'Try a dog, not a gun'

A lot of gun advocates feel a loaded handgun in the home provides safety and security. To prove their premise, they often cite the Cates and Zantop murders. Surely, they argue, if a loaded firearm had been available, their assailants either would have been deterred or killed in self-defense.

Actually, it's difficult to believe a gun in either of these homes would have made any difference. According to the news reports, Kimberly Cates was apparently asleep in bed when she was attacked. Half and Susanne Zantop were attacked without warning by the teenagers they had invited into their home. Maybe in some circumstances an alarm could warn a home's occupant of a problem, but unfortunately anything electrical can malfunction.

A far safer, less risky and more reliable option to having a gun or an alarm is readily available. A dog may easily deter a potential intruder by simply barking and may protect the home's occupant from harm by attacking an actual intruder. The cowards who murdered Cates and the Zantops would have run for their lives if they had been confronted by a snarling Akita or German shepherd!

DALE WINKLER

Concord