In the year 2005 alone, Milwaukee police reported 122 total homicides. And that’s without the right to conceal a weapon.

There are some people in this wonderful state of ours who would like nothing more than to allow everyone to carry a concealed weapon anywhere they go: fast food restaurants, the mall, doctors’ offices — anywhere. And where’s the harm, right?

Well, if you’re living in the city of Milwaukee, you can see where the harm could be. In the year 2005 alone, Milwaukee police reported 122 total homicides. And that’s without the right to conceal a weapon.

Allowing people to carry guns wherever they go is like allowing children to run with scissors. They might not ever get hurt, but no one in their right mind would actually allow their child to do it.

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin legislature is hoping that it can override Gov. Jim Doyle’s previous veto of an act that would allow citizens to carry a weapon anywhere they’d like — except in police stations and sheriff's departments, prisons and jails, and taverns or restaurants — without worry of prosecution. The idea is that if you were ever in a situation where you’d need a gun, you could use it to stop a potential murderer or mugger.

Which is good in theory. But let’s remember: it doesn’t always work out that way. In fact, statistically speaking, those who have handguns in the household are more likely to shoot a family member than to ever shoot a potential robber.

And let’s not forget guns sometimes have the unfortunate luck of going off on their own.

This act is nothing more than an attempt by pro-gun nuts who want to be allowed to become vigilantes in the streets of Wisconsin. I must make a distinction here. When I say “pro-gun nuts,” I do not mean that everyone who is pro-gun is nuts.

The right to have a weapon is guaranteed by the second amendment of the Constitution. I will not deny that I have no need for guns, nor will I ever attempt to own a gun in the foreseeable future. I believe that guns do more harm than good, and in my life, I do not need them.

But I recognize that not everyone in the world shares my view. Some people believe that owning a gun is in their best interest to be safe in the world. And that is fine; I won’t argue against that.

What I will argue against is where you can take your gun. I do not want to have to feel like everywhere I go in Wisconsin is dangerous now because someone who had a bad day loses it and whips out a gun.

So why do we chance ourselves? Certainly having a ban on concealed weapons deters would-be offenders from even carrying a gun. So let’s keep the status quo. Let’s keep a ban on concealed weapons.

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