Re: "Slovaks making most of freedom to carry guns," by Martina Pisárová, April 1-7, Vol.8 No.12.
It is good for civilian residents to be permitted to carry a weapon for their protection. The police cannot be everywhere at once. Their prime function these days is to solve crimes after they are committed, with a lesser priority on crime prevention.
If it is widely known that almost any civilian might have a concealed weapon, then that is a real deterrent to the criminal who would be considering committing a crime against an innocent person. Also, one legally armed civilian could have prevented (or lessened the severity of) almost any of the mass murder type massacres which have been committed by mentally deranged people elsewhere in recent times (many in the US).
Let residents with no criminal records have gun permits, but make it mandatory that they take a firearms safety course first.
Glenn
