LETTERS IN VIEW : Gun Control Arguments Aim at Targets

The article by Patrick Mott quoted Marjolijn Bijlefeld of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence as saying, “If we could somehow verify that you’re buying a gun and you’re always going to be a model citizen, you’re never going to get angry or have the wrong people over, or never have kids over, then maybe we could talk. But you can’t verify that.”

She makes it pretty hard. By her standard, I don’t suppose any of us could buy a car, put in a swimming pool, or even have a knife in the kitchen.

I was also intrigued by the statistics, so I checked my Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1989. The coalition says there were about 9,000 handgun homicides in 1988, but in 1986 there were 3,625 murders by cutting or stabbing. If there were fewer handguns might there be more murders by knife? Bijlefeld might want to check on that.

The total number of accidental deaths was 95,277 in 1986. There were over 47,000 deaths in auto accidents alone. Wouldn’t it make more sense to outlaw cars, or at least allow only model citizens to own them?

Finally, it is asserted that there were only 40 justifiable homicides in 1988. But research by Gary Kleck, Florida State University, showed that in 1980 alone between “. . . 1,500-2,800 felons were legally killed by gun-wielding civilians, about 8,700-16,000 were nonfatally wounded and guns were used defensively about one million times.” Ms. Bijlefeld will definitely want to check on that one.

BOB HARDING

Granada Hills