Society rightly expects hunters and target shooters (most NRA members), to politely endure minor inconveniences from gun control laws if it serves to make our society safer, but it is becoming obvious that even "sensible" gun laws do not make us safer.

The Spring 1995 (vol. 63:2) issue of Tennessee Law Review is available for $13 from the Law Library at 615-974-4464, and contains 375 pages of thoroughly referenced studies on the impact of guns and gun laws on society. In that issue, an article titled "Guns and Public Health: Epidemic of Violence, or Pandemic of Propaganda" makes it clear that advocates of increased gun regulation have resorted to distortion of data, and in some cases, pure fabrication of "facts" in order to deceive voters into supporting gun control. They do this despite clear evidence that even "reasonable" gun laws typically backfire, and have cost thousands of lives yearly in this country.

R.J. Rummel, in "Death by Government" (ISBN 1-56000-145-3) notes than on an international level, military and police have murdered an average of over 4,000 people per day for the past 100 years, a number many times greater than the number of lives lost by violent crime, suicide, and gun accidents combined.

J Simkin, in "Lethal Laws - Gun Control is the Key to Genocide" (ISBN 0-9642304-0-2) points out that in EVERY case of such genocide, the cascade began with registration of firearms "to reduce crime." Many of the current gun law proposals seem merely to be excuses for creating a potentially dangerous government database of gun owners, in clear violation of U.S. law.

With even politically liberal sociologists and criminologists like Gary Kleck pointing out that gun control laws are much more dangerous to a society, and to individual citizens, than guns themselves, a new breed of gun control opponents has appeared--people who don't necessarily even own or like firearms, and don't bow their heads in shame whenever the president tries to blame a gun tragedy on the "gun lobby."

As a physician who feels a duty to protect the Public Health from legislative quackery, I no longer view gun laws as just silly, ineffective ways for spoiled soccer moms to get warm fuzzies. Even allegedly "reasonable" gun control laws pose an insidious and dangerous threat to our safety, including that of our children.

It's about time folks like Wayne LaPierre started using strong language --you don't compromise when lives are at stake.

Permission given to print the above letter, signed

Andrew Johnstone, RPh/MD
Indianapolis, IN 46227