Re: Letter (Sept. 2)

In three hundred words or less Ron Stuart seems confused about my aims, those of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence (RICAGV), Moms Demand Action and other grassroots organizations in the state when it comes to promoting gun safety and reducing gun violence. Some of his complaints relate to situations not applicable to Rhode Island.

At no time have I or RICAGV or Moms ever advocated for the abrogation of the Second Amendment. The 95 organizations making up RICAGV and the many Moms volunteers have asked the legislature to pass several laws designed to make all of us safer going about our everyday lives. No one piece of legislation is a cure-all or solution to all gun-related deaths or injuries whether by homicide, suicide or accident. Each may be a link in a chain.

Up until the last two or three years the NRA, its local affiliate, the Rhode Island  2nd Amendment Coalition and the local gun industry have had the “lobbying” game to themselves, influencing legislators by infusions of campaign cash and getting their voters to the polls. Now, that they have competition Mr. Stuart is crying foul.

While he would be hard pressed to “prove” that gun-free zones are not effective, his reliance on mass shootings such as Aurora is misplaced since of the 32,000 plus firearms deaths each year about 60 percent are suicides, a small number are accidents and the rest homicides. You have many more chances of getting killed in a car accident than you do in a plane crash.

No constitutional right is absolute. Mr. Stuart is free to buy firearms, hunt, shoot or arm himself for the coming zombie apocalypse if he chooses as long as he does it in a lawful manner.

David Leach

Providence