Burbank and Ben | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Re "U.S. police chiefs, including Salt Lake City's, blast U.S. Senate gun vote" (Tribune, April 24):

What is truly shameful is that the chief of the Salt Lake City Police Department does not even understand the laws he claims to uphold.

Safety is a feeling that cannot be legislated, bestowed or given as a gift. It comes from within the individual. Freedom is responsibility. In a "free" country, you are responsible for your own feelings of safety. If you choose to live your life in fear, that is your choice.

The police do not dispense safety, like water bottles at a 5K race, but that is what Chief Chris Burbank would like you to believe: "Much was said about the rights of gun owners, but almost nothing was said about the equal rights of the public to be safe from gun violence."

Nowhere in the Constitution is "safety" listed as a right.

We are a nation governed by laws, not a nation governed by popular opinion, Gallup polls or special-interest agendas.

As Benjamin Franklin wrote: "They who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Hugh Johnson

Salt Lake City