Two hundred and twenty nine billion or $700 per person is the annual cost of gun violence in this nation. Included in the cost are the first responders, legal proceedings, medical treatment, lost wages, and long-term care for surviving victims. This is all money that goes down a rat hole, that contributes nothing but suffering, despair and misery. No other advanced nation is suffering this horrific perversion of government.
The United States is a pitiful excuse for a democracy that does nothing to halt this in-house terror, leaving no safe place to hide.
And who is to blame? The answer is simple. Republican politicians on the take, greed driven gun manufacturers without a heart or soul, ALEC, the Koch Machine, and a small minority of truly sick gun addicts. All these have blood on their hands. They did not pull the trigger, they just worked feverishly to make sure the gun could end up in the wrong hands.
We have every right to enjoy the same safe environment as citizens of France, Germany, England, and even Canada.
Only the five aforementioned public enemies stand in the way.
God help us.
Ron Molen, Salt Lake City