Free Republic

Posted on Thu, Dec. 01, 2005 Letters | Gun ownership not at heart of being American Re: the Nov. 29 Inquirer articles "About 500 mourn devoted young father," "Phila. man, 23, found fatally shot in Nicetown," and "Packing heat - and political punch." Guns are making a combat zone of our streets. Shootings wreak havoc from the inner city to the rural communities of Pennsylvania. As a medic with the Marines in Vietnam, I tried to save the victims of guns and other weapons. In "Packing heat - and political punch," I am appalled by Tammy Bruce's comment, "Owning a...

While news cameras were filming the event, Marine Jeff Key physically grabbed a cameraman from San Francisco local affiliate KGO. Key objected to the cameraman’s shooting position, which was on the same site where the protesters have erected crosses listing the names of fallen soldiers in Iraq. Here's a photo from right before the altercation took place: I asked Mark Matthews of KGO about the alleged assault, “I’m not happy about it. We’re happy to abide by the rules when we know what the rules are. But there was no message communicated to us to stay out of the crosses....