Killings make public fight back: "The stakes have changed this crazy and violent year. After the New Year's Day massacre of the Harvey family, the slaughter of the Tucker/Baskervilles a few days later, the recent abduction of Emily 'Kate' Robertson and Wednesday's shooting death of 60-year-old Holt Smith in the East End, allegedly by two teen robbers, no longer can residents assume that robbers, burglars and rapists are going to let them live. ...That's why our legislators must adjust the state's self- and home-protection laws so criminals violating our dwellings and lives will be the ones at risk. As it is now, if Anne had a gun Friday night and used it, she would have faced prosecution because it could be argued the burglar/robber was trying to get away."


The New York Times on guns: "I have a cartoon posted on my wall. ... I shall attempt to describe it: Two men are seen standing next to and setting up a large video camera. The camera is pointed at a rifle sitting on a stand on a table. One man is saying, 'It's an assault rifle. When it slinks off to kill someone we'll catch it on film.' I see this cartoon daily and I laugh at it all the time .... Clearly there's still some people who honestly believe that these inanimate metal objects are capable of independent thought and action. You can read about some of these people at the New York Times. The editorial is titled, 'The Toll of Small Arms.' Are there people who read these things and actually believe them?"