This letter is in response to the letters attacking Ms. Kistenmacher’s article. I would like to know where the facts you guys used to support gun control came from, since they really don’t make any sense. Nick Vrana wrote that 99.8 percent of all guns are not used for violent crime and that 99.4 percent of all handguns are not used for violent crime.

What about non-violent crimes such as bank robbery, drug trafficking or burglary, in which a gun plays a large part, but the crime is not defined as “violent?” These crimes fall outside that category.

Mr. Vrana claims that gun control laws don’t work because 89 percent of guns used in crimes are obtained illegally. Eighty-nine percent of the .4 percent of guns used in crimes are obtained illegally? So .356 percent of guns used in crime are obtained illegally? That sounds to me like something is working.

My other issue with these gun-supporting letters is that the main justifications the NRA and others come up with to keep their guns is that if they are taken away, the United States will suddenly become a police country.

I doubt the government will suddenly decide to harass and murder its citizens. That hasn’t worked in the past and it surprises me that people are afraid that it will happen. The other justification is a poor comparison between guns and alcohol. There is a huge, simple difference between the two. Alcohol doesn’t, by definition, kill people. I can take a shot of vodka and not die. The only purpose for a gun is to kill something, be it animal or person. There is no other use; that’s why they are made.

To insinuate that the Holocaust was in any way related to the banning of guns is ridiculous. Hitler lied to the Jews and convinced them that to go with him was in their best interest. Even if they had guns of the era, most would still have gone with him.

I support both gun control legislation AND toughening the laws that exist now, but neither will work without the support of the general populous. And while this type of thinking runs rampant, I have a feeling it’s going to be a long wait.

Tony Nusbaum

Freshman

Political science