George,

When I was very young my father used to go on hunting trips . One year when I was five, he had to cancel out at the last minute. My mother had gone into labor with my baby brother. The following day they got a call. My father's best friend had been killed. He had been shot and the people who did it ran away and he was left to bleed to death in a field. All weapons were immediately banned from our home and my mother made my father promise that he would not raise his son with guns.

The first time that I ever saw a gun was shortly after I was married. When we moved into our new home, my husband's shot gun moved in with us. It used to keep me awake at night knowing that there was something in my closet that could kill people.

Now I live in a very rural setting and must use guns to protect my livestock and to make an apparantly futile attempt to keep snakes out of my house.

The really sad part is now that my brother has grown up and discovered guns, he has over compensated for his earlier deprivation and my father is a member of the NRA.

Ellora Young (electronic mail, June 12, 2001).

There is no justice.