Letter to the Editor: Grateful for American justice

This Thanksgiving, I was especially thankful for two fine demonstrations of American justice at its best. A trial in Wisconsin reaffirmed the right to self-defense, and a verdict in Georgia underlined the difference between a neighborhood watch and a lynching. We are fortunate that both were so public.

People on the political extremes, Left and Right, will feel that they won one and lost one. They are wrongheaded.  Our nation won twice.

The lesson to draw from both cases is that, although gun ownership is an American right, it is also a grave responsibility.  In this country, members of law enforcement typically have guns at their sides during tense and physically violent moments.  Probably, this happens at least hundreds of thousands of times a year, and very largely without anyone being shot or seriously hurt.

For the rest of us, knowingly carrying guns into confrontations on the streets is recklessly irresponsible, and politics are no excuse.

Scott Corey

Quincy