Loser identity.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: Tilting at Windmills

In West Virginia, nearly half of the homicides are committed by a spouse or by a domestic partner. About 80 percent of the fatalities in these cases involve guns.

These facts make a compelling argument for gun control. Few politicians present this case. Looking at what happened to Al Gore, they don't want the same thing to happen to them. Their fear is far from groundless; an amazing half of all the state's households have guns.

"Many West Virginians own guns because they grew up with them," explains the Charleston Daily Mail, to which I'm indebted for the foregoing facts. "And in a state where law enforcement can take a long time to arrive, people are accustomed to keeping the means to mount an effective self-defense."

If you've ever flown over West Virginia, you must have noticed how the state is divided by mountains and hills into a series of valleys, the narrowest of which are called hollows. If you live at one end and the sheriff is at another, your 911 call is not going to be answered quickly. Another factor not mentioned by the Daily Mail is that West Virginians love to hunt. I remember how eagerly...