Tech killings spur gun debate, but guns aren't an issue

0 Comments | USA TODAY, April, 2007

It is curious that the Virginia Tech tragedy prompted reader Patrick Mackin to write that we should "rid ourselves of guns" ("Take aim at guns," Letters, April 19).

With the highway deaths of thousands every year caused by drunken drivers, cellphone talkers and irresponsible behavior, does Mackin want to get rid of cars, too?

Or to carry his argument to an even more ludicrous conclusion, does he want to get rid of food because obesity is a leading cause of disease and death? Mackin needs to consider:

*We have had a terrible loss of life because of restrictive gun laws. If the professors and students had been allowed to carry guns, how many lives would have been saved?

*The perpetrator was not a naturalized U.S. citizen. Millions of...