My comments in regards to the opinion piece of Bob McGarrah, “ Desensitized to death, in need of solutions,” (The News-Times, March 4) are as follows:

1) He makes several good suggestions in regards to getting the advice of knowledgeable groups to provide solutions to this issue of gun violence in the US. I disagree with the inclusion of the NRA in his list, as this group only represents a small fraction of gun owners, and has a known lobbying position against any gun control legislation.

There are no groups on his list, that include those who support gun control legislation. He also does not include the Center for Disease Control, which can provide statistical insight about gun related deaths.

2) Also I disagree with his citation of Chicago as an example of where strict gun control laws don’t work. Many of the guns in Chicago come from neighboring states where gun laws are very lax. National statistics on gun death show that the states with the strictest laws have lower gun related deaths.

There are also numerous democratic countries, like the UK, where lower per capita gun ownership results in drastically fewer deaths, on the order of 1/40th the US per capita rate.

We know the answers to reducing gun related deaths, and most of them include reducing access to guns by those who should not have them (expanded and improved background checks), eliminating access to assault type weapons, high capacity magazines, and working to ensure those who need help in resolving their issues get it.

George Bossers

Gaylordsville