From: Sarah Thompson <righter@intele.net>
Subject: LETTER: To Anne Landers
To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 1995 09:41:38 -0600 (MDT)

>                                             June 21, 1995
> Anne Landers
> c/o The Salt Lake Tribune
> 143 South Main Street
> Salt Lake City, UT 84111
> Dear Anne,
> 
>      I realize you are a fervent supporter of  Sarah and Jim
> Brady and Handgun Control, Inc. (HCI) and support their agenda of
> disarming Americans.  However, I also believe that you have shown
> great responsibility in informing your readers on all subjects. 
> I trust that you will do so on the issue of gun control as well.
>      Certainly no responsible person would advocate "leaving
> unarmed firearms all over the house".  Fortunately these
> irresponsible people are a minority, and the majority of gun
> owners abide by safety rules.  These vary, depending upon one's
> circumstances, the presence of young children, etc.
>      As a former Board Certified Emergency Physician who has
> spent thousands of hours in inner city hospitals, I can assure
> you that the mere presence of a gun in a home does NOT increase
> homicides by a factor of three.  In fact, as many as 65 lives are
> SAVED by the presence of a firearm for every life lost to one.  I
> know many emergency physicians who themselves go to work armed.
>      The most effective way to prevent firearms injuries is
> education.  Ignorance has never been a solution to anything. 
> Children should be taught the basics of gun safety so that if
> they ever encounter a gun (something no parent can completely
> prevent), they know how to deal with it safely.  The very successful 
> Eddie Eagle program recommends "Stop, Don't touch, Leave the Area, 
> Tell an Adult."  It's simple and successful.   And if a child expresses 
> curiosity about a parent's gun, s/he should be allowed to touch or hold 
> it, after it has been double checked to make sure it is unloaded and 
< inoperable.
>      Keeping a gun locked with the ammunition stored separately
> makes the gun completely useless for self and family defense. 
> With the 65 to 1 ratio of lives saved to lives lost, I fear far
> more children would be killed as a result of this advice
> than would be saved.  Law abiding parents have not only the
> right, but the responsibility,
 to protect their families.  The
> pediatricians' advice is, in most instances, dead wrong.
>      I advise ALL gun owners to take a gun safety class, practice
> regularly, and abide by gun safety rules as they apply to their
> family situation.  I support gun safety education
> (not gun usage!) in the schools .  But I  cannot support removing
> the means for a parent to protect his/her family.
>      As so many have said before, I dare you to print this.
> 
>                                    Sarah Thompson, MD 
>                                    Director, Women's Affairs
>                                    Doctors for Integrity in Policy 	
> 					Research, Inc.
> 
> 
>