Must be able to defend ourselves

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I WANT to respond to some of the nuances in Roland Williams's letter, "Don't blame availability of a firearm" (February 20).

In light of issues such as gun confiscation and the trashing of the US constitution second amendment by the Obama administration, gun control is a hot topic today. I have listened to all the arguments for and against gun control.

Switzerland has the highest private gun ownership in the world with every house issued with long rifles, machine guns and even anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile launchers. In that country you get fined if the designated firearms officer comes to inspect your weapons – and he actually finds them!

Adolf Hitler avoided invading Switzerland during World War 2 because of the military capability of the "civilian militia".

Switzerland also has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the world.

Another fact that came out of a recent gun control study in the US was that more guns equal less crime and cites countries like Britain where the violent crime rate sky-rocketed in the last decade because of a ban on private firearm ownership. In the UK, the criminals don't shoot you, they slit your throat with knives and bash your head in with a cricket bat.

In countries where active private gun bans are enforced, you have tyranny and oppression by government and other criminals. Take China and North Korea as examples.

You should not own a gun if you are not trained in its use or do not intend to practice the shooting of it. If you buy a gun just to keep it in the safe and never use it, you are a danger to yourself.

If you can't shoot straight you are a danger to people around you. I was once told by a firearms registrar that if the police ever shoot at you, you should just stand still because you will be perfectly safe. This bit of "inside" info shocked the daylights out of me.

I have guns and know how to use them. I am responsible with their use and can hit a target the size of an orange at 300m with my long rifle and empty my revolver rounds onto a tight grouping at 10m.

I have never committed a violent offence and never plan to, unless I am provoked into self defence, but one should still use discretion.

I want to ask all the gun control activists the following questions and if they can answer me positively using facts, I will voluntarily give up my guns and pursue the gun-free utopia that they so desire:

ýDoes giving up my private ownership of guns guarantee my safety from lawless criminals who access illegal (not-registered) guns from the black market to enable them to do their destructive work?

ýWill the police be able to stop a criminal with an illegal gun from killing me after he breaks into my house?

ýAre the police and government remotely successful in confiscating guns from criminals and if not, why should I be disarmed and become an easy target for predators?

ýIf guns were not available, would criminals find other objects with which to kill people like knives, bats and rocks?

ýDo guns kill more people than motor vehicles?

ýWere the recent school mass shooters in the US under the "influence" of SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) mind altering drugs?

People who want to influence policy to enable government to disarm me through gun confiscation, should maybe start by "disarming" people of their private vehicles first.

You are more likely to be killed by a drunk driver, reckless driver or vehicle malfunction on the road than with a gun.

I also now believe that people who take chronic anti-depression drugs like SSRIs should not own a gun and this should be screened for.

Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

While the hearts of men are bent toward evil, no one is safe and it is very important for every man and woman to be able to defend himself or herself and his or her family with lethal force if needs be.