Gun Control - so fewer people get shot (Letter to the editor)

Why is U.S. murder rate so high? Because of easy availability of guns (Click on this heading to read more)

EDITOR:
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It is indisputable that the chances of being murdered are many times higher in the U.S. than in other developed countries. For example, in 2012 homicide rates per 100,000 were: 1.1 in France; 1.2 in the United Kingdom; 1.6 in Canada and 4.7 in the U.S.
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Discussion lately has focused on two causes: more people with mental illness and fewer with religion.
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A study by the World Health Organization did find that about 5 percent to 8 percent more people in the U.S. than in Europe will be diagnosed with a mental illness. It is probably also true that more of them go untreated, since the other countries have universal health care.
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However, the best estimates for the U.S. are that only 5 percent to 10 percent of all homicides are committed by persons with mental illness. These statistics cannot explain our outsized homicide rate.
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The argument that violence here is caused by loss of religion is even less persuasive. The percentage of people who believe in God, according to University of Chicago research: 81 percent in the U.S.; 71 percent in Canada; 37 percent in the U.K.; 20 percent in France. Those who have no doubt God exists: 61 percent in the U.S.; 17 percent in the U.K.; 15 percent in France.
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The elephant in the room is the easy availability of guns in the U.S.
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Anyone, regardless of past behavior of current state of mind, can get a gun: at gun shows; on the Internet; through a straw buyer or a gun runner; by robbing a home or gun shop; from a friend or relative.
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Until we deal with availability we will continue to hold the homicide record.
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Carolyn Bronston,
Wausau