Letter to the Editor: Need sound laws

The fact of the matter is that each day they leave home with their cell phone and car keys in hand, happy and with the blessing of their parents, who do the same. This combination or with just the car alone kill and maim more people each year than firearms.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (which tracks all U.S. deaths by cause), roughly 11,000 lives have been lost through non-suicide deaths involving a firearm each year. There were over 40,000 vehicle deaths in 2017.

Where is the outrage for vehicle-related deaths? Just the other day, two people were driving the wrong way on the freeway and a family of five to eight people drove off a cliff killing everyone, most of them children. Was there a cry for change? No, these are socially acceptable deaths. And what about the many lives that are saved each year by the use of firearms? If they do research they will find that a very large number of people have saved themselves and family members from life-threatening harm with firearms. If these young people want to really make a change for safety, why don’t they go after the three or so governmental agencies that could have prevented this from happening? It is easier for the loud minority, backed by big money, to pursue laws that police can’t enforce due to a lack of money and manpower.

And when these youth get in a situation where their life is threatened later on, who are they going to call? Well, no one else but a man with a gun. And who is placed at the schools to protect them? A person with a firearm.

Emotion should not mandate laws that take rights way from people because some feel they are not needed.

Tim Sipe

The Dalles