The following letter was published in the September 16 edition of The Asbury Park Press.


I read the story of the man who was attacked, murdered and stabbed in the neck like an animal, by animals, for his stinking bicycle ("Man, 25, slain for his bike," Sept. 13). I wonder: What do the policymakers at the Asbury Park Press, which has consistently supported any and all gun-control schemes, think when reading such a story? 

Do they give any thought at all to the role they may have played in this tragedy by being such staunch opponents of the people's right, both human as well as constitutional, to be armed in order to combat such attacks by human predators? 

Does the thought of "What if this poor man had a gun" ever enter their heads? Do they simply soothe their thoughts to the obvious answer to this question by determining that this man's life is expendable to the furtherance of the misguided cause of so-called gun-control, which is always aimed at the law-abiding. 

I think expendable is the exact description of their rationale and it makes me feel angry and sorry for us all as I and my colleagues steel even further our resolve to oppose all mindless violence as well as the actions of the inadvertent friends of the criminal element -- the proponents of gun-control. 

I've no doubt that some blame will be ascribed to the victim for daring to defend his property and person. Who did he think he was anyway? A cop? An American? 

Lawrence J. Braico
NORTH BERGEN

Lawrence J. Braico is a Regional Vice President
Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Inc.

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