in an abyss that it may not be able to escape. First there was Aurora, then Sandy Hook, Charleston, and now Chattanooga. The abyss I mention is not the lack of gun control, but the advocacy for gun control due to the occurrence of these terrible events. After reading “Guns on Public Transit: Still a Bad Idea” printed July 20th, that fear grew a little stronger. The article, if you missed it, writes of a 56 year old woman who was attacked on a crowded bus just before noon in Detroit. Yes, you read correctly, a crowded bus in broad daylight. The scumbag who attacked her tried to steal her purse. She hung on as the man tried to leave the bus with her purse. As the attacker reached for her ankle, the woman drew her pistol and fired 11 times, missing him completely. The penman of the editorial bases the entire piece on how dangerous it is to have people with guns defend themselves on public transit. I believe it is far more dangerous to have those being attacked not be able to defend themselves and have our public transit system be a haven for crooks and criminals knowing there will be futile resistance from those they are preying on.
Let’s discuss why we have concealed carry in Illinois. It came about primarily because a treasurer of a church, Mary Shepard, was attacked and beaten nearly to death by a criminal who obviously valued money more than life. She was beaten in a church which incidentally the author writes is a venue that was left out of the carry law due to the unacceptable risk that someone could get hurt by an accidental shooting. Well, Mary did get hurt because she had no means of defense so she went to court stating the ban in Illinois regarding conceal carry was unconstitutional. She won, of course, since the second amendment of the United States Constitution reads, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” That amendment was so important to the Founding Fathers that they made it second only after the first amendment that includes free speech, freedom of religion, the right to peacefully assemble, freedom of the press (comes in handy doesn’t it?) and the right to petition the government. These men were not known for having room temperature IQs. They were extremely smart and knew how important it was to give the people the right to carry weapons mainly to hinder government tyranny.
So why is there a question of being able to carry on public transit if that is what the law of the land states we have the right to do? The answer stems from reasons such as what was written last Monday including others could be shot, shooting a thief is a deadly over-reaction, and insurance costs for the CTA would increase. It’s time to start defeating these arguments with reason and logic instead of an Alex Jones type rant. Everyone needs to ask themselves if they were in a public place and shooting began by a psycho, which option would you choose? Would you rather duck for cover and pray that the shooter does not pick your aisle or space to massacre or would you rather have yourself or at least one law abiding citizen with a gun to return fire?
Priorities need to be straightened in this country. Bad people need to be called bad people and law abiding citizens need to be empowered. Let’s not blame guns for deaths just as we don’t blame cars for drunk driving fatalities or water for those that drown. Let’s fight together to make sure that we have the freedoms given to us by our original lawmakers, still the best lawmakers we have ever had.
—Keith Kircik, Downers Grove
