What it Takes to Reduce Gun Deaths

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:

The letter by Steven C. Andersen, executive director of the National Rifle Association Foundation, criticizing the call for more research into firearms violence (“Focus on What Works to Prevent Gun Deaths,” May 26) stands as unintended proof of the very need for such research.

Mr. Andersen wants to give the National Rifle Association credit for the decrease in unintentional gun deaths (neglecting to mention the advances in trauma care that many cite, as well as the continuing decline of gun ownershipoverall and hunting in particular) and cites the years 1967 to 1986. Yet he ignores the vast majority of gun deaths during this period, which were caused by homicide and suicide. The rates of both of those types of deaths increased during these years and rose thereafter.

But perhaps the clearest reason for Mr. Andersen’s hostility to unbiased firearms research is that it repeatedly reveals the hollow claims of the National Rifle Association and the gun industry that helps fund its foundation. Mr. Andersen cites the National Rifle Association’s “gun-safety programs,” such as its Eddie Eagle program, as an example of what works.

Yet, according to the recent National Academy of Sciences firearms study that inspired his letter, it doesn’t. The study looked at the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program as well as other prevention programs aimed at youth and states: “A closer examination of these programs, however, suggests that present educational efforts may not be effective at reducing the risk of firearm morbidity and mortality among children, and in fact may have the opposite effect for some youth.”

Above all, the NRA fears unbiased data because it shows repeatedly that our nation’s unique and unacceptable level of gun violence is directly related to America’s unregulated firearms industry and the ease with which we allow our fellow citizens to buy virtually any firearm of their choosing. And why should this matter to the NRA Foundation? Because, according to an article from Fishing & Hunting News that has been distributed by the foundation as a promotional flyer, “The Foundation is a mechanism by which the firearm industry can promote shooting sports education, cultivating the next generation of shooters. Translate that to future customers.”

Recognizing this, Mr. Andersen’s dismissal of America’s gun-violence epidemic is not surprising — after all, acknowledging the more than 30,000 who die each year from firearms is literally bad for business.

Josh Sugarmann
Executive Director
Violence Policy Center
Washington