On gun issues, common sense works


I happened by chance to stumble on a TV station (C-span) that was showing a program on gun policy, being put on by Johns Hopkins and other universities. I only saw the last part of it. One speaker had done extensive studies of "guns in the home for protection." A couple of things that were really interesting: It clearly showed more suicides, more accidents by gun, more danger and problems for women; and somewhat unclear results on affects for men.

Another spoke about the Second Amendment. Points made: The people who had guns were to be in the militia and that they were required to have guns and that the government was to have complete strict control of the militia and guns.

The closing remarks were that contrary to the media and NRA, etc., their surveys and other data showed that the majority of the people want gun control, that it is possible to have gun control, that the Second Amendment does not block gun control, etc.

Australia has a lot of guns and yet has far less deaths by gun homicide. Common sense works.

A new book is coming out (in a month or two) from Johns Hopkins University about gun policy and control. Get it!

Tom Townley


Via email

Editor's note: The writer also provided a chart, not reproducible, comparing the number of gun homicides in the United States with that of nations that publish comparable data: United States, 11101; Italy, 246; Canada, 173; Germany, 158; France, 142; Australia, 30; UK, 18; Denmark, 15; and Norway, 2. (Source: GunPolicy.org)