Review: The real mystery of "Law Abiding Citizen" isn't how Gerard Butler's character manages to wreak explosive, bloody havoc on Philadelphia while confined behind the walls of his jail cell.

I am writing about the not-so-thoughtful letter from gun (lover) Arthur C. Peterson: “What kind of country do you want?” I’d like to live in a country where so-called law-abiding citizens do not have access to weapons of war like AK 47’s that are designed to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible. I also certainly don’t want to live in a country where citizens are allowed to possess chemical or biological weapons like Peterson advocated.

The national dialogue is misleading. To have a “meaningful discussion” we must identify the issue correctly.

While government has no business unnecessarily or unreasonably restricting law-abiding citizens' constitutional right to bear arms, it shouldn't be weakening or erasing laws that help the cops nail armed bad guys.

“Is there any other nation in the World whose president has sued one of his states to force them to allow illegal alien immigration? Only in America and only with a Democrat president in office.”

The recent slaughter at the grade school in Connecticut is an unimaginable tragedy that could never have been predicted.

“To one who vents: ‘Why do law abiding citizens need assault rifles?’ As long as police forces and governments worldwide use tools like this to impose laws and policies, I will support a citizen’s right to carry those same tools to protect themselves. The 2nd Amendment has been protecting citizens from criminals and tyrants since Dec. 15, 1791. The 2nd Amendment is not for hunting …”

In response to Edward Murphy's Jan. 21 letter concerning those who carry a concealed weapon: Instead of dealing with facts and statistics, Murphy would rather propagate his personal delusions by spreading inaccurate, emotionally-charged accusations. He states that 99.9 percent of those who carry concealed weapons are paranoid, sick individuals who thrive on the possibility of becoming a hero. I don't know how Murphy knows so much about people who carry concealed weapons, but the simple truth is: The great majority of people who carry a gun hope they never, ever have to use it to defend themselves. They are peaceful citizens who believe it is not unethical to protect themselves, rather than Murphy's distorted view that would result in more helpless victims on the evening news.

“What scares me about the Tucson shooting is that if gun control advocates have their way the only people possessing guns will be criminals and the Jared Loughners of the world. There is no need to control guns in the hands of responsible citizens.”

Being a cop can be tough, unpleasant and dangerous. For some people, the police uniform triggers an irrational loathing, a knee-jerk rejection of authority.

second amendment

Thursday’s landmark ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on gun ownership is a welcome and long overdue recognition that the Second Amendment belongs to every American, not just to the military.

A jury convicted a former television meteorologist on two shoplifting charges Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court. Scottsdale resident Kim Dillon, 39, was found guilty of stealing $400 worth of merchandise in August 2005 from Dillard's in Paradise Valley.

We citizens of Arizona should honor Gov. Jan Brewer for standing up for what is right for our great state. She is only asking citizens and law enforcement agencies to do what our federal government fails to do. Just uphold the law. We don’t care about votes, we are not being discriminatory, we just care about our state’s rights and laws, and stop these people from taking advantage of the benefits that my ancestors worked so hard for.

“With a labor participation rate of 63.3 percent, have the Democrats turned America into a third world country or a leftist utopia? Pardon the redundancy.”

Are you 18? Not convicted of a crime?

“I wish the NRA would make up its mind. On one hand they lobby for laws to stand your ground, and on the other hand they lobby for assault rifles. The very term assault means to violently take someone else’s ground. They should lobby to control the amount of ammunition a citizen can store in a residential area. I would like to know if my neighbor has enough ammo and powder stored to blow my house off its foundation. The carrier of his homeowner’s insurance would like to know along with the fire department just for the safety of the community. I guess that makes me a survivalist.”

“Finally, honesty from the gun control crowd. Their endgame is confiscation of guns which will have to include elimination of the 2nd amendment.”

University and community college officials are trying to ward off an attempt by lawmakers to let some teachers carry concealed weapons onto their campuses.

There exists an element of overly passionate wrong-thinking individuals, both in the state of Utah and here in Mesa, who have admitted their open hatred for Senate President Russell Pearce as well as SB 1070, which was lawfully passed by the Legislature and is now before the United States Supreme Court. They advance themselves as true enemies of this state.

Saying the gun’s role in killing Indians is not the issue, the state House voted Tuesday to declare the Colt single action Army revolver as the official state firearm.

“Your front page story (Tuesday), ‘Immigrants less likely to commit crimes, study says,’ is a bold-faced lie. Go sit on a grand jury in this county for six months and see what percentage of violent crimes are committed by illegals.”