Glendale is not the Wild West

I heartily agree with Steven Asimow (“Open carry is a danger to the carrier,” June 12) that the proposed ban on openly carrying firearms is far from stupid, and I would not be pleased to see anyone encouraged to do so.

Like Steven, I would definitely not feel safe walking on our streets and seeing people carrying firearms, simply trusting that they were all law-abiding citizens whose weapons were truly unloaded.

In Philip Crispi’s letter (“Guns help to make people safer,” June 11) in support of open carry, he posits that if the men who were robbed at gunpoint on June 6 had been carrying firearms, “this crime could have been averted.” However, he does not provide any logical basis for drawing this conclusion.

It seems just as likely that the thieves would not have been deterred from robbing these men, but would have simply used their guns to do so in a more violent fashion.

Frankly, I see Crispi’s views more in line with a naive desire to return to the oft-revered “good old days” of the Wild West.

Would I feel safer then? No way, Philip!

Claire Starrett

Glendale