Your cover story asks the question, "Is it time to re-examine the West's extraordinary fascination with firearms?"

Uhmmmm ... Extraordinary?

The West is rather large and many of us live a long way from the nearest sheriff. Our stupid government has put just enough pressure on the drug suppliers to raise the price of drugs so high that any lazy psychopath would be a bit nutsy not to get into the game.

Psychopaths on drugs do outrageous things to their friends, neighbors, and anyone else ... for no apparent reason, to us straights.

If a citizen lives more than five minutes from the nearest sheriff, it is not likely to be helpful to even dial 911. Hell, in some situations five minutes is maybe four and a half minutes too long.

You neglected to mention one exceedingly important statistic: Where there are functioning, useful carry laws, there is significantly less crime. Apparently, even these psychopaths can figure out that it isn't as safe as it used to be to assault a citizen if that citizen may well be carrying.

And finally, I've only been taking HCN for two or three years but considering what seemed to be your general drift, I was exceedingly surprised to see such a question on your front page.

D.B. Cameron, DVM
Nevada City, California