Editor:

Now, I am not one to respond to The Chronicle. In fact, I don’t bother to read The Chronicle more than once or twice a semester, yet I happened upon Ed Stevenson’s column (“If cops need guns, then so do I,” Oct. 24) and was left with an uneasy feeling.

I grew up in a house where there was nary a gun to be found, so I may be a tad bit biased-however, I did grow up in Oakland, Calif., which isn’t the most crime/gun-free of places.

Stevenson is under the impression that he is going to protect himself by carrying a gun, and every other person should do the same. It’s a lot like the argument that all nations should have nuclear weapons-the idea behind it is that the risk involved in the retaliation for using your weapon will deter you from using it in the first place.

Stevenson omits one tiny, practically undetectable variable: rationality. People are not rational, Stevenson, they do not think in a way that provides a desirable outcome.

Let me show you in your own words: “As Mao Zedong said, ‘All political power grows from the barrel of a gun.’ Those with the guns have the political power. When citizens have guns, they hold power; you could even call it democratic power, if you like.”

To me, correlating democratic power with guns and then juxtaposing it with a quote from the founder of the People’s Republic of China is completely irrational, and you should have your gun license revoked for having even put those two thoughts in the same paragraph.

Further down the page, Stevenson tells us, “In all honesty, the police are totally ineffective at preventing violent crime.”

Well, crime does exist, but some may dispute the fact that the police are “totally ineffective.”

You go a day without law enforcement, Stevenson, and we’ll see how you fare. My bet: not so well.

SeanO’Brien

Senior, Political Science/

International studies