I have to agree with columnist James Carignan that we owe our kids more than just lip service. But when he started to quote statistics, he lost me completely (Nov. 16).

It is hard to follow these statistics, as we do not, obviously, have his resources. But I have to question his sources when he blatantly states that a child is killed by gunfire every three minutes. That is ridiculous, and I followed that up by doing the arithmetic. That would come out to over 175,000 children killed by gunfire each year. And of course, let us not forget that the death of any child by violent means is a tragedy.

Mr. Carignan then goes on to claim that we need more gun control.

According to Handgun Control Inc., last year there were only 8 children killed by gunfire in the state of Maine. I want to be liberal in my following estimate, that there were 100 children killed by gunfire in each state of this country, and that would total only 5,000 in one year, in the entire country.

Mr. Carignan is apparently wanting more gun control. But recently a study by the Centers for Disease Control pointed out that gun control has absolutely no bearing on violence, homicide, death by gunfire or criminal activity, whatsoever.

Hap Gallin, West Sumner

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