I was so happy to read that Susan Martin’s shotgun had such a nice day recently. (Sunday letter, “Save our rights, common sense.”) But one part of her fantasy troubles me. When she states “Can you imagine how surprised I was with all the hype about how dangerous guns are and how they kill people?” Hype?!
Every day an average of 289 people are shot, and of those, 86 die. Of those; 30 are murdered, 53 commit suicide, two accidentally, and one by police intervention. Every day. Between 2000 and 2010, a total of 335,609 people died from gunshots. One person is killed by a firearm every 17 minutes.
No one has proposed taking away her right to own a shotgun. But why can’t we have what 80 percent to 90 percent of the people in this country want: background checks. That would at least make it harder for the insane, the violent criminal, and the terrorist to get a weapon.
Tom Ildstad
Mountlake Terrace
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