M.D. Harmon’s June 15 column, “What if we looked at cars the same way we look at guns?” looks at an interesting concept: registering guns and owners the same way we register cars and drivers.

It should help cut the crime rate by guns as much as it cuts the accident rate of automobiles. We all know that passing laws about owning and driving cars has completely stopped speeders, people running stop signs red lights and, most important, drunken driving.

I cannot count the number of times I have been driving the interstate, at the speed limit, and had cars pass me like I was backing up. My own road has a speed limit of 50 mph, and five out of 10 cars that go by my house are doing 60 or better.

I have followed drunken drivers on different occasions, and called police. I have had people tailgate me so close at 65 mph that I could not see their headlights in my rearview mirror. And the number of people who do not know how to use their directional signals amazes me.

The number of people killed by drivers who simply refuse to follow driving laws far out numbers the number of people killed by guns.

How many crooks do you really think will follow the laws of owning a gun, if honest people will not follow driving laws? Only honest citizens will obey the gun laws.

 

Gary Kitchen

Oakland