Fix the gun problem in our country

Thank you for the March 25 editorial “How Long, Oh Lord?” Indeed, how long? As one who survived severe gun-shot injuries during the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre of 2018, I am thoroughly dismayed by the recent mass murders in Atlanta and Boulder, Colo. As we begin our emergence from the isolation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the American people have accumulated even more firearms.

The unfortunate fact is that we live in a nation in which guns far outnumber people and many people are more than ready to use these weapons to realize a distressing desire to eliminate other human beings from the face of the earth. And the sheer number of readily available guns makes it easier than ever to accomplish their goal.

The diversity of intention behind these horrific murders will be explored and studied by the newly created joint effort by the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University embodied in the Collaboratory Against Hate. The hope is that this science- based endeavor will help us to understand this phenomenon of our culture and enable us to respond to it in a way that will save our lives and those of our children.

I implore our lawmakers and public officials to hear the voices of the great majority of the country’s citizens in enacting legislation to make this now commonplace way of death a thing of the past. Our country has so much more to stand for other than being the leader in mass murder and gun ownership.

Do it for our children, if not for us. Fix this now, before another human name is associated with this shamefully unique American disgrace. DANIEL LEGER

Squirrel Hill