Phil Kriley’s letter (“Let’s defend ourselves”, Dec. 15), criticizing a cartoon unmasking the pattern of violence involving guns, stated that there is another pattern in the endless series of gun violence incidents: that “in every instance, the location chosen by the criminals/terrorists was a gun-free zone”.

Really? I wasn’t aware that supermarket parking lots were designated gun-free zones. That was the location five years ago when U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot and several were killed, including a 9-year-old girl. The gunman was subdued by unarmed bystanders, though there is no doubt that, here in Arizona, there were armed individuals in the area that day.

It’s interesting to note that, after being shot, Rep. Giffords became an advocate for sensible gun control.

One of the victims killed, Gabe Zimmerman, was someone l had been working with. I had also met Rep. Giffords several times around town and at her office. Another person killed was Judge Roll.

I wonder where the writer gets the facts to support his assertion that “the best defense against a ‘nut with a gun’ is a good guy with a gun”? Where were the “good guys with guns” who could have prevented the death of my friend Gabe, and the critical wounding of my congresswoman?

Where is the rational judgment that seeks to justify the presence of more guns as a deterrent to more gun-related violence? Here in Tucson, the theory failed miserably.

Judge Roll, Gabe Zimmerman, Cristina Green, Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims deserve better than a regurgitation of NRA lies based on erroneous belief, not fact.