Readers Fire Back on Gun Column

In the interest of fairness, today we offer this space to readers reacting to Sunday’s column about the Dec. 30 attempted murder of musician George Harrison, who was stabbed in his home.

Harrison’s wife, Olivia, reportedly staved off an attacker by striking him with a lamp.

It was proposed in this column that both the former Beatle and the Queen of England are alive today, after separate home invasions, because England’s strict gun laws may have discouraged criminals from carrying more lethal weapons. Many readers believe this to be poppycock.

Opposing opinions are welcome.

However, in a grotesque 2 + 2 = 5, a few readers questioned a reference to Michael Abram (alleged attacker of Harrison) and Michael Fagan (confessed intruder of Buckingham Palace) having “a name with the same ring” as bordering on anti-Semitism.

What a repulsive conclusion.

“Michael Fay-gun.” “Michael A-brum.” They sound alike. Period.

OK, fire away:

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“I wonder how far the burglar would have gotten if Mrs. Harrison had a gun instead of a lamp.” --Richard Temme

“Had Harrison’s attacker thought George had a gun, would we be reading about this break-in at all?” --Bruce Armstrong, Santa Barbara

“If George Harrison had a handgun in his night stand drawer, the encounter might have had a very different outcome . . . i.e., a bullet hole in Abram’s chest, rather than a knife wound in Harrison’s.” --John Elfmont

“George Harrison should have the ability to protect himself. A man in his late 50s wrestling with a 30-year-old is not what I had in mind.”

--Terry Vasseur

“If Queen Elizabeth II had had a loaded .38-caliber revolver by her bed, Michael Fagan could have either been held at bay or shot dead, as any intruder intent on violence and/or mayhem should be. Please! Enough, already, with this rabid anti-gun, anti-self-defense fanaticism.” --Charles Haigh

“In Charlotte (last weekend), a woman used her licensed, concealed handgun to shoot a man who was about to bash her head in with a crowbar. In your world, she’s dead.”

--Joe Simpson, Durham, N.C.

“Putting his wife in the position to have to beat an assailant over the head with a lamp is an injustice to Harrison or any future assailant’s victim.” --Marc Bourget, Anaheim

“If the queen or Mr. Harrison had been armed, there would be nothing to write about. The perps would not be costing the taxpayers anything. They would have found their calling as compost.” --Dean Clark

“I thank my sweet Lord for guns. I, as a rural dweller, enjoy my right to own firearms for protection, hunting and recreation.”

--Robert Nadeau

“Do you know that in England they have double or triple the ‘hot burglaries’ as in the United States? (Hot is when the thief knowingly enters a house when people are home.) Do you know why? Because the thief doesn’t fear the occupants, because they don’t have guns.”

--Homer Lancaster

“As someone who lives in England, I was unable to discern whether your conclusions were intentional misstatements as propaganda for the American reader or the result of your paucity of information and mentality.” --Lawrence Frankley

“Do you think Harrison would have been stabbed if he had had a Walther .380 stainless steel PPK like I carry every day? Normally your column is interesting, but I’m going to keep carrying the Walther and anyone who tries to stab me is going to have some major problems.”

--Burl Estes

“I’m a practicing veterinarian whose hospital has been broken into five times, twice for drugs, twice for money and once for . . . I don’t know. I’ve had my auto broken into twice. I strongly believe it is my right to protect myself, and the only way this can be accomplished is with the use of a handgun, or in the home, a shotgun.”

--Donald R. Watson

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“A fully capable aggressor with a six-inch knife may have done to Mr. and Mrs. Harrison what was so brutally done to Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman. And you call yourself a reporter? Ha ha ha! Propagandist would be a better term.” --Kim Whitmyre

“George Harrison, had he been allowed private ownership of a firearm, would not have had to worry about a nut with a knife. He could have just blown his attacker’s head off. Why do you have such hatred for America?” --Dennis Oakland

“What silly, politically correct drivel.”

--Richard Ross

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Mike Downey’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write to him at Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053. E-mail: mike.downey@latimes.com