More guns make schools safer?

Letters to the Editor

Columbus Dispatch,

I just love it.

In Thursday’s letter B. Sutton Coffman criticizes Toby Hoover’s earlier letter that suggested gun laws in this country are too lax, by saying “It would be nice if there were some facts to support that position, rather than Hoover’s nebulous claims.”

He then proceeds to list several of his own nebulous claims, conjectures, and opinions without offering a single fact to support any of them.

Let me offer just two facts and ask him to draw his own conclusion.

If you combine the populations of Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia, you’ll get a population close to that of the United States.  We had over 30,000 gun deaths last year; they had less than 1,500.

Is that because Americans are more homicidal by nature, or could it be because those countries have stricter gun control laws?

The number of gun deaths per 100,000 of population in the U. S. is 10.3.  Japan’s rate is 0.06.  We are 172 times less safe.

Dave Girves

Bit by bit, more guns in Ohio

Letters to the Editor

Columbus Dispatch,

I respond to the response in the Tuesday letter “Concealed-carry does not boost violence.”  In it Lawrence Ferraris quotes statistics about the number of murders in Ohio compared to Illinois.

It isn’t simply ‘concealed-carry’ or ‘stand-your-ground’ laws that our legislators propose at the behest of the gun manufacturers.  Bit by bit, they make it easier and easier for more and more guns to be on our streets and in our homes.

While that certainly boosts their profits, it does little to protect our safety.

I would suggest Mr. Ferraris look at the bigger picture’s statistics.

If you combine the populations of Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia, you’ll get a population close to that of the United States.  We had over 30,000 gun deaths last year; they had less than 1,500.

Is that because Americans are more homicidal by nature, or could it be because those countries have stricter gun control laws?

The number of gun deaths per 100,000 of population in the U. S. is 10.3.  Japan’s rate is 0.06.  We are 172 times less safe.

Dave Girves