Your Letters for May 23, 2025

Lying, and dying with crossfire

The new normal in St. Joseph, a recent News-Press article informs us, is that we can hear the sound of gun fire at times and are assaulted by its threat of death or injury. In the last 12 months, police have investigated 14 incidents of gunfire in the city that resulted in some 14 injuries and four deaths. 

The threat is so unnerving that some people reportedly want to leave St., Joseph. It makes sense, except there is no place to hide, at least not in the United States. Our country, in 2023, suffered 47,000 gun shooting deaths, an average 13.7 per 100,000 population, according to Pew Research. Missouri, however, beat the average with more than 20 deaths per 100,000 people. 

Our neighbor to the north provides a much safer place to live. Canada averages only 2.1 deaths per 100,000, while Australia averages just 1.0, and Germany only 0.9. 

What can account for this dramatic difference between countries? The most obvious is that countries like Canada and Germany have strict, effective gun laws, as opposed to the U.S. where laws encourage gun ownership. There are more guns in the U.S. than people, and states like Missouri keep making it easier for citizens to carry concealed firearms, and to pack them almost wherever they go. 

Time after time we see that angry, drunk, or mentally disturbed people with a gun in their pocket are a disaster waiting to happen. Sadly, a majority of our state and national legislators don't care enough about us to oppose the violent gun culture that threatens us all. What's worse, we keep electing them. 

Keith Evans
St. Joseph