Letters: Hidden weapons offer false sense of security

Posted January 17, 2006

From the Appleton Post-Cresent:

Ross Bielema makes a few errors in judgment in his Jan. 15 community column about the supposed benefits of concealed weapons.

First, he equates common items like spare tires and jumper cables with guns. The former are examples of reasonable precaution; the latter are simply overkill.

Unless you're a bodyguard, courier, private investigator or living in the most crime-ridden area of the country, you have no real need to carry a concealed weapon.

If simple precaution justifies guns, then perhaps we should all be investing in things like defibrillators, anti-venom kits, parachutes and armored vehicles. Fear is a bottomless pit. There is never enough security for some.

Second, he believes that most criminals think rationally. They don't. If a criminal is desperate or daring enough to commit a burglary or assault, they're not going to be deterred by the possibility that the victim might be carrying a gun. Criminals will do their best to get the advantage and the "drop" on the victim.

Third, Ross probably also believes that gun-carrying citizens actually possess the coordination, skill and presence of mind to successfully use a weapon in a crunch. They don't.
Ross speaks of deer hunters, but not the ones who couldn't hit a deer standing still with a scoped rifle. Standard, required gun training doesn't make a person a marksman or a citizen soldier.
Alas, conceal and carry may indeed happen in Wisconsin, but it appeals most to those obsessed with security and fear.

The rest of us don't need weapons any more than we need a second spare tire.

Richard Froemming, Neenah