Like everyone else, I have been listening to the survivors of the latest school slaughter. It is refreshing to hear the honesty of these children rather than the usual platitudes politicians spout to preserve the status quo — to placate the populace while not antagonizing their gun lobby masters. While politicians try to deflect the blame, these kids know the main culprit is the assault weapons themselves and the fact that it is much too easy for anyone to buy them. The decade these weapons of war were banned, there were 42 percent fewer mass shootings, but the NRA and other gun lobbies that own our Congress pressured their people to lift the ban. It was allowed to lapse, and such shootings went up by 239 percent.

Law enforcement officers, almost unanimously, believe we would be safer if there were fewer guns on the street. In New York City, for instance, since they passed stricter gun laws, homicides have gone down from approximately 2,000 a year to about 400.

What rarely are reported, however, are more uncomfortable facts. It is not my goal to lay guilt on anyone, but the fact is that one is more likely to die by a gun if one owns one than if one doesn’t — much more likely. As are one’s children. Nearly all people in rural areas own a gun of some kind. To hunt. To kill varmints. To put an animal out of its misery.   How many people don’t know of a child who has committed suicide? By gun? Would he have killed himself if the means of doing so had not been immediately available when his despair was at its peak? Would he have killed a family member under the influence of alcohol or in a moment of rage? In 2013, there were 11,208 homicides by gun in America and 21,175 suicides. No one who owns this kind of gun expected or wanted his or her child to use it to end his or her own life! But people should be aware of the facts. Too often, too, a person dies by having his own gun turned on him.

I know we are not going to get rid of shotguns, rifles and handguns. Keeping them more secure would be a good idea. We hear of young people and even toddlers shooting people because of carelessness by gun owners. If I remember correctly, guns are the third leading cause of death for children.

Ninety-seven percent of the population favors universal background checks. Sixty-seven percent favors the assault weapons ban being reinstated. If it is not reinstated, the sale of such weapons must be severely limited. Unfortunately, the Second Amendment is used not so much to promote the right to bear arms as it is misused to further the right to sell arms. Greed. In other countries people suffer from mental illness — and they commit violence. But there are nowhere near the number of killings as in America largely because of our almost uniquely easy access to firearms.

Lonna Gooden Van Horn

Northwood