Arlene Ison: Finally, many are seeing the real costs of our gun-obsessed culture

I want to applaud Tracy Luegge for writing “I shoot; I served; I grieve ... now I want to talk about guns” (Page 1B, Oct. 8) and The Modesto Bee for publishing it. His analysis of the current “gun and violence problem” was excellent and reality based. I appreciated his rationale to dispute pro-gun advocates’ use of the 2nd Amendment and self-defense as justification for more guns.

The murder of 59 people and injury to 500 more in Las Vegas need to be a wake-up call for all. Even if each of the 59 victims had a gun, not one would have been able to protect themselves against the assailant above them. As Luegge pointed out, guns may protect you if you are prepared in advance to use them. Only one person was prepared to use a gun – the assailant.

According to an article in JAMA, since 1968, more individuals in U.S. have died from gun violence than in battle during all the wars the country has fought since its inception. Yes, this is the time for serious discussion about gun violence and the human suffering it causes.

This story was originally published October 13, 2017 at 11:49 AM with the headline "Arlene Ison: Finally, many are seeing the real costs of our gun-obsessed culture."