This is in response to the letter to the editor "Weapon bans run dangerous risks" (SN 11/21). The author clearly does not understand the role of firearms in our society and our need for less violence in our lives. While the Second Amendment does permit U.S. residents to bear firearms, there should be very limited usage for these weapons. This is what East Lansing has attempted to do.

When I wake up in the morning, I make sure to carry a few select items with me for the day; I think about bringing my book bag, wallet, car keys and cell phone.

I cringe at even the though of adding handgun to that list. I do not feel threatened by other people and I do not feel I need a gun to protect myself on a daily basis.

Do some people really feel so threatened by others that they need to bring a handgun to a grocery store in the rare incidence that they might need to shoot a distressed man holding up the store with a shotgun? Give me a break.

If someone wants to carry or use a gun in public, a simple law is not necessarily going to stop them.

It is comforting to know that I will not be surrounded by bitter MSU students housing guns in their backpacks.

Several weeks ago we witnessed a University of Arizona student shoot and kill his professors. Maybe guns are so important in our daily lives that other angry students could have shot that shooter.

There is a big problem with guns in our society. Permitting guns to be held in public buildings will not infringe on those freedoms that were granted more than 200 years ago.

Times have changed.

Carl D. Seidman
finance and economics senior