Regulate guns like SUVs

A recent incident in Texas brings the following to mind.

On May 6 a man in an SUV careened into a crowd of people in Brownsville. He is accused of killing eight people and injuring 10. For the 10, he faces 10 counts of assault with a deadly weapon: a motor vehicle used as a deadly weapon.

Anyone with the money can buy an SUV. But it must have license plates and a title and be registered. The driver must be at least sixteen, pass a driver’s test, and carry a driver’s license and insurance. The regulations are accepted public safety measures. They help weed out unqualified people.

Though they're regulated, does anyone see any governmental body even thinking about taking our SUVs away? But when people call for firearms control legislation, a common cry arises: “they’re going to take our guns away!”

It is an absurd lament. There are more than 13,000 dead this year from gun violence and 300 mass shootings so far this year in the United States. It’s high time to regulate firearms, which are notoriously deadly weapons, the same way we regulate other deadly weapons such as motor vehicles.

People still die in motor vehicles; imagine the number of deaths if they were unregulated. Even if guns were regulated, people would still die from them. But the number of deaths by guns would probably plummet, with little loss of personal freedom.

David LaRonde

Cedar Rapids

Opinion content represents the viewpoint of the author or The Gazette editorial board. You can join the conversation by submitting a letter to the editor or guest column or by suggesting a topic for an editorial to editorial@thegazette.com