A gun isn't survival key

No, Alan Barben, guns do not increase survival (March 8). Between 1993 and 2002, 636 sworn officers were feloniously slain in the United States, mostly by handguns. That's almost one officer a week. We can presume that those slain officers were far better trained than a person with a concealed weapon permit, yet they were slain.

We should dread the coming day when a concealed weapon holder is wounded or killed in a confrontation with an individual engaged in a criminal act. Too many weapon aficionados appear to feel they will always prevail. A concealed weapon permit does not give a person invincibility, nor does it place him on the side of the angels.

And yes, I am familiar with Dr. John Lott's book "More Guns, Less Crime" and with the Kleck and Gertz study, which purports to demonstrate that 2,000,000 people each year in the country use a weapon to defend themselves. Both of those works have been roundly discredited by criminologists and statisticians who carefully reviewed the methodology and conclusions.

Raymond Hollstein

Salt Lake City