Parents should keep guns from homes for the sake of their children's lives

Parents should keep guns from homes for the sake of their children's lives
EDITOR:
I read with interest Jane Porter's column on school violence in the March 27 Vindicator. She wrote about the realization that a school shooting tragedy like that of Columbine, or more recently, in Santee, Calif., could happen anywhere, even in the most genteel of suburbs.
In light of this reality, I feel it is time for parents to ask themselves whether keeping a gun in their home is worth the risk to their children. Many people keep a gun in their home for the purpose of personal protection. Statistics abound on the dangers of gun ownership versus the advantages of being able to deter a criminal.
According to studies published by the New England Journal of Medicine, a gun in the home increases the risk of homicide by three times and the risk of suicide by five times compared with homes without a gun. However, the NRA and researcher Gary Kleck tell us that a gun is much more likely to be used against a criminal threat than to kill anyone.
Regardless of whose statistics you believe, you cannot deny the fact that a gun in the home increases the risk of homicide, suicide and accidental death. Moreover, a survey conducted by the American Journal of Public Health found that more than one third of the guns kept in households with children were not being stored safely and could easily be accessed by children.
Parents, please ask yourselves: is keeping a gun in the house worth the risk, however small, that your child or other innocent persons will be killed or injured by that gun?
Even if you store your gun locked and unloaded, can you be absolutely sure that your child will not figure out a way to get at it? Can you be absolutely sure that your child will not become one of the hundreds of teen-agers who commit suicide with a firearm each year? Or that your child will not become angry with a classmate or teacher and take a gun to school for the purpose of revenge?
Too many parents are, heartbreakingly, discovering the risks of gun ownership too late. I am not advocating restrictive gun control measures or gun confiscation. I do, however, agree with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, which has stated, "The best way to protect children against gun violence is to remove all guns from the home." I believe that the best way to do this is to appeal to parents' love for their children and common sense.
DIANE PRICE
Canfield
Support U.S. servicemen; don't buy Chinese goods
EDITOR:
Next time people shop at their favorite China-Mart (just about any retail store, these days), they should think about our servicemen and women who are being held hostage in China.
Do they really want to support a country like this? This is what we are doing every time we buy "Made in China." What do you think they spend all those American dollars on -- education?
Maybe this is the wake-up call this country needs. Corporate America is all too willing to take American jobs overseas, and the American public is all too willing to spend money on these cheap slave-made imports. We need to stop supporting this Communist country and demand more American-made products. Do not buy anything made in China.
Granted this will be tough, but the people of this country need to stick together and show the Chinese that we're not going to take any of their bull.
RICHARD HEYDLE Jr.
Youngstown