Readers write, Jan. 14

SECOND AMENDMENT Firearms on campus will help reduce crime

Erroneous perceptions about crime trends cloud how people feel about gun rights. Over the years, the Gallup Organization has found two-thirds of poll respondents believe crime is increasing annually.

In fact, the opposite is true. In Georgia from 2008 to 2012, violent crime has deceased by 22 percent. During that time, the General Assembly passed two major gun bills that significantly expanded the places where background-checked Georgians can carry their firearms.

While the violent crime rate is decreasing statewide, it is increasing where guns remain banned: our university campuses. Of the 11 universities that have consistently reported their crime data to the FBI, violent crime has increased by 36 percent from 2008 to 2012. The illusion of safety on Georgias campuses is harshly contradicted by the reality of the 38 forcible rapes, 46 aggravated assaults and 87 robberies that occurred on campus in 2012 alone.

Our experience here in Georgia proves that when good people are denied the right to defend themselves, violent crime increases. When more people carry more guns, in more places, more often, violent crime decreases for all of us.

MIKE MENKUS, Marietta

Guns in bars. I worry less about the mentally ill carrying guns than I do about armed drunk people. Guns on campuses. There may be a need for security, but guns would be better off in the hands of trained, licensed professionals than teenagers with access to drugs and alcohol without parental oversight.

Guns in or near government buildings. Courts hear cases where suspects are prosecuted and defended and where one side or the other is going to be angry or vengeful. Guns should not be in the hands of vigilantes with grudges. Also, there are some fringe people who blame the government for all of societys ills. Guns in churches really? Surely, there is no need if people in church are taught to love one another, not shoot one another.

Please, please stop the madness!

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Readers write, Jan. 14