Fear of firearms amounts to paranoia

In response to Cris Larson’s Oct. 19 letter to the editor, I would like to respond.

Cris Larson has no earthly idea about guns, rights, or freedom. From not knowing actual assault rifles are as illegal as yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater (black military-looking sport rifles are perfectly 100 percent legal), to the definition of a Constitutional right, to the “price of freedom.”

First, the right to carry a firearm isn’t the “price of freedom,” it’s the benefit of freedom. There is no “right” to be free of fear (about anything); there is, however, a Constitutional right (both federal and state) to bear arms. And unless Larson is a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the opinion that the “right to keep my family clear of guns” supersedes the Second Amendment right to legally bear arms doesn’t count. (How typically “It’s all so much about me, Me, ME!” that someone claims their “right” is more important than anyone else’s right!)

Next, a person’s decision to carry a firearm has zero to do with Larson’s feeling “any safer from a perpetrator that comes in to do harm.” Rather it has everything to do with the permit holder’s judgment regarding what makes him or her feel safe and whether they want to exercise their in-writing right to do so. Larson’s “feelings” are immaterial.

Finally, what is the price Larson pays? Some ill-defined fear someone, somewhere, sometime may have a legal gun? That doesn’t sound like a price, that sounds like paranoia.

Wayne A. Mulholland

Bothell

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