Simply their right

Regarding "The Politics of the Jackboot: Gun-Toting Protesters Make Their Point in an Ugly Way" (Aug. 21): I think syndicated columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. is missing the point of the protesters carrying guns to these public health-care events. They are carrying them because it is their right to carry them, not because they are trying to intimidate people. No doubt there are exceptions, but there are exceptions on the right as well as the left.

I believe the average conservative American does not believe that death panels are going to pull the plug or all the other nonsense. They are concerned with the government stepping in and taking over. And in every instance that has happened in history, Americans have lost freedoms they once had -- like federal income tax, which was supposed to be temporary and is now a permanent fixture with no end in sight.

JOSEPH HAGER
East Liverpool, Ohio