Sipple: ‘We have to do something’ about gun violence

I’d like to address Jeff Hague’s response (“Objects don’t cause crime; people do”) to my Opinion (“Would restricting sale of ammo decrease gun violence?”).

I appreciate the respectful way he disagreed with me. First of all, I agree with him that the prosecution of criminals as a whole leaves a lot to be desired. They can’t preach the seriousness of these crimes and then give them a slap on the wrist and let them go. But attorneys general have their own issues to deal with, such as crowded prisons and the lack of correctional officers.

I still say guns are out of control in America. Between 2017-21, law enforcement submitted 1,922,577 crime guns to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for tracing. Between 2019-20, 40 million guns were sold. That’s just one year! I will agree that most were probably sold to law-abiding people. But let’s assume that some were sold to corrupt licensed gun dealers, straw purchasers and unlicensed gun dealers. If we assume that just 1% of 40 million made it to these people, that’s 400,000 guns that are out there. We have to assume that the figure is higher.

We need to think outside the box to solve some of our issues. I think coming up with a way to restrict ammo is one way. When a gang member asks another to borrow his gun, I want that person to say, “Won’t do you any good. I can’t get any bullets for it.” This is just my idea. We have to do something.

Stan Sipple

Felton

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.