Regarding Beth Ann Volk’s letter : Yes, Beth, we are all sick and tired of the gun violence that’s taking place in this area, and, more so, in the U.S.
If you want to place blame, I would suggest that you look at the overall picture. Most importantly, look at the quality of the shooters; most are known sociopaths, or even psychopaths, that were never reported to officials, and, if they were, HIPPA rules never allowed for their mental diagnosis issue to be shared. If you check your statistics, you would’ve found that over 5.5 million NRA members killed no one last week, unless it was in self-defense, of course.
You mentioned several countries that enacted strict gun laws, but you did not include murder statistics from those countries. You could have included Mozambique, where over 100 defenseless citizens were slaughtered last week. Or you may have mentioned Chicago, with the most strict gun laws in the U.S., where 4,033 shootings took place last year, to include 875 murders. Would you seriously feel safer in a city with those statistics, under the most strict gun laws in the country?
You suggest boycotting businesses that advertise weapons, guns. I would suggest that not one hunter murdered anyone last year. If shooting sports are not your kind of entertainment, so be it, but many do enjoy them, and would never consider murder as a final choice of a debate. Ever.
In my humble opinion, it’s not a gun issue, it’s a morality issue that goes back to the basic family unit. Proper teaching, proper education, and respect for others, at all times. If this country wants to stop this madness, the bad guys need to be dealt with fairly and quickly. Before you ask, I am a hunter, and an NRA member, and, I too, am sickened by the amount of shootings that are taking place locally, and nationally.
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Todd Gross lives in Fargo.
This letter does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
