Re: “What if the ‘killing machine’ is a Hyundai Elantra?,” Nov. 1 letter to the editor.
Letter-writer Rick Wright promotes “common-sense laws” to regulate automobile “killing machines,” which he asserts killed almost three times as many people in 2014 as firearms. Wright ignores the fact that, unlike guns, cars are not designed for or intended for killing. All forms of transportation are susceptible to fatal accidents, but many gun fatalities are not accidents. They result from a gun being used in accordance with its intended purpose — killing. Common-sense laws have made all forms of transportation safer today than ever. Drivers must be licensed, cars must be registered, cars themselves are safer. Common sense would suggest that devices designed for killing should be subject to stringent regulation. But gun advocates resist any attempt to pass common-sense gun laws.
David Wolf, Lakewood
This letter was published in the Nov. 8 edition.Letter-writer Rick Wright quotes the number of U.S. firearm deaths in 2014 as 12,564. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that firearm deaths surpassed 30,000 in 2002 and have stayed above that since. There have also been more than 80,000 woundings by guns every year in the same period.
Regardless of whose “facts” are correct, we should be able to agree that anything causing such death and injury poses a severe public health problem. That was how the automotive death and injury toll in our country was addressed — as a public health issue. Cars have been made safer, and automotive manufacturers have faced product liability responsibility. As a result, automotive deaths and injuries have been in decline for the past three decades, and cars have never been safer. In the same way, we can reduce gun deaths and injuries by dealing with the nature of the product and how it is produced, distributed and used. This approach has nothing to do with Second Amendment issues, and everything to do with reducing the scope and impact of gun violence in America.
Gene Drumm, Denver
The writer is a member of Colorado Faith Communities United to End Gun Violence’s executive committee.
Calling cars “killing machines” that cause more deaths than guns only points out that both “assault weapons” need to be addressed. What is not dealt with is stopping the unending injuries and death suffered by innocent people by both cars and guns. Taking driver’s licenses away from second-time DUI offenders and background checks on all gun sales would be a good start.
Margaret Anne Spindler, Westminster
This letter was published in the Nov. 8 edition.
