Gun control column contains several erroneous facts

Blake Aued's column (DM Sept. 8) saying Bush is out of touch with American's desire for more gun control was littered with errors.

First, New York does not have the strictest gun laws in the country. Washington D.C. does. Handguns have been banned there for decades, but they still have the highest crime rate in the country.

Second, the gun show loophole is a myth. I would like to see his source for the "fact"' that 80 percent of all guns used in crimes come from gun shows. John Lott, Yale professor and leading authority on the subject, puts the number at two percent.

All dealers must perform background checks, just the same as they do at a gun store. They have performed these checks since the Brady Bill went into effect, so the loophole is really a figment of handgun control's imagination.

You have always had to be 21 to get a gun permit in New York, just as you do here in Mississippi.

Finally, to his assertation that "guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people" I can only say, "what a load." The same could be said about cars, knives, matches, bricks or just about anything else. the problem is not with guns but rather, our culture. That is why our rates of violence, not just gun violence, are so much higher than in Germany, Canada, Great Britian and Japan.

Reed Martz
Senior
Criminal Justice