Statistics are somewhat like standing a coin on its edge and looking at it from different angles. You see many differing views, but it is the same coin. Your description depends on your view. Dr. Davidoff [1] sees a different side of the coin than many of us do.

In an attempt to demonize firearms, Dr. Davidoff [2] asks "Do you have a gun in the house? Is it loaded? And did you know suicide can go up fivefold when you have one around that is loaded?" He must get his statistics from Sarah Brady-in Japan, where firearm ownership is practically nil, the suicide rate is about three times that in the United States. According to the latest FBI crime statistics, the U.S. suicide rate has increased from 11.0 per 100 000 in 1950 to 11.2 per 100 000 in 1995. Hardly an epidemic.

The ACP position paper [3] states that stronger measures are needed, including more stringent gun control legislation. The paper states that annual firearm deaths increased by more than 60% from 1968 to 1994. Which gun control group provided the position paper? The FBI statistics say that U.S. homicides declined from 9.1 per 100 000 in 1970 to 7.4 per 100 000 in 1996. The 1996 rate was the lowest since 1985, despite a several-fold increase in gun ownership by Americans. The rate of firearm deaths decreased by about 9% a year from 1994 through 1997. Again, hardly an epidemic.

In Texas, the decline in homicide rates corresponds closely to the time frame of the law allowing law-abiding citizens the right to carry concealed firearms. The gun control advocates predicted a "wild west" atmosphere if this right of self-protection were allowed. Exactly the opposite seems to have happened.

You are far safer owning a handgun than hanging around airplane pilots and navigators. They have a death rate exceeding 110 per 100 000, 15 times the 1996 homicide rate of 7.4 per 100 000. Handguns are responsible for only about half of all homicides, whereas deaths from pointed weapons, such as knives, far outnumber rifle and shotgun deaths.

Courts have ruled that the police do not have to defend you; their responsibility is to apprehend the criminal after you have been victimized, not before. Your personal right of self-defense is protected by the Second Amendment. Do not let gun control advocates disarm you without a fight. Vote for politicians who will defend your right to self-defense. It is a basic human right.