To the editor:

It’s getting confusing. How can we tell the good gun-toting guys from the bad ones? In the old cowboy days the good guys wore white hats, but until there is some hat-color-wearing legislation I guess we’re left on our own to wonder who’s who.

Should we assume the rifle-waving man at the health care forum calling us “socialist pigs” is a good guy who enjoys drama?

Should our children assume the guy who gets on the bus with an assault weapon just loves kids and wants a ride home?

Should the families at the campground assume the carload of persons packing heat are there because they love nature?

Should my sister assume the three men with guns entering her coffee shop in the early morning are there just for coffee?

Poo-pooing reality and making such assumptions is dangerous, as is saying that more guns make a safer community. That’s as silly as telling a fat person that eating more candy will make him skinny, or telling someone with hypertension to increase their salt intake for a cure.

Hunt, target practice, protect your homes with sensible gun use, but returning to a wild west, gun-slinging mentality is bringing confusion and chaos. We’ll be safer when we adequately fund and train professional law enforcement persons to safeguard communities, and when gun regulations include background checks, restrict carrying guns in public and ban assault weapons.

Teresa Dix

Mount Vernon