facebook-pixel

Letter: In response to drug abuse, lawmakers have implemented strict regulations. The same should be possible for guns.

(Mark Eddington | The Salt Lake Tribune) A small memorial is placed near a home in Enoch City on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, where eight members of a family were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide Wednesday afternoon.

Once again with the recent tragedy in Enoch and the deaths of 8 family members by the hand of their father, we are reminded how quickly someone with a gun can decimate and violently alter a family tree.

Why don’t our political leaders have the courage to acknowledge the number of innocent people killed by gun abuse needs to stop?

The news is full of deaths from drug overdoses. In response, our leaders implemented strict regulations to curb abuse, control distribution and regulate access.

The result is everyone who legitimately needs these drugs is held to the lowest common denominator and each month, in order to function, they must prove their innocence from abuse by being subjected to random urine screenings and having their ID scanned and entered in a state database to be tracked for compliance — all while under the care of a physician who monitors, records and reports to the state to avoid fines for noncompliance.

We have a system in place to regulate opioids to make it more difficult for abuse and we could undoubtedly do the same for guns. The government has figured out how to regulate and control everything — gun owners should be no exception.

It’s time for our political leaders to save lives and pass legislation to control gun and ammunition access, track users to curb abuse and reduce the number of innocent deaths.

Trish Hatch, West Jordan

Submit a letter to the editor