Paul Karrer’s article on gun control is breath of reason. As a gun owner myself, I completely concur. The political reality is that the Second Amendment is not going to be overturned. It shouldn’t be either. Whether we like it or not, the United States has a gun culture. Besides New Zealand, as Paul notes, gun cultures exist in many Western developed nations. Yet, these nations have low gun violence rates. Canada, UK, Sweden and Switzerland are just a few. They have sensible laws about training and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally unstable. How much more sensible can a law be than that?
The National Rifle Association used to be a sensible organization promoting gun safety. Again, as Paul notes, it has been taken over by gun manufacturers who pretend that the more guns there are, then the safer it will be. The last time that was tried it didn’t work out so well. It was called the Wild West.
Switzerland maintains a large militia. These reserves are required to keep their guns at home. That makes for a lot of military-style guns in the populace. Switzerland doesn’t have a serious gun violence problem because people are trained and evaluated. The ones who are suspect are weeded out. A little common sense can go a long way.
Glenn Church
North Monterey County
North Monterey County
