TO THE EDITOR:
This is in response to the letter “Guns on campus neither acceptable nor necessary (Mar. 15).”
You commented on the “possibility of accidents or misuse of guns” as a deterrent for firearms on campus. You quoted 40,000 fatal automobile accidents in the United States per year. You also implied “roughly the same number were caused by guns.” However, you really tried to pull a fast one on everyone by including homicides and suicides in that “roughly the same number.” The actual number of firearm related deaths from accidents, and not counting suicides or homicides, is 800, or 2 percent of your original “statistic.”
I’ve read a lot more about violent crimes than gunmen in the DTH. I’ve often thought of these stories when I had to walk home through Northside or catch a bus to a dark and deserted UNC parking lot miles away from campus. Needless to say I walked a little faster and wished I had something with me I consider “acceptable” and “necessary.”
When you’re not on campus you’re probably among the thousands of law abiding citizens allowed to carry firearms. If you haven’t been out there outside of the bubble of campus life, though, it is crazy — it is almost exactly like on campus but with less frisbee.
Austin Pittman
Senior
History
