Letter - Gun safety laws should be promoted

To the editor:

Whenever there is a mass murder, the answer from the NRA is more guns. Does the NRA realize how stupid this sounds? That is like saying the best way to protect yourself from speeders is to drive faster than the other speeders.

We are a civilized country. We should be trying to discourage “Gunfights at the OK Corral,” not encouraging them. We must recognize the NRA for what it is, a lobby group, funded by gun manufacturers, to promote gun sales.

I am the owner of several guns, including being a licensed pistol owner. I recognize the use of guns for protection, varmint control and sport. However, just as there are traffic laws to protect me while I am driving, there needs to be laws for gun safety. I have never been able to understand why it is considered patriotic for Americans to kill Americans. As a former combat Army officer, I fully realize that the purpose of guns is to kill. Another veteran told me, “I have had enough shooting and killing for one life.”

We should look at what has been successful in other countries. Australia, a country with a cowboy tradition, similar to our own, enacted a series of laws after a mass murder. That reduced the murder rate half its previous level. Mass killings have also disappeared. We should look at these laws, and those of other countries with low murder rates, and adopt those laws that would benefit us. Cutting the murder rate in half would save approximately 30,000 American lives a year; far more than the number of lives any terrorist group has killed.

The NRA should be promoting good gun safety laws. That would do far more to protect gun owners’ rights than promoting shoot-outs and contributing money to lunatic fringe political candidates.

Marv Jensen

Kensington, MN

Tags: opinion, letters