‘Infantile Fantasies’

Well, I’ll have to agree with Prof. Glidden. He apparently does have some pretty infantile fantasies, wanting to shoot down airplanes and all because they sometimes tow advertisements. And so I wholeheartedly wish I could shake his hand and say, “Mr. Glidden, sir, you’re right. I don’t want you to ever, ever own a handgun. You’d probably shoot your damn foot off. Or worse: You might shoot mine off.”

But what do Glidden’s embarrassing projections of his own immaturity have to do with the responsible adults who know how to safely use guns? There are literally millions of handguns in California alone, and surprise! Most of them are not misused in crimes or in accidental shootings. And despite the attempts by Glidden et al to stereotype gun owners as Neanderthal morons who swallow the National Rifle Assn. party line on everything, surprise again! Most gun owners don’t belong to any organization and prefer to think for themselves.

I’m grateful that Glidden was honest enough to publish that the only reason he would own a gun would be to act out his infantile fantasies. I do wish, however, that he would avoid the quantum leap that therefore everyone must be like him. We aren’t all afflicted with being philosophy majors, you know.

TOM BURNS

Acton