MERIDIAN — Response

to Regel's letter



    This is in response to a letter to the editor from Bob Regel, of Hattiesburg, printed in the Dec. 30, 2012 issue of The Meridian Star. He was responding to a statement made by Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, in which Mr. LaPierre suggested the way to prevent mass killings in schools is for teachers to be armed.

    Mr. Regel said there are about 4 million teachers and administrators in our schools, and if 10 percent (400,000) of them were armed, then possibly 1/10 of 1 percent, or 400, of the teachers may have some sort of emotional problem that would cause them to react inappropriately under stress because, Regel said, some students can be difficult to deal with, even violent. And would we really want 400 unstable people carrying weapons? So he said that armed teachers are not the way to prevent mass killings in schools.

    Assuming Mr. Regel's hypothesis is correct, wouldn't the same statistics also apply to our law enforcement, security guards and military men and women? After all, law enforcement men and women especially, deal with violent people all the time. And the same can be said for some of our military men and women.

    Think about it. Do we really want our law enforcement and military men and women to be armed? I think so. I also think teachers who want to be able to protect their students and themselves with a firearm should be allowed to do so, with the proper training, and assuming they can meet the legal requirements.

    And since we are on the subject of firearms, I also think any private citizen who wants to protect themselves with a firearm should be able to do so, assuming they also can meet the legal requirements.

    No one should be denied the right to protect themselves with a firearm simply because statistics show that a small percentage of Americans "might" have emotional problems.



Sincerely,

R. Gary Ryan, Lauderdale



Too little, too late



    So now Representative Steve Palazzo is sorry for his vote against the people of the Northeast who were made homeless by hurricane Sandy.

    Too little, too late, Steve!

    Your previous vote tells where your instincts and your heart are. Like all of your Tea Party friends you care NOTHING for people — only for money and the power it represents.

    You have done irreparable harm by making yourself and Mississippi a laughing stock.

    I only hope that the people who voted for your will see through your perfidious pandering and recognize you for who you really are — a heartless representative of financial interests, not people.



Bob Regel, Hattiesburg