Last week's Question of the Week asked whether metal bats should be banned from organized youth baseball. The response was huge, with more than four out of five favoring a ban.

Among 1,667 responses -- including many from Miles City, the home of American Legion baseball player Brandon Patch who was killed by a line drive from a metal bat -- 1,354 backed a ban on metal bats and 313 did not.

Here's a sample of readers' comments:

- Yes, all metal bats should be banned. Do we need another Montana family to go through the death of a young player? Metal bats are no different than steroids. They enhance the performance of players. Metal bats have changed the game of baseball, and not in a good or safe way.

- House Bill 588 deadlocked -- 9 Democrats for and 9 Republicans against. How disappointed I was to realize that political allegiance overshadowed the real issue of the bill. Were all of us who supported the bill Democrats? I think not! We are concerned citizens who have experienced first hand the tragic consequences directly related to the use of nonwood bats in baseball.

- First they want to take away where people smoke and now they want to change what youth use to play baseball. Next they'll try to take away how we live and die. This is America. Where is the freedom to do as we want going?

- Metal bats should be banned. Why would you put a weapon in a young adult's hands? Stop using metal bats and save a life!

- Baseball at the legion level and below should ban metal bats as a safety measure. If it saves just one life and saves one parent from having to go through the pain the Patch family has had to endure it is well worth it.

- I remember a young man being killed at a Helena ball game many years ago by a baseball that hit him in the head. Should we have banned baseballs at ball games? Whether we use metal or wood bats, I believe we just have to accept the fact that sometimes accidents happen and no fault can be affixed to anyone or anything.

- Metal bats should be banned. If you cannot use them in pro baseball, why should they be used in youth sports?

- Equipment capable of causing fatalities has no place in kid's sports.- I am a parent for three children in the Babe Ruth program here in town. I am wondering how many who have voted in your poll are actual parents of kids in a baseball program. I know of only a handful of kids over the last three years that actually use the league-provided bats. The remainder use bats they themselves (probably the parents) have purchased. The only wood bats I have seen have been my own when I was a kid.

- I graduated in the same class as Brandon Patch. People think those of us from Miles City are so against metal bats, but when it happens to someone you know, trust me, you will be against the bats. I keep reading that this is going to make others not want to play in Montana against our teams. I think if they don't want to play just because they have to use wood bats, then they shouldn't be playing in the first place.

- (From Brandon Patch's mother) "When your son goes on the field this year, ask yourself -- are you willing to give him up? I wasn't willing to give Brandon up for a baseball game. Remember, it's only a game. We have lost our son; Brady has lost his brother. When I want to talk to Brandon I now go to the cemetery. I hope you will never experience this. Thirteen to 18-year-olds have e-mailed their fears that they have had on the mound. You can make the change, it's all up to you, the parents."