Letter: Weigh data in gun control debate

To the Editor:

In the article “Minnesotans react to Connecticut shooting” (R-E, Dec. 15) Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, commented on the recent tragedy in Newtown, Conn. “The gun is going to get the bad rap here,” he is quoted as saying. “Of course, it is not the gun, it is the crazy person behind the trigger.”

One could consider looking at some data in this regard.

The gun homicide rates per 100,000 inhabitants for the following countries are: USA: 2.98, Canada: 0.5, New Zealand 0.26 Germany: 0.2, Australia 0.1, United Kingdom 0.03.

In other words, the gun homicide rate is about six times as high in the U.S. as it is in Canada, and 99 times higher than in the UK. All of the above countries have much more restrictive gun laws than the United States. (Data from www.gunpolicy.org).

This would allow one of the following conclusions:

1. The above countries have a lot fewer “crazy” people than the United States, or

2. More difficult access to guns somehow leads to a much lower rate of gun related homicide.

It is left to the reader to decide which possibility is more disagreeable.

Thomas Meyer

Red Wing

Tags: opinion, letters