As a former high school rhetoric teacher, I had to chuckle at the recent letter, “Address violence, don’t blame guns” (Journal, April 9) The issue is not the number of times that an AR-15 type rifle has been used in mass shootings; the issue is the far greater number of people and children killed with an AR-15 versus any other weapon.
Nearly 150 adults and schoolchildren have been killed in the six largest mass shootings in the past five years, and that doesn’t count all the shootings that only kill one or two people, like the recent shooting at Aztec High School. With the ability to squeeze the trigger once a second, and magazines capable of holding up to 60-100 rounds, the potential for death is a lot higher in a minute’s time.
Faulty logic abounds again when the author tries to use the analogy of blaming a car for killing people in drunk driving. The faulty logic here is that cars are designed to transport people place to place, not kill. AR-15s were designed for the military with only one purpose in mind: to kill people.
Gun violence is like being an alcoholic: an alcoholic can’t figure out the problem (himself/herself) until you get rid of the symptom first (alcohol). Same with mass shootings.
Every gun rights advocate I’ve talked to has admitted the same thing: Their core fear is that ALL of their guns will be taken away. Fear stands for “False Evidence Appearing Real.”
Victor Loun
Mancos
