Dear Editor,

I recently read Tim McKee’s letter to the editor about the NRA protests and his overall opinion regarding the Riflery and Marksmanship Club. While I disagree with his position I cannot help but see that his position is a very uneducated one.

I would like to start off by saying I am a new member of the marksmanship club. I was not at last year’s NRA event however I find it very hard to believe that their arguments were as vague as Tim makes them out to be. Allow me to respectfully enlighten Mr. McKee and other readers.

The AR15 is not an “assault rifle”. The state of Connecticut defines an assault riffle as “Any selective-fire firearm capable of fully automatic, semiautomatic or burst fire at the option of the user.” The AR15 is not capable of selective fire, it is only a semi-automatic rifle that can be used for sport or hunting. I personally use this rifle for sport shooting at sanctioned events held by the International Defensive Pistol Association. The vast majority of the people who own these guns use them at ranges for sporting. They are not out on the streets as the media claims.

As for the “cop killer” bullets, that is just plain ignorance. That is a term the media created to make their stories make more people get upset. Any bullet can be a “cop killer.” The issue is not the bullets. The issue is the bullets in the hands of hardened criminals who would use their guns against police. The vast majority of gun owners would not do such a thing. As tragic as the Arizona shooting was, you cannot blame the gun for what happened, just like you cannot blame the bus for killing that student at UConn. A gun does not have a mind of its own. The person holding the gun is the one who pulls the trigger and someone in the same state of mind as the Arizona shooter would walk right on a campus and do the same thing without any opposition.

Tim’s statement of “dangerous agenda advocating for more guns and looser laws that threaten our neighborhoods and campuses” particularly showed me the lack of research and understanding that the anti-gun community has. The NRA fights for the right of the U.S. citizen to freely possess a firearm whether it is for self-defense, hunting or sport. The people that the NRA fights for are not to people who you need to worry about posing a threat to neighborhoods and campuses.

The NRA and the people who support it fight for these laws because they actually follow them. The people who threaten the public are the criminals, who by definition break laws. Do you really think that a criminal would not bring a gun on a campus because there is a law saying he can’t? I don’t know what world you live in, but the one I live in has people doing things that they shouldn’t do every day. The no campus carry law didn’t stop the Virginia Tech shooting but there’s a very good chance that an armed student or faculty member could have. This leads me to my next point.

College carry is not as crazy as you might think. There are over 30 schools in 3 states that allow carrying a handgun on campus. In those schools the crime rate has dropped by about 30 percent while on campuses that do not allow carry, the crime rate has risen. I am by no means saying that everyone should be able to bring a gun on campus. But I believe that the people who have gone through the state process to get the permit to carry a handgun should be allowed to register with the school as a campus carry participant.

College shootings do happen and I personally would feel more secure knowing that I can defend myself and other classmates should an intruder come along. By not having campus carry, we are all a bunch of fish in a barrel to anyone who wants us. I know for a fact that if someone came in anyone’s classroom waving a gun that even the most anti-gun activist will wish there was someone there to protect them. And that is the hardest fact to make people understand. Most people cannot imagine the horror of being that helpless in a situation like that. I never want to feel that way. If allowed to carry in class and such a situation were to happen I would rather try to help and fail than sit helplessly watch someone open fire on classmates.

I feel my opinion letter is dragging on but that what happens when you feel passion for something. I just want to say that the opinion stated about the marksmanship club is false. They are not a bunch of gun nuts who try to make the world a more dangerous place.  The world is dangerous enough on its own. They are fighting for the right to defend themselves and others should they ever need to.

Brenden Zesk
CCSU student, Riflery and Marksmanship Club member