Scoreboard of gun deaths may grab public attention
Dear Abby:
The letters from "Grieving Grandmother" and Anne Coakley were tragic reminders of the problem of guns in our nation. Unfortunately, such episodes get little attention from the media except on a local newscast or in the back pages of the local paper. They aren't "news". It happens all too often. it takes a school massacre to get the national notice the situation deserves.
Perhaps what needs to be done is have a running "scoreboard" set up in New York's Times Square: a continuing count of the gun deaths in the entire nation since the start of every year. The count could even be catagorized by accidental deaths and murders. Running messages could give the particulars of the latest death as to date, loction and victim's age.
I realize this is a macabre suggestion. however, some drastic measure is needed to engage the public's full awareness of our problem. I also realize that it would require a great deal of money to rent the sign and acquire the necessary information. However, perhaps some organization or philanthropist would be interested.
Concerned Octogenarian, St. Albans, W.Va
Dear Concerned:
Your suggestion is no more macabre than the billboards that advertise the number of deaths per year from smoking. Frankly, I think billboards addressing serious issues are a public service.
To embellish on your idea a little - the gun death scoreboard could be designed to look like a game in a shooting gallery. Every time the death toll increases, a bell could "ding!" and a duck could disappear from the screen. It's really not so far fetched - as it stands today, almost all of us are sitting ducks.
Abby
For those caring to respond to this, Abby's email:
http://www.uexpress.com/ups/abby/html/askabby.html
My response:
Dear Abby:
Your support for a gun death scoreboard in Times Square raises some interesting questions.
Most scoreboards display both sides points. Would yours? Would all the crippling assaults, rapes, robberies and murders prevented by the private ownership of firearms be presented?
If so, then you better plan on a pretty big scoreboard. You're going to need it to list the 2.5 million crimes prevented every year by honest Americans who use firearms for self protection.
Actually, getting a billboard in Times Square probably wouldn't be as expensive as you think. Your fellow gun grabber, Sen. Charles Schumer seems to think that he owns Times Square, so maybe he can get you a discount. You also needn't worry about the expense of maintaining the statistics. Your friends over at Handgun Control, Inc. will be happy to help. Heck, they just make up those numbers anyway, so that shouldn't really add too much to the bill.
Your idea about designing it to look like a shooting gallery game, with disappearing ducks and ring-a-ding sound effects is cute. But don't you think that might seem to trivialize such a serious issue? Would you want your murdered child to be represented by a falling duck? If your feigned compassion were placed on a scoreboard opposite your obvious insensitivity, you would lose by any accounting.
NRA Member, Mandeville, LA
