Dear Editor:

Wally Reed’s idea (Letter, Jan. 7) that America doesn’t need the Second Amendment because we have police is wrong in many ways.

The police in this country are dedicated, hard-working public servants but they are not in any way obligated to risk their lives to protect us. Try as they will, police are often there in time to console, investigate and hopefully apprehend. While violent crime is down in America, you only have to look to the news to understand there are people out there who want what we have and will harm us to get it. The rise in drug-related crime in Maine alone should be an indication of that.

Law enforcement all across the country are urging citizens to take an active role in their own defense. Just as we have a fire extinguisher in our home to keep fire at bay until the fire department gets there so should we be able to have the means to protect our homes and family until the police get there.

Sadly, policies like Reed supports only make people vulnerable. Recently in Brooklyn, a man was in a park with his 18-year-old daughter. Approached by five men, he was forced away at gunpoint and his daughter raped until he returned with police. Despite laws as suggested by Reed and others, those thugs had guns to force their will on others. If that father had been armed, it certainly may have had a different outcome. Reed’s suggested gun restrictions only make the law abiding less safe and empower the criminals.

Micheal Leighton

Boothbay