Thank you for your statements, which provide a much better context for the various arguments you have made in this discussion. It is my hope to offer some comments on your formulations, but my comments would perhaps be more useful if you could supply a bit of additional information before I make them.

I note that I have never owned a gun, but do believe that knowledge of firearms mechanics and firearms use should be part of the experience of every citizen. My own familiarity with firearms first came through an NRA-financed program when I was in Boy Scouts, and was certified as either a Sharpshooter or Expert (I forget which). Further, my own research has periodically required detailed concern for historic firearms-- and I have fired a wide variety of guns, from Brown Bess to modern arms. So it can hardly be said that I have an irrational fear of guns.

I also note that I have been threatened by guns on more than one occasion. Once I had a Saturday-Night Special placed two inches from my nose while I was trying to order a hamburger at a late-night eatery two blocks from my office at the University of Maryland, College Park. After that I watched the terrorization of half a dozen people in the diner, while the "perp" explained in great detail how he was going to blow out the brains of one of them. But he left without doing any physical damage.

Now these experiences, and a few others (some of which are brought up below) raise questions for me in regard to your statement: "The image of gun owners forming a mob to overthrow legal government is a smear and a straw man put out by gun control advocates like Michael Bellsiles."

Roughly four decades ago someone I knew at the time told me had purchased either a machine pistol or an AK-47 (I can't remember which). I asked him why. He said: "To defend myself from the army." "Which army?" I asked. "Our Army, the American Army, on the day they put red stars on their uniforms."

Although "Aryan" militias have gotten a good deal of national publicity, a few years ago the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" ran some articles on several fundamentalist militia groups in Missouri.

Hence, I must ask if you wish to rephrase, or clarify the statement quoted from you? Do you mean that all or the great majority of gun owners do not want to overthrown legal government, or do you think that some gun owners do? Do you think that my former acquaintance and the fundamentalists militias are passive owners, and pose no danger unless, as you project, basic constitutional freedoms are endangered by an executive coup?

In your opinion is it unconstitutional to forbid individuals from owning machine guns or fully automatic weapons? Finally, a few years ago a law was proposed in Missouri to permit concealed weapons, but was defeated. Hence, I must ask for another clarification. Would such a law imply that the legally constituted government of a state is incapable of defending persons with its own police power? Likely you see this as only a supplement to local police. But does this not mean that you believe, in essence, that lawful government has largely been replaced by anarchy?

Please do not infer what my own views are from my questions.

-- Melburn D. Thurman (posted 3/14, 10:50 a.m., U.S. Eastern time)

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