I did appreciate your various comments about guns. I think people from Texas have a unique viewpoint. Many serious hunters in Oregon do too.  (Not to mention some neo-nazis hoarding weapons out in our woods.) I admire you for taking the proper classes to become a “concealed carrier.”  Still, those squirrels damaging your roof might respond adequately to a BB gun.  Here at 1880, I can just say, “Roxie, squirrel!” and my personal body guard dashes through the doggie door and takes care of things.

I will say, I respect people’s Second Amendment rights. In evaluating these sorts of issues, I always try to consider the “original intent” of the “framers” of our Constitution and weigh that against what all those wealthy white men could not possibly have imagined regarding life in 2013.

I get really annoyed when I hear some redneck, you should pardon the expression,  standing in front of my Capitol yelling that he doesn’t want me to take away his guns. I have absolutely no interest in taking away his guns. Clearly, if he wants to be properly checked out and go out in the woods and fire off multiple rounds with his multiple automatic guns in an attempt to be sporting and try to keep the black-tailed deer population under control, he can just buy a hunting license and do so. That I “don’t get it” is not a valid argument, and I know that.

As a teacher, would I have felt safer if I’d had a weapon in my pocket? Are you kidding me? Would I feel safer if someone broke into my house in the middle of the night and I pulled a gun out of my bed-side drawer. Are you kidding me? ( I’ll just yell, “Roxie, squirrel!”) Would I feel safer if my neighbor heard some rustling around in the alley and thought it was a raccoon and fired at it and it was this old woman out there taking her old dog for a bed-time walk? Seriously?

But I do have a couple of questions I would like answered. Is it sporting to hunt with what, for brevity’s sake, I often refer to as an UZI? And what is it about “concealed” weapons? If you’re packing, I want to see your weapon. I want it to be a six-shooter in a holster on your hip. And I wouldn’t mind hearing you say, “Hi-Ho, Silver, away!”