Nation can't afford costs of gun violence

January 05, 2013

Firearms kill and wound 100,000 American every year. Last year, 31,437 people were killed with firearms (two-thirds of them suicides) and another 70,000 wounded. Those aren't my numbers, that's the Centers for Disease Control. This country is swamped by firearms — no one knows how many, but the number we hear is roughly 300 million. Recently, a two-day gun amnesty in Trenton, N.J., netted 1,137 guns!

Last month in Bethlehem, 30 rounds were fired, a woman was killed, and five men were wounded, with one of them being paralyzed. What will the dollar costs be when the medical, legal, court and penal expenses of this single incident are added up? Where will the vast bulk of that money come from? Our tax dollars. The social costs are immeasurable.

Ruined lives aside, what about the reputation of South Side Bethlehem? What about lost business and the effect on Lehigh University? Much money has been invested to "revitalize" South Side Bethlehem. Can we quantify in dollar terms the cost of this "setback"? Care to put Newtown's "costs" in dollar figures? We can't afford not to have serious gun control!

Alec Marsh


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