The fallout from last October’s school shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School continued this week with the arrest of the shooter’s dad, Raymond Fryberg [“Gun in school shooting was sold despite background check, court order,” Local News, March 31]. Four students were killed by his 15-year-old son, who then killed himself.
So where did the gun come from? His home — it was Raymond’s gun.
But that’s not much of a surprise: In 68 percent of school shootings, the gun came from the child’s home, and one in three homes with children have guns.
So does having a gun make you safe? No. In fact, it makes you, your family and your community far less safe. A recently published study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that a gun in your home makes you more likely to be a victim of suicide, accidental shooting or homicide.
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Accessible firearms are why gun deaths are second only to automobile crashes as a leading cause of death for young people.
There’s no question you have a constitutional right to own a gun. But you have to wonder what Fryberg is thinking right about now: Five kids are dead, including his, not because he killed them, but because he had an accessible gun.
Heidi Yewman, Vancouver