There’s something I don’t understand.

I’m not going to argue what the Second Amendment means. I’m not going to question anyone’s right to own a gun, or why anyone wants or needs a gun.

I’m not going to argue whether having guns at home would ever be necessary, let alone effective, in protecting our freedoms. I’m not going to argue against the “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” mindset. I don’t disagree that even if we ban guns, bad people will still get them or that people will still kill people using knives or hatchets or fists.

But the undisputable fact is that countries that have controlled gun proliferation have far fewer gun-related deaths than we have. If that difference is not about the guns, then the only other explanation must be that we Americans are simply a more violent, more evil people. I don’t believe that is true.

What I don’t understand is anyone feeling that it’s more important to have their gun than to stop this out-of-control killing.

I don’t understand why it’s more important to have a gun than to keep the next child from tragically shooting his brother in play, to keep the next young person from being hit by a stray gang bullet, to keep the next gun-toting angry customer from killing the waitress who asks him to stop smoking. Or to help keep our police be somewhat safer as they do their jobs.

Why is having a gun more important than keeping the next Sandy Hook or San Bernardino from happening?

I don’t expect to change anyone’s mind about their right or desire to have a gun. But I do hope everyone will consider whether that right is worth all the deaths that might otherwise be avoided.

Marie Pike

Scarborough

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