The NRA has done to gun ownership what Big Tobacco did to smoking. Tobacco taken alone was, while not healthy, certainly not as awful for public health as it became. Big Tobacco advertised it heavily, worked to make it “cool” in society, lied about its dangers and formulated it to make it more addictive.

Likewise the NRA and the gun industry have gone too far in pushing Second Amendment rights and gun ownership. They undermined firearms enforcement by working to see that the ATF did not have leadership and law enforcement did not have modern tools to track gun ownership in criminal investigations. They subverted scientific inquiry into gun violence. They aligned themselves with violent video games and then had the gall to blame the Newtown massacre on violent video games.

The gun lobby has pushed the place of guns in our society beyond reasonable bounds and bears some responsibility for the havoc wrought by gun violence in our society. It would be useful if it would go sit in the corner for a few months while reasonable people sort this out.

David White

Darlington