A headline over a story in your Sunday edition stated “Locals mostly oppose gun control.” Really? One doesn’t need to live in the South to know that most decent, sober and right-thinking Americans everywhere oppose knee-jerk gun control regulations simply because one cowardly lunatic went on a killing spree somewhere. If you’re looking for a reason to get serious about criminal usage of guns you need look no further than a accompanying news story in the same edition: “Hitchhiker charged in robbery attempt.”

According to the story, Mr. Carl Rumsen, a Good Samaritan, risked losing his money, auto, and perhaps his life, when he offered a ride to a hitchhiker who repaid his benefactor by poking a gun in his face and demanding money. If you think this is horrible then you don’t know what’s going on in this little town. Rapes, murders, home invasions, drive-by shootings, gang warfare replete with shootouts in public places and highway robbery like the one described in Mr. Rumsen’s story are the norm and everyday fare these days — so much so that hardly anyone blinks an eye at it anymore.

Like most men I own a few old relics jokingly called firearms. But I like to exercise my natural-born right as an American to pop a cap occasionally and smell gunpowder while target practicing. And like most well-balanced men, I know how to use firearms. I know what to shoot, and humans are not on the menu.

Our local sheriff, who out of frustration more than anything else, said he wants deputies in every school even though he knows it’s an unworkable scenario. I share his frustration as well and wonder where the money would come from for the venture.

It’s virtually impossible to know how many people have been murdered by various means since the Newtown, Conn., shootings. But if the president, the media and do-gooders really mean business about the criminal usage of firearms then they need to focus on much more than one single incident.

Since America was openly and defiantly declared “no longer a Christian nation” by the president four years ago, gun violence has skyrocketed. I know that faith, church, God and values seem antiquated — even passe — and that Americans no longer have any need for them. But the violence has only begun.

It’ll only get worse.

CALVIN LACY
Hertford