License guns, like cars

Wouldn’t you be outraged if the Afghanistan war racked up 14,708 deaths in one year? That is the number of deaths from gun violence in just 2018*. Compare that to 2,372** military deaths in all the 17 years of the Afghanistan war, start to present.

Consider 3,492 children, under age of 18years, are victims of gun violence, injured or killed, which works out to 9.5 children/day. That does not include suicides. If suicides by gun are included, those numbers double.

Hurricane Katrina killed 1,836.

How does gun violence not qualify as a national catastrophe? Sad tragedies each and every one of them.

As the one year anniversary of Parkland High school shooting passes and the 8th anniversary of the shooting rampage that took Gabby Giffords down, we are poised to pass legislation, H.R.8, a near-universal background check for gun sales. . . . a tiny step toward sane gun possession.

We require a driver’s license to drive a car; age limits to get the license; and educational courses to learn safety rules. We’ve legislated many, many safety regulations for cars, which have decreased motor vehicle fatalities markedly. Cars are dangerous and yet almost everyone owns a car.

Guns are dangerous, why does not the same logic apply? The gun safety proponents are not suggesting taking away everyone’s guns, just as they wouldn’t take away everyone’s car. It’s making our society not only safer but giving students and others the peace of mind that comes with a focus on safety.

Joan Cross

La Conner

* http://www.gunviolencearchive.org one year 2018

** Wikipedia/US Dept.Defense as of July 27, 2018, plus 1,720 civilian contactors