To the editor:

Regarding Ms. Baker’s Opinions column (from Sept. 25), I desire freedom and safety too. I have no confidence I’ll find freedom and safety in additional gun legislation. Why so skeptical?  

Example: Current laws exist “protecting” me from DUI drivers. Nhtsa.gov states, “Every day about 34 people die in drunk-driving crashes,” or about 12,000 per year in the U.S. Does existing legislation help me feel free or safe on the highways? No. 

Back to new gun legislation “solutions,” a better solution might be news media being responsible about reporting gun violence. Why show pictures of the coward shooter? Why share a shooter’s name? Why interview friends and family of the shooter? Why publish the shooter’s diatribes from diaries or social media? Law enforcement can dig into details to capture and prosecute these cowards but “freedom of the press” does not mean irresponsibly making shooters celebrities by feeding society’s twisted curiosity. New media almost guarantees a shooter’s inflated ego and historical longevity.  My ideas may be too simplistic.  But I think the “solution” of additional gun legislation making me free and safe is simplistic thinking too.

Don Henrich 

Affton

Editor’s note: Mr. Henrich is the husband of Call Newspapers employee Diane.