A basic background to the debate on gun control in the United States is that, despite the high number of shooting incidents nationwide, the chance during any given time that any individual among us will be among the victims is low. Thus, an individual opposed to strengthened gun control measures can feel safe in the assumption that easy access to guns, whatever the consequences for the country as a whole, probably will not mean that they or their family members will be victims.
They know that the statistical chance that they might be is slim. But they also know that the chance that someone in the country will become a victim of gun violence in the near future is 100 percent. The price of 2nd Amendment freedoms? The lives of other people.
Thomas Eichler
Wiscasset
Send questions/comments to the editors.
