Studying guns

Dear Editor,

I am glad to see the students speaking out and not letting up. I do fear though, that they are being used by anti-gun lobbies and individuals. (Oprah donated 500K according to NBC News). They should be left to speak as they choose and berating them, or anyone, voicing their opinion is un-American and , until now, has been essentially a liberal weapon.

The Israeli program of training and arming teachers has worked quite well and one Ohio school district has had armed teachers for several years without incident. (Dayton Daily News, 2/22/18). I think dismissing it out of hand is shortsighted and believing teachers are over tasked already may be seriously underestimating their instinct to protect children. They should have the option to train and arm. It is their Constitutional right.

The last CDC study was actually in 2013 by executive order of President Obama. The following is a summary of their findings and may explain why the report did not make it to the mainstream media.

1) Armed citizens are less likely to be injured by an attacker.

2) Defensive uses of guns are common. “500K to 3 million, 800K to 2.5 mil according to the DOJ.”

3) Mass shootings and accidental deaths account for a small fraction to gun related deaths. “Obviously this has changed or we wouldn’t be here. Accidents continue to decline at less than 1%”

4) Interventions produce mixed results. “gun bans, background checks.” Could not conclude whether they made a difference or not or whether right-to-carry laws were directly related to the crime decreases.

5) Buyback and turn-in programs are ineffective.

6) Stolen guns and retail/gun show purchases account for very little crime.

7) The vast majority of gun related deaths are not homicides but suicides.

—Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Fire Related Violence. CDC Report 2014.

The term “gun violence” was coined to change the way people think about guns. Dr. Mark Rosenberg (head of the CDC) in a 1994 interview with the Washington Post said we need to look at guns the way we look at cigarettes. That bias was a main reason the research was stopped for 10 years.

We can argue the gun issue for hours and get nowhere, but the bottom line is guns are tools used in the attacks—not the cause. Blaming the tools rather than the user is illogical and lazy because it allows us to avoid asking the real question.

What is happening to America? Young black men have been killing each other for decades and now young white men are striking out at everything around them and the age of attackers is increasing. What has changed in our society?

Guns have been a part of our American society for over 200 years without this happening. Until you can answer that question and take steps, the top priority has to be protecting our children.

Rusty Rogers

Saratoga, Wyoming