Gun control: Reason over emotion
Dear Editor:
I understand the emotional need to take some action to prevent further tragedies like that at Sandy Hook, but we need to exercise reason over emotion in fashioning a solution. Outlawing hunting guns that look like military weapons won't solve the problem; there will still be hunting guns that don't look like military weapons that are just as lethal.
Limiting the size of magazines won't solve the problem; it takes only a few seconds to insert a fresh magazine into a gun.
Universal background checks would make it more difficult for a mentally disturbed person to get their hands on a gun if a national database were established that prohibited selling guns to the mentally ill but this would require a radical change in our current privacy laws.
Armed guards in our schools might be a deterrent, but the guard would be the first target of a disturbed individual bent on taking as many lives as possible before taking his own. Don't forget that Columbine had an armed guard on campus and that did not deter Harris and Klebold and the guard was not at the right place at the right time. And don't forget that they used shotguns and handguns not "assault" weapons.The school principal and a psychologist at Sandy Hook, although unarmed, confronted the shooter but were instantly killed. One wonders what the outcome would have been had they been armed. They were at the right place at the right time to change the outcome. Properly trained and licensed school employees who, on a volunteer basis, are discretely armed would not be a threat to the general population and would be a powerful deterrent to another tragedy like Columbine or Sandy Hook.
Richard Udd
Cedaredge