The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

Dear Editor

Liberal editorialists across the state are having a conniption! Both houses of our state legislature have overwhelmingly passed a bill which would finally allow law-abiding Missourians the means to defend themselves if needed. Currently, Missouri’s restrictions on concealed carry are more restrictive than even New York’s!

This bill will not go to a public vote, as it is expensive to fight the hysteria and slanted news of urban newspapers. Instead, it faces a possible veto by a governor who was elected on the coattails of a dead man and by a margin provided by presumably-orchestrated vote fraud in St. Louis. The fight to override a veto will be led in the Senate by our own Harold Caskey (D-31, Butler), a Democrat who has managed another override of a veto by a governor of his own party.

The three State Representatives who serve Johnson County all supported the bill. I expect that David Pearce (R-121, Warrensburg) and Shannon Cooper (R-120, Clinton) will have no difficulty supporting a veto override, but party pressure on Democrat D.J. Davis (D-122, Odessa) will be intense. Those of us who value individual rights would do well by letting him know his support is well-appreciated.

A few things to remember as you read the editorial diatribes:
• Criminals carry guns now; it’s illegal for them to own guns and that won’t change.
• The requirements for obtaining a concealed carry license are extremely restrictive; I doubt if I’d make the effort.
• The direly predicted shoot-outs on the street have not occurred in concealed carry states (nor have other “problems”).
• Gun control advocates have consistently slanted or even falsified data; witness the total discrediting of Prof. Bellesile’s book , “Arming America.”