Misleading on number of gun deaths
Sunday’s article was just another disingenuous effort to feed an irrational emotional prejudice against guns. (“Georgia’s gun deaths,” News, May 10). Statistics show that, as gun ownership rates are increasing, the murder rate is decreasing. This article tries to make it look like the number of gun deaths is astronomical, but to make the number look larger, the writer had to include suicides. If I am trying to figure the odds that my neighbor might shoot me, I am not concerned about suicides, so they should have been excluded from this analysis. In the period studied by this article, suicides are the majority of gun deaths, so that produces a much-distorted picture of the supposed danger we face from guns. The article uses the tragic story of an accidental shooting to stir our emotions, but then the article admits that accidental shootings amount to only one percent of the deaths.
CORBY WHITLOW, AUBURN
FairTax opponents ignore facts
It is readily apparent the anti-Fair Taxers don’t fully understand the bill. They fail to acknowledge the “pre-bate” that all American citizens will get that will cover the taxes paid on necessities. Nor do they admit that no longer will Social Security and income taxes come out of paychecks. The “poor” will get a bigger paycheck and will have their tax obligation prepaid while the “rich” will pay taxes on every extravagance that they buy. What could be fairer than that?
DAVID BARKDOLL, ELLENWOOD
Prioritize regional transportation
As a relatively new and non-commuting resident, I continue to be amazed at the amount of rhetoric and lack of meaningful regional transportation planning observed in metro Atlanta. First of all, improvements cost money, lots of it. This was obvious to the Toronto delegation. But haven’t we heard the same story from Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, Portland, etc? How many more times do we have to hear this when it is clear the problem is not going to be solved by chump change? Good mass transportation is critical for this area to compete with these cities. The Toronto plan is being implemented now by funds from city, province and federal sources. Now is the time for bold action by Gov. Nathan Deal to set the highest priority on an action plan to solve this problem, including funding sources. It will cost billions to implement.
EDWARD J. WICKSON, DECATUR
