Ron Berler is a 1967 Staples High School graduate, and noted magazine and newspaper writer on a variety of subjects, from education to baseball. Today, he turns his focus on guns.
Ron says:
How fearful are Westporters?
In 2001, the town’s police department issued a total of 26 gun permits. That number jumped to 181 in 2021.
According to the Connecticut State Police, as of April 2021 there were 5,212 registered firearms in town – 2,877 handguns and 2,079 long guns, a category that includes assault-style weapons.
That’s a lot more firepower than the Minutemen who faced down the British at Compo Beach had. And those fellows had an actual need.
Ron Berler
I grew up in Westport. Walking the quiet streets, even the unlighted ones, even at night, I can’t recall a single instance of fear – other than the time I egged a car on Halloween night and the driver chased me through woods that, thankfully, I knew better than he.
Now I live in Stamford. I walk the streets of my suburban neighborhood nightly, armed with a flashlight, doggie bag and miniature poodle while keeping my eyes peeled – for the hawk and the occasional coyote that have claimed as their turf what I had imagined to be mine.
I don’t own a gun. Never have, never will. Yet I don’t pretend that Westport, or the US, will ever be a gun-free zone. Or that it even should be.
I do believe in a nuanced approach to firearms possession.
Shortly after the Uvalde massacre, I wrote an op-ed about nuance and gun reform. It ran in the Houston Chronicle. I wanted it in a Texas paper for a reason. Here it is. (The Chronicle has a paywall, so I’ve posted it on Medium.com.)
I hope it resonates with you.
The type of weapon the 2nd Amendment had in mind, for a well regulated militia.