Sun finally published Sebastian's letter

Allow us the liberty to defend ourselves
People such as the writer of the letter suggesting that concealed-carry laws won't decrease crime seem determined to undermine their own arguments ("Concealed weapons won't make us safer," letters, Jan. 20).
They attribute the recent decrease in crime to demographic changes or police tactics; even if they were right (and they're not) that concealed carry laws don't decrease crime, they're missing the larger point - that these laws have never resulted in an increase in crime.

In other words, states that have allowed private citizens to carry defensive weapons have not seen an increase in crime at all; in fact, despite letting qualified, licensed citizens carry concealed weapons, their crime rate has dropped.

The idea that concealed carry leads to a Wild West shootout scenario is fallacious - if that were true, we'd have seen it happen in the 38 states that have allowed concealed carry. And we haven't.

Why do anti-gun forces always ignore that salient fact?

If concealed-carry laws don't increase crime, and are linked to decreases in crime, why won't Maryland let private citizens participate in their own defense? We cannot have a cop on every corner.

The most important liberty imaginable is the liberty to have the means by which you can defend yourself.



Sebastian Sassi
Baltimore

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