Let's assume the mass shootings currently plaguing our country are not going to magically stop. We can choose to ignore them or take some steps to protect ourselves.

Let's do a hypothetical. Say you are a potential shooter and plan to kill as many people as possible before someone kills you. You want to go to a populated area, and you have the choice of two towns that you are familiar with and are the same distance from you.

One town has strict gun control laws and few citizens are armed. The second town is the opposite. Most of its citizens who are not felons or mentally disturbed can get a concealed weapons permit and many of them are armed. Which town would the would-be assassin choose? 

In times past, carrying a gun was not something people necessarily wanted to do. Guns were cumbersome and uncomfortable to wear in those days, but the times dictated that people needed to protect themselves. So men and women strapped on guns.

Today's guns are much easier to wear, and it's becoming apparent that the times now dictate that some of us need to protect ourselves and others. 

It's time to take the blinders off and face what many would choose to ignore. It can't get much closer than Thousand Oaks. One armed customer could have saved many lives.

Bryan Edwards, Camarillo

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