August 23, 2019
Dear editor;
The August 15 column by John Whitehead in The Voice, entitled, “Mass shootings can lead to government tyranny guise” was the worst type of fear-mongering and misdirection.
He wrote, “In the midst of what feels like an epidemic of mass shootings, these gun confiscation laws, extreme risk protection order laws, may appease the fears of those who believe that fewer guns in the hands of the general populace will make our society safer. Of course, it doesn’t always work out that way.”
There are several problems with this statement: Number one is that fewer guns in our society would make us safer. That fact has been proven over and over in nation after nation that enacted common-sense restrictions on hand guns and military style assault weapons. Dozens of other advanced countries have these restrictions and none of them has imposed tyranny on the population with these laws. They do, however, have none of the mass shootings we suffer and far lower rates of firearm deaths by murder, or suicide.
I am no fan of Donald Trump, but giving law enforcement the tools to reduce the number of guns in our society and the help to keep guns out of the hands of those bent on murder, is a more than reasonable response to a much more immediate threat than Mr. Whitehead’s concern about government boogeymen.
Sincerely,
Christopher Alexandrov
Naperville