The following letter to the editor appeared in the Boston Herald on Jan. 11. Louis Javelle, an employee at Edgewater’s New Hampshire facility, was one of the seven victims killed at Wakefield.

Louis "Sandy" Javelle was my friend. On Dec. 26 in Wakefield, he was killed by a madman. Sandy held both a federal firearms license and a permit to carry a handgun in New Hampshire. Ironically, the gun laws in Massachusetts prevented him from carrying a concealed handgun. But these same laws did not prevent Michael McDermott from obtaining illegal firearms. When the rampage started, Sandy told co-workers to lock the door behind him and barricade it. He then confronted McDermott and became the third victim. If Sandy had been permitted to carry a pistol, he could have stopped McDermott. That meant that five other people could possibly have survived this tragedy. But Sandy did not have that option.

David Berquist, Temple, NH