Letter: Guns have protected U.S.

I refer Nancy Keegan, a homemaker in Baton Rouge, who “could think of not one instance when citizens’ unrestricted possession of guns has protected our basic rights of life and liberty,” to the words of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, who warned his leaders to avoid invasion of the United States mainland because the citizens are all armed. He would know, having lived in Boston, obtaining a degree from Harvard.

William DeFee

physician

Alexandria

Comments

1) Comment by Bighug - 19/03/2013

Many people who carry guns object to other's rights to have them. Police, judges and court employees, prison employees, politicians and their appointees, etc., for example. Are you one of these, DMJ?

2) Comment by nimby? - 18/03/2013

nor has it been proven he did not say this ...

3) Comment by Maelstrom - 18/03/2013

This is often repeated, but it is not a true quote of Yamamoto. No historian has seen this in writing and most experts don't believe that Yamamoto ever said this quote.

4) Comment by prbeav - 18/03/2013

DeFee's misguided letter does not bother me, but the Advocate's caption does. As folks before me pointed out, Keegan's claim has been refuted by neither DeFee nor the Advocate.

5) Comment by billynurse - 18/03/2013

Don't any of you professional commenters have jobs?...I thought we cleared up this issue.....Would you refer to today's article "Accused killer had history of 2nd chances"....Those of you on your misguided crusade to blame the evil gun may want to see just one example of where the real problems lie...A justice system too "progressive" to keep the violent and deranged off of the street.

6) Comment by DMJ - 18/03/2013

Of course, the Advocate could have done a 2-second fact check themselves and avoided printing this nonsense, but hey....then we wouldn't have gotten "both sides" of the issue.

7) Comment by Diogenes - 18/03/2013

What Admiral Yamamoto allegedly said is that “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass”, unfortunately there is absolutely no record of Yamamoto ever saying this and this quote was created out of thin air by the gun-nuts to support their deluded idea that an armed rednecks are equal to trained soldiers. . Don’t believe me, go to http://www.factcheck.org/2009/05/misquoting-yamamoto/ and read it for yourself.

8) Comment by DMJ - 18/03/2013

Yeah, guns protect people.... well....not everyone - http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/jan/18/mark-shields/pbs-commentator-mark-shields-says-more-killed-guns/ More Americans have died from firearms since 1968 than have died fighting in all major U.S. wars combined. Statistically, war is safer than our gun culture. You'd think a physician, of all people, would know this.

9) Comment by Tea_Slayer - 18/03/2013

Bighug, excellent point. And precisely why the 2nd Amendment was ratified then codified with the Militia Acts of 1792, thereby REGULATING the militias.

10) Comment by SuzanneMS - 18/03/2013

Dr. DeFee should learn the difference between Hollywood's depiction of history and actual history, and that you can't believe everything you read on the Internet. It might be a good thing if the Advocate employed a fact checker or two, as well. According to factcheck.org, "But this quote is unsubstantiated and almost certainly bogus, even though it has been repeated thousands of times in various Internet postings. There is no record of the commander in chief of Japan’s wartime fleet ever saying it." http://www.factcheck.org/2009/05/misquoting-yamamoto/ Exactly, Bighug. The Minutemen were members of a "well-regulated" militia. They were not random individuals.

11) Comment by tradewinns - 18/03/2013

democrats, it has been rumored, have been known to tell the truth, but very seldom. not at all this century.

12) Comment by [e-mail] - 18/03/2013

Keegan obviously has sold her mule.

13) Comment by jdk944 - 18/03/2013

@Bighug, wow, we agree on something. Go figure.

14) Comment by Bighug - 18/03/2013

Maybe Ms. Keegan flunked high school history. There was another group of armed citizens that helped the US with its independence. Remember the militia that was called Minutemen?