I know this has nothing to do with Illinois. However, it is the point behind it that counts. We can all take a joke. I know every gun owner has a sense of humor. However, when the Toledo Blade will print things like this comic they printed in Today's Paper. ( Kirk - Concealed-carry Click here to take a look ) I don't find it funny.

Yes, they will always think of us as Rednecks and back of the woods Hill-Billy's. However, what they don't realize is that some of us have PHD's or Bachelors degrees. That gun owners are a very intelligent group that normally out smart them on a daily basis.

I understand that not everyone like guns and not everyone feels the need to carry one. But for those of us that do carry a firearm we have our own personal reasons. It could be because of the work we do or the neighborhood we live in. I know it is easy enough to have one of the ANTI-GUNNERS to say why don't you just move or change jobs? Sometimes it is just not that simple. Myself I work part time Delivering Pizza and in Private Law Enforcement. Now in my line of work its not so easy to go unarmed. I personally have had a revolver put to my head and had money demanded from me. That was not fun for me.

My biggest problem is that the people that print these things and or write the editorials that they don't want to take the time out to listen to the other side. They do not honestly don't care to read into these types of things. They just assume that it is ok to print absolute crap. Now, if they only learned how to respect us like we do them it might not be so bad.

In my honest opinion it takes one thing to go wrong before someone who isn't necessarily against guns or is anti gun to be forced to get a defend themselves the next time by going out and buying a gun. Honestly, look at the people of Louisiana after Katrina. We all know the number of people that bought a gun after that devastation or catastrophe. Just think how many of those people were anti-gun. I know we wouldn't be surprised on those numbers. But once again the people that run the Toledo Blade might.

In conclusion and this is my only and all totally my opinion.........You can be a genius or be Einstein and still be ignorant to the facts. But too be able to understand your own ignorance and correct it will only make you a better person. It is just too bad some people don't want to correct their own ignorance. But then again maybe we are not the Rednecks here.

-Wm M. Pelish Jr

Toledo Ohio