Letters: There are reasonable ways to reduce gun violence

Jay Ambrose doesn’t think that tightening control on the sale of guns will help reduce gun violence in America (Oct. 11). He admits that we have 300 million guns in the hands of the public — almost one for every man, woman and child. He also admits that criminals get their guns “illegally and easily.” So do mentally ill people.

Clearly, our priorities are out of whack. We spend a fortune on “Homeland Security,” including a huge bureaucracy, yet only 38 Americans were killed by terrorists between 2004 and 2013. During the same period, more than 316,000 Americans were killed with guns. This includes murders, suicides and accidents. Guns are the easiest way for depressed people to commit suicide, and for angry people to settle arguments.

Besides strengthening the family, which involves economics and religion, we can reduce the senseless slaughter by requiring a sufficient waiting period for a thorough background check on every gun-buyer, restoring the ban on the sale of assault weapons (where’s the sport in killing an animal with a machine gun?) and offering gun buy-back programs. Responsible gun-owners should support reasonable gun controls.

This story was originally published October 29, 2015 at 1:17 PM.