I am writing in response to Mr. Matt Borenzweig’s letter published in the March 7 Public Forum [“Citing second amendment is a cop-out”].
The statistics on gun violence deaths in the U.S. seems to underscore the need for more gun ownership regulation. Further contemplation about the senseless deaths made me research the data presented in the letter and other mortality statistics in the U.S.
The government agency that tracks mortalities in the U.S. is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The latest CDC data available on gun-related deaths is from 2010, which is reported at 11,078, nearly one third the number the letter claimed at “28,000 per year.” Where did that data come from?
Here are the CDC’s mortality statistics for the U.S., available online at cdc.gov/nchs/fastats.
Deaths caused by car accidents in 2011 were 32,367.
Deaths caused by second hand cigarette smoking average each year, 49,000.
Deaths caused by excessive alcohol in 2011 were about 79,000.
Deaths caused by cigarette smoking average each year 443,000.
Deaths caused by heart disease in 2011 were 597,689.
While the deaths related to gun violence are horribly tragic and affect so many lives, let us talk rationally and fairly. Firearm homicides, even using the letter’s unsupported numbers, kill far fewer people in the U.S. than cars, secondhand smoke, alcohol, cigarettes and heart disease. By that argument, cars, second hand cigarette smoke, alcohol, cigarettes and daily living should be even more highly regulated than gun ownership. Yet none of these activities are protected by a Constitutional amendment, unlike gun ownership. Will you call for more government regulation of these adjuncts of daily existence as well? Will you demand that Big Macs, fries, steaks, ice cream and soda be more controlled by the government “so that innocent people no longer die to protect a perceived right” to live and eat like they want?
Yeah, right.
Sonia Ottusch