Gun-control denial

Craig Whitmore

I would like to take issue with Ron Lowe regarding his recent letter on gun control. Lowe writes that “There are 80 million good, law-abiding gun owners who don’t seem to get it. They are in denial of a very real segment of society: Racists, sociopaths and lunatics have the same access to guns as they do.”

Sociopaths and lunatics are forbidden firearm ownership under Title 18 Section 922 of the United States Code, as are convicted felons, drug users and a host of other people, some of whom are undoubtedly racists.

Second, if we compare the number of firearms available in the country (estimated at 223 million) to the number of all people killed in 1997 with firearms, including assaults, suicides, accidents and those killed by police during legal intervention, we get about one death per every 6,954 guns.

Making the same comparisons for passenger car and motorcycle accidents, we get about one passenger car occupant death per every 5,845 passenger cars, and one motorcyclist death per every 1,808 motorcycles on U.S. roads.

Do the math; cars and motorcycles are both more deadly than guns. So, why isn’t Lowe campaigning for “personal vehicle control?”

In February, Glen White, one of Lowe’s fellow Californians and a disabled diabetic, used a revolver to defend his home against an early morning burglary attempt. Would this have been possible under Lowe’s “sensible and thorough gun control?” Every year, roughly 30,000 people die in the United States from firearm-related injury, while upward of 2 million people defend themselves with guns, usually without firing a shot.

Craig Whitmore

Assistant scientist

Center for Non-destructive Evaluation