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In "Fire Away," you claim that a "gun-rights vision of well-armed citizens shooting down an outlaw" is disproved because "less than 1% of all gun deaths involve self-defense." Killing people, even outlaws, is not part of any gun-rights vision I am aware of. I've twice had to draw a gun in self-defense, and in both cases, the perpetrators were arrested shortly thereafter with no loss of life. Simply being armed is often enough to deter criminals.

Patrick Rodgers, PHILADELPHIA

Ruth Davis Konigsberg does a service to the bereaved in "Good News About Grief." Yet while grief therapy is not necessary for the resilient majority of grieving people, it's also critical to note that new approaches to therapy are demonstrably effective for mourners whose losses are sudden and traumatic or whose grief is disabling. With 1 in 7 survivors struggling to make sense of their losses and move forward, professionals who specialize in helping them do so can be a godsend.

Robert A. Neimeyer, MEMPHIS

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