Thank you, Michael P. Bacon, for coming so much to the point regarding good guys, bad guys, weaponry and uniforms (“Letter to the editor: Surely, all we need is uniforms and lots of guns to beat bad guys,” July 13).

I feel that the hats should be compulsory – if there is a shootout, it will be so much easier to see a bad guy in his or her black hat. (I’m assuming the bad guys would be armed and uniformed as well to make a level playing field.) We could have youth groups – reread George Orwell’s “1984” to understand their importance.

I am British by birth and have family in England. My sister and I talk every Sunday for about an hour on the phone to stay connected.

After the recent horrific happenings in Orlando, she said to me, “But surely, the American people understand this could not happen if there were not so many guns available?” My response: “Tell that to the National Rifle Association.”

Deborah F. Coward

South Portland