Concealed Firearms

Scott Harris column, “Let’s See . . . Keys, Gum, Lipstick, Glock 9mm,” (Feb. 22), was right on target. We desperately need more voices like Sheriff Sherman Block’s to shoot out the heart of an exceedingly dangerous idea: Assemblyman [William J.] “Pete” Knight’s (R-Palmdale) bill that would allow anyone without a criminal record or a documented history of mental illness to carry a concealed weapon. It is one thing for Knight to argue that we have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms--he’s right, we do. But it is quite another matter for him to argue that we will all be safer when the criminals don’t know who is packing heat. Here’s an idea: Let’s elect Knight to the U.S. Senate. There he can introduce federal legislation requiring an annual bake sale of old nuclear weapons. Any nation that does not have the international equivalent of a criminal record--say, starting a world war in this century--would be allowed to buy warheads secretly and privately. This way, aggressor nations would not know who is packing nuclear heat, thus making the world safer, right? Yeah, right.

Overly simplistic solutions to highly complex problems never work--and if that’s an overly simplistic statement, well, then shoot me (or at least don’t sell me any nukes).

TOM BRAUN

Littlerock