Letter to the Editor

LETTERS: MEDIA PLAY DOWN SAVING OF LIVES BY GUN OWNERS

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To the editor:

A link to the online version of your newspaper (semissourian.com) was sent to me today to read Sam Blackwell's column, "Facing the trigger-happy gloom on Lorimier Street."

Let me relate an incident that happened a few weeks ago in Crystal River, Fla. A gentleman by the name of J. David Phillips, who owns and operates a pawn shop, was nearly stabbed to death by a sword-wielding man because Phillips refused to complete a gun sale with the man even though he passed the required background check and also waited the county-imposed three-day wait.

Unable to get to three of his legally owned guns, Phillips remembered he had his backup gun in his pants pocket. He pulled this gun while struggling to hold onto the sword and fired five times, effectively stopping the attack. Today Phillips is making a slow recovery and has been able to open his store for a few hours each day in order to stay in business. His assailant died from his wounds three days after the attack.

If Phillips had not been allowed to own a handgun as guaranteed under the Second Amendment, he would be dead.

Any gun owner is upset when an innocent person is killed by a gun, but why are so many so intent on doing away with guns, which happen to be the most legislated item in American history, but do nothing to outlaw ownership of automobiles by drunk drivers? The media is quick to portray gun owners as thugs who will do whatever to keep our toys, but the media will not also show when gun owners save lives or defend others from being injured.

TIM GREGORY

Austin, Texas