Is Hiroaki Sato asking that I give up the gun that saved me from an attack by a knife-wielding robber several years ago? Is he asking my neighbor's wife to give up the gun that stopped an attempted rape in 1997? Is he asking tens of thousands of people who annually avoid death or serious injury because they had a gun conveniently available when they were attacked by criminals to give up their guns? If all the honest citizens give up their guns, then who will be the only people who still have guns?

Is Sato suggesting that a law be passed to outlaw private possession of firearms? Perhaps such a law could be patterned after laws that mandate long prison sentences for illegal possession or distribution of hard drugs. Have these antidrug laws been so wonderfully effective and inexpensive to enforce that we should pass similar laws against possession of firearms?

michael baker