To the Editor:

My father was a US Navy veteran of World War II. He was a deer hunter. He loved to hunt and carry a gun. We buried him in his Navy uniform, on our home farm with his .22 rifle across his chest.

I grew up loving the same things. As I began to think more for myself, I decided to stop hunting because of my deep love for animals.

I do not love guns. I believe in them. I believe in them because they make it possible for the masses of people to maintain some reasonable quantity of control over government.

The people need to possess firearms as a deterrent to bad, very bad government. There is no credible threat of revolution when the masses are unarmed.

However, I believe that the members of the public who are armed should always follow the path of non-violent civil disobedience when attempting to reform or replace government. The only time that a good person should resort to the use of violence, in this case the use of a gun, is to stop another person or persons from inflicting serious physical harm upon her or him.

In the case of revolution, which is what is needed in our country right now, the good, strong people should get together in the streets and demand that the government step down so that it can be replaced.

This revolution should proceed without any use of guns for so long as the government and its corporate controlling forces chose not to inflict serious physical harm upon the good revolutionaries. If the time comes when the corporate/government people threaten to inflict serious physical harm upon the good revolutionaries, then the good revolutionaries should protect themselves with the use of their guns.

I want to bring a full fledged revolution in our country. This is the only way that the good people will come into possession of the power that it takes to protect the Earth and use scientific knowledge to protect public health. This is the only way for the good people to take over control of government and start bringing the good changes that are so desperately needed. Without revolution we will continue to suffer under the controlling influences of corporations. The good people should be leading our nation not bad corporations. I do not believe that the bad people who hold power will give that power up.

We have to take the power away from them. When we start taking the power away from them, they need to know that we are not interested in being martyrs. The bad corporate people need to know that we want to live to enjoy the days after they have been removed from power. So long as the American people have their guns, the bad corporate people will know all of this.

Viva the Revolution

Don Hassig