
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 30, 1990                   TAG: 9007310337
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A/6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EDITORIAL'S LOGIC IS QUESTIONABLE

YOUR EDITORIAL July 16, "U.S. perilous place for young males," states that 75 percent of homicides among males 15 to 24 years of age involved firearms. The editorial concluded: "What's one way to cut down on such killings? Unless you're a member of the gun lobby, you can draw the logical conclusion."

In the same issue is an article, "Interstate fatalities up," detailing the rise in Virginia deaths since the speed limit was increased. Despite a 43 percent increase in deaths, the article states, "There are insufficient data to link changes in the number of fatal crashes and fatalities to the change in the speed limit."

I am not a member of the gun lobby or the National Rifle Association. However, I am logical. Reading the two articles made me conclude that your editorial writer is a member of the anti-gun lobby.

There are factors other than guns involved in homicides, as there are factors other than speed in traffic deaths. We have a mandatory seat-belt law and increased drunk-driving arrests, but the highway carnage increases.

Perhaps drugs, television violence, male youths' perception of their future in society, and their willingness to kill have as much to do with the increase in homicides as does the availability of firearms. Despite strict gun-control laws, Washington, D.C., is certainly not a safe place for young black males.

Will your next editorial advocate giving up our cars, with the use of safer public transportation as a way to reduce highway fatalities? It's only logical, as the problem is the person behind the wheel, as well as the trigger, and cars kill the most.

HOWARD W. SHAY\ ROANOKE

by CNB