Yet again, an individual who disagrees with a law or decision resorts to name calling. I am referring to the letter from David Newman ("Guns in restaurants explosive idea," July 8), in which he calls the people who passed the concealed weapon law in Georgia "idiots," and insinuates that anyone who believes it's OK to go to a restaurant with a concealed weapon is an idiot. He goes on to say that now he has to worry that if someone doesn't like their food, they'll shoot him.

Another letter writer, Hank Ford, believes this new law will lead us back to the days of the Wild West with shootouts on our city streets ("Don't return to gunslinging Wild West," July 9).

When I was stationed in San Antonio, a Luby's restaurant in a neighboring Texas town was attacked by a person who killed 23 workers and diners, and wounded 20 more. A couple of years later, patrons and workers at a small, family-owned restaurant were rounded up, marched into a walk-in freezer and executed. Texas passed a concealed weapon law soon after that, and violent crime in San Antonio dropped by 70 percent over the next five years. Of course, we recently had the tragedy at Virginia Tech, where one madman killed 33 faculty and students, including a young man from the local area who was a friend of my son.

There is one consistent theme in each of these tragedies. The bad guys had guns -- the good guys didn't. So, I hope Mr. Newman never has to face what the people in the cases I mentioned above did, but if he does, I hope he has a restaurant full of people with concealed weapon permits who may just save their own lives, and his, too.

Danny Prichard, Martinez