This is the email I sent to Mr. Ruth in response to his obviously biased article:
Mr. Ruth,
Your diatribe against the armed citizens of our fair State is yet another piece of drivel in the annals of the mainstream media's fearmongering literature. Your obvious discontent with the political aspects of gun ownership has clouded your ability to see the benefits to having thousands of armed citizens walking the streets around you. Frankly, I'm quite content knowing that the truck driver, lawn worker, white collar CEO, accountant, engineer (myself included), journalist, et al are armed and capable of protecting themselves in a world that increasingly grows hostile to Americans and a country that has proven more and more often that it is incapable of providing law enforcement protection to people when they need it, not 10 - 15 minutes after a phone call to 911.
I am, sir, one of these lunatics walking the street. I am driving behind and in front of people everyday with a revolver on my hip. I am protecting my home with a shotgun, an AK47 "assault weapon," and a cadre of vintage WWII weaponry that I restore and enjoy shooting and hunting with. Your ignorance for the history of firearms, their utility and their ability to level the playing field for the healthy and the not-so-healthy is tantamount to typical anti-gun scare tactics.
I assure you, Mr. Ruth, I will continue to walk the streets knowing that I am in full control of my life and my freedom with a sidearm to protect me. I am not a nutcase nor am I one of those people "most likely to snap" in my office. Every man and woman I work with knows that I own firearms, and I think it sets them at ease knowing that I would use those firearms in the lawful protection of my friends, my family and myself.
I urge you to do some research into the "gun culture" in Florida. Feel free to email me at the address provided, and I would be happy to accompany you to one of the many facilities in the Tampa Bay area and shoot some of the weapons that won wars and protected the lives of men and women in this world. Until then, please consider finding another subject into which you can instill a wreckless fear, because your commentary lacks fact, substance and overall, knowledge.
Regards, Ronald Arestia
My own 2 cents?
My wife drives a 35 or 50 mile commute to work each day-- the longer trip is on rural roads, the shorter one via the Interstate-- AKA, the "conduit for criminals"
She keeps a sidearm in the glovebox, for fast access- but there's a 12 gauge shotgun in the trunk, for those occassions when you need something better than a pistol.
The Sherrif and his deputies in the county where she works are well aware of this, and you know what? They approve- knowing if they get in a jam on the back roads, and she comes along, she's equipped to help them out.
Years ago, she worked in an office with the wife of the City's Chief of Detectives, and not only did her friend keep a pistol in her handbag ( "just in case I ever need one" ) so did every other woman in her family. Daughters, Mother, Sister- they all had a sidearm or two.
Great post backhoe.
Bump!!
An as a better-known writer once penned, "An armed society is a polite society"
Kudos to you, and all yours for your unstinting support of, and participation in the R2KBA - as an avid hunter, and the eldest son of a retired Deputy Sheriff, most especial thanks for the readiness to act in a support role for law enforcement.
My pop and his cohorts knew they often had straight-shooting citizen soldiers lurking quietly among the good folk, ready to take action in a tight spot, and help uphold the law.
A.A.C.
"The Final Crusade has commenced!"