When people dial 911 for law enforcement services, it is often a call for an officer to bring a gun to the situation and the authority to use violence against violence or to prevent violence with the threat of violence. To many, it is believed that the officer's gun symbolizes the establishment of law and order and not his abilities to negotiate disputes between opposing parties.

In reality, the potential victim of violence is the first responder to a harmful threat and not the police. This fact alone justifies legal gun ownership. The safety that many people with good judgment feel in their homes or in any situation where they are fearful of violence is more assuring with a firearm and with 911 responders as backup.

The reality is that America is a country with well-armed drug cartels at its borders and armed felons, street gangs and other dangerous criminal elements that are growing in many communities.

Home invasions and carjacking are more frequent. Gun ownership by law-abiding citizens for defensive purposes, such as protecting oneself, loved ones and country from enemies foreign or domestic, is a constitutional right to be maintain.

DALLAS BARNES, Pasco