Dear Editor,

The United States now has more guns (around 400 million) than people (330 million).

Americans make up about 4.4 percent of the global population but own 42 percent of the world’s guns.

I keep pondering as to why any sensible person would want more than perhaps a shotgun and a rifle (and a gun safe) for hunting game and home protection?

After all, police departments are militarized to the teeth to protect us.

Even little Belmont County has a (useless) tank.

I’ll tell you why the police are way over-armed, it is to protect us from the way over-armed citizens of this country when a few of them take a crazy notion to go out and slaughter people they don’t even know.

Recently in just six days, 10 people were massacred in a Colorado grocery store, and eight people were gunned down in Atlanta-area spas.

And let’s not forget Las Vegas, Orlando, Charleston, Aurora, Virginia Tech, El Paso, Thousand Oaks, Dayton, Pittsburgh and on and on and on.

And what about the awful school massacres at Columbine, Parkland, and especially at Sandy Hook, where 22 little kids and six teachers were blown away.

In the last five years, there have been at least 29 shootings in the United States with four or more fatalities, according to data compiled by the Violence Project.

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times (4/3/21) writes, “More Americans have died from guns just since 1975, including suicides, murders and accidents (more than 1.5 million), than in all the wars in United States history, dating back to the Revolutionary War (about 1.4 million).

“No one is spared.

“In a typical year, more children from infancy through 4 years old are fatally shot in the United States (about 80) than police officers (about 50 or fewer).”

We must outlaw all assault weapons and pistols and ammo clips of more than five rounds and require universal background checks on even rifles and shotguns if we are ever to be truly safe against deranged people with guns having a grudge against us.

Bill Bryant

St. Clairsville