To the Editor:
Thanks to the Elizabethton Star for printing the truth on the front page showing the benefits of having a concealed gun carry permit. The Star reported, “Bystander shoots man who fatally shot wife at dentist office.” It’s sad that one woman died at the dentist office in Kingsport but a bystander with a concealed carry permit disabled the suspect and prevented his escape or other casualties and was called a hero. Back in 2001, Yale law scholar, researcher and author of “More Guns, Less Crime,” John Lott Jr., complained that the major media ignores the facts about gun use. Lott asked, “When was the last time you heard a story on the national evening news about a citizen saving a life with a gun? Yet civilians use firearms to stop about 2 million crimes per year,” said Lott. Criminals like helpless victims. The September 11 terrorist attacks were done completely without the use of guns and show that getting rid of one object they can use for violence only sends them looking for another.
The Bible says God rejected Cain’s sacrifice. Cain decided to kill his brother instead of repenting and getting right with God. We’re not told what Cain used to kill his brother. It was unimportant. The evil in Cain’s heart was the cause of the murder, not the availability of the murder weapon. The Bible says people are, “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Mankind is sinful and so there’s a need for guns in the hands of responsible Christians and other peaceful people to protect themselves and others. The Bible says self-defense is a God given right and we have a responsibility to protect our family. Christians are commanded to resist the devil. The Bible says the goal of the devil is to steal and kill. The best way to resist the devil is to be armed with a firearm and the word of God, the Bible. In Luke 22:35-38 Jesus commanded His disciples just before he left them to die on the cross to buy weapons. They said they got two weapons and Jesus said that’s enough. Therefore every church should have at the least two Christians armed with weapons in their church at all times. The president of a Christian College, Liberty University, did the right thing in publicly encouraging students to carry concealed weapons.
In a dangerous world that is getting more dangerous in these last days (2 Timothy 3) before the return of Jesus, prayer plus preparedness as the old saying goes, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition,” will remain wise. The slogan of America should be, “repent and reload!”

D.D. Nave
Elizabethton