Happy to bear arms

Re “Have gun, will show it,” Column One, June 7

I’d like to comment favorably on The Times’ article. The Times portrayed a woefully underrepresented group of law-abiding people who choose to arm themselves for protection and to keep the tradition of personal arms alive in this country.

As pointed out in the article, these people are no more likely to harm anyone with their guns on than without, and they are exercising their rights -- something more of us should do.

Nathan Plant

Santa Clara

In the article, Utah’s Travis Deveraux says, “What we’re trying to say is, ‘Hey, we’re normal people who carry guns.’ ” Is it normal in Utah to fear for one’s safety so much that one needs to be perpetually and publicly armed? I thought we had progressed from the times of Wyatt Earp.

Arnie Moore

Sherman Oaks

Your article about people openly carrying pistols was full of color and sympathy for the nuisances suffered by today’s gunslingers, but it ignored the extreme dangers created by the practice.

What happens when an “open carrier” is tired, having a bad day, collides with someone on the sidewalk, and finds himself only two easy steps away from firing his weapon? What about when a criminal sneaks up behind with his own knife or pistol and steals that openly carried pistol? And how about when an open carrier blows cigarette smoke in your face or mine? Who’d dare to complain?

Whether open or concealed, carrying a firearm puts a person within easy reach of tragedy and provides no security one cannot obtain from nonlethal weapons such as mace or Tasers.

Mike Ceaser

Bogota, Colombia