Loss of empathy for others, devaluation of human life, and lack of conformity with society is the issue, it really doesn't matter what `tool' they use as that is NOT the issue. Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with public health or safety, it is all about control and subjugation of our citizens.

I read a `research' article recently that attempted to tie people's belief in Christianity to our `gun culture' which was totally laughable. They make a lot of spurious assumptions under the guise of science throughout the paper. What is laughable is that the very tenants of Christianity would decrease violence at its root. Criminals only seem to find religion after they are incarcerated. --- Bruce Bare (FB)

In Chapter 18, America, Guns, and Freedom, I write about moral considerations, and safety rules in the use of deadly force in self-defense. In Cuba in Revolution I describe how a teenager comported himself (me) at a time of utmost peril and family dangers in a police state, underground activities, and adventures to reach freedom! All this would be thrilling to a youngster, not to mention instructive!

The America, Guns, and Freedom book consist of 8 Parts. Part 3 and the Notes at the end are really for scholars and critics of public health methodology. That Part 3 can be skipped. The rest of the book, I exhort all to read. All the remaninig chapters are essential reading of why guns are essential to freedom in a country like ours, the USA!

For Cuba In Revolution, the first 168 are autobiographical/ memoirs, and I think all will enjoy the human interest story as well as the history of life in the revolutionary underground, for all my friends and readership. The rest of the book on Cuba has lessons and a warning for America, but it also contains sad reading because of the devastation that socialism and communism leave in their wake.

It will never happen! Thank God, our founders had their heads on straight! Our nation is amazing! Yup, it's open carry in Colorado, I grew up with a rifle in my pickup! I never knew when I would need to shoot a coyote or a full pack feasting on my lambs or my dad's calves! The coyotes would prey upon a cow in the calving process and actually try to eat the calf out of the birth canal! The cows would form a circle around their calves and ill cows as protection! I grew up being sometimes awakened out of a deep sleep to the coyote's howl. That meant death to weak or new animals! There are still bounties paid for coyote ears! And the pelts are valuable! There are coyotes in every country I am told! I do know that on a sand dune island in the Gulf of California, I had my shoes taken by coyotes where they found them right outside my pup tent. I found them about 50 yards away, how on earth did a coyote get on an island?--- Karen Furst, FB

The FBI released its Uniform Crime Report for 2018 on Monday. Notably, the number of homicides decreased significantly — by 7%. What may be even more surprising is that murders committed with firearms fell by 6.7%. And of those murders committed with a firearm, only 2.8% were with a rifle (this includes AR-type rifles), for a total of 297. It’s not a new trend, but The Washington Free Beacon notes, “Rifles were used less often to commit murder than knives, fists, and blunt objects.” Meanwhile, the overall steady decrease in violent crime has coincided with a steady increase in the number of firearms sold and owned. These are the facts.--- Dave Davis, DRGO, FB