Recently, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre gave his solution to gun violence: hire armed guards for every school.

There were 114 additional gun deaths in America in the seven days after the Sandy Hook massacre. If Americans saw the pictures and names of people killed with guns every day the way they did with the Connecticut victims, they might take those deaths seriously, too.

The NRA says it is the voice of gun owners, but really it is the voice of the gun industry, receiving millions from manufacturers of assault weapons, hand guns, high capacity magazines and gun distributors and dealers. Think how many more guns would be sold if teachers were armed and guards placed in all 140,000 public and private schools.

If assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines were no longer available, gun owners would have to make do with their rifles, shotguns and handguns. There’s no Second Amendment right to any specific brand or type of gun or ammunition. There is a constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that is stolen from shooting victims in America every day.

This country needs to stop glorifying guns and violence

Elected officials need to stop cutting spending on social services and find help for the many people with anger and mental health problems. In the meantime, doing a better job of keeping guns away from mentally unstable people would help this country a lot more than buying thousands of guns to arm guards in schools .

Ellen Field, New Gloucester


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