Regarding “Ammunition shelves bare” about rising gun sales across the U.S. (Associated Press, Aug. 1), a sampling of recent local headlines: Clark County deputy shot and killed; Battle Ground man kills neighbor for revving engine; 2 drive-by shootings leave 1 dead, 1 injured; Vancouver woman accused in road-rage drive-by shooting; and many more.
No healthy society should generate news like this, day in and day out. As urban police chiefs keeping tell us, easy access to guns doesn’t make the public safer. Gun violence costs thousands of innocent lives a year. It makes the jobs of the police infinitely more dangerous and puts the lives of the people they interact with in jeopardy, since police have to assume that anyone they encounter could be armed.
All this is why a majority (about 2 of every 3) of Americans support stricter gun laws. So gun enthusiasts, I have a challenge for you. Instead of resisting proposals that could make guns and gun ownership safer, please join the conversation and make some suggestions yourselves. You should be the experts, after all. Guns will always be part of American society; that goes without saying. So I ask you to step up and make some constructive contributions to this discussion. Let’s work together instead of opposing one another.
