Being shot in America is more likely than being a terrorist victim

Recently Donald Trump became the first president in more than 30 years to speak at the annual National Rifle Association convention. He used the chance to thank his buddies in the NRA for voting for him and to stoke their fear of the dangerous world in which we live.

Unfortunately for all of us, he got the dangers all mixed up. In fact, he and the NRA are hiding the real dangers we face by creating imaginary ones. We’re told that the threat comes from foreign terrorists who hate America and want to come here to do us harm. Of course, no one wants that to happen, but can you guess how many Americans were killed by foreign terrorists on American soil in the past decade? Fewer than 30. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tell us that over the same 10-year time period, more than 110,000 U.S. citizens were murdered by other Americans wielding firearms. To put this in perspective, every 10 years, we kill as many of our own citizens with firearms as were killed in the Vietnam, Korean, Gulf and Iraq wars and the 9/11 attack

We don’t need outsiders to slaughter us — we do it ourselves with a gusto not shown by any other developed nation. The odds that you’ll be a victim of a terrorist attack are minuscule compared with the odds that you’ll die at the hands of a gun-toting U.S. citizen.

So if you’re afraid of something, pick something that might really happen, like being shot while you’re at a gas station, standing on a street corner or sitting in a classroom. Unfortunately, those dangers are real ones. Stand up against the gun lobby with your voice and your vote. Support commonsense laws to reduce gun violence. PATTY DOODY

Regent Square