I don’t know all of the details of the shooting at Zambarano Hospital described in the May 7 article “Security contractor fired after shooting at Zambarano,” but please allow me to express my most heartfelt relief that wielders of knives, firearms, blunt instruments and any other imaginable weapon will be free to wreak havoc at Zambarano Hospital until — what, exactly? Are we hoping for “open field tackles”? The fine art of persuasion as taught by high-pressure salesmen?

The only suitable response to an attack is a response of equal or greater force. Failure to comprehend this basic behavioral fact ultimately leads to loss of life on scales that have left many people wondering, “what more could we have done to prevent this violence?”

Ignorance can be excused from time to time. Willful disregard for the well-being of the innocent and weak is an entirely different matter.

BRIAN DAVID CONDON

Uxbridge