Feel good or be prepared?

As I read Mike Corn's article on the slaughter of innocent children, I wanted to respond with my thoughts. Certainly, no one would chastise Corn for grieving or shedding a tear over the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Most everyone is grieving because of this tragedy, and it was a bad day for these families and America for many reasons.

I have enjoyed and been blessed with a rural life that, for the most part, involved the use of firearms. I am a hunter education instructor and firearms instructor. I also have many other avenues of involvement in the greater outdoor community including being immersed in the competitive shooting world both in the United States and abroad.

After finishing the article and referencing back to editor Patrick Lowry's editorial on the same subject a few days before, I quickly realized I quite possibly have forgotten more than Corn and Lowry combined know about shooting, firearms, the outdoors and hunting.

Corn states firearms should only be used for the sport of hunting. This is the typical feel-good liberal thought process and frequently is repeated in the media. Our law enforcement personnel who respond to these situations and the many regular citizens across the nation who use firearms of every type to save lives and thwart killers certainly would disagree. Perhaps Corn thinks his shotgun, which is capable of tremendous devastation, is politically correct and is OK to have, but only for certain politically correct uses. Corn's attempt at defining what sport shooters should participate in, what firearms should be used and what people using firearms really care about is born of ignorance.

AR-15 style firearms are one of the most widely used guns in sport shooting competitions by servicemen, women and civilians alike. I own two of them, and most of my friends, many who are law enforcement officers, have at least one for competition and one for hunting. If Corn wants to refer to me and the good people mentioned above as evil for daring to buy these rifles, I think Corn is simply just a politically correct idiot. The concealed carry laws have been successful across the nation with carry holders ranking among the most law abiding citizens, more so in some places than law enforcement personnel themselves. Crime rates for carry states have shown drops in murder rates and crimes against persons alike.

I pray to God that I, like many of my fellow gun owner and law enforcement friends have the courage, ability and the means to interdict in any situation when innocent lives, especially children, are being threatened. We never will know why these nut-jobs continue to kill people with fertilizer bombs, box-cutter knives or firearms. Wouldn't being prepared to handle this type of situation serve us better than the outcome that occurred Dec. 21?

I'm sure Corn will feel like he did something good by supporting this ban or a ban on select politically incorrect types of firearms. Perhaps he could wave the document or maybe a $2 "Gun Free School Zone" sticker in the air while others are taking meaningful action.

Troy Mattheyer

Ellis