Booze no, guns yes

Published May 21, 2013 1:01 am

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that states reduce the allowable alcohol concentration for automobile drivers by more than a third, to 0.05 percent from 0.08 percent ("Safety board considers lowering of legal limit for drunken driving," Tribune, May 15).

There are about 10,000 alcohol-related traffic deaths in the United States each year. Meanwhile, the annual number of firearm-related deaths in the U.S. is around 30,000.

There's an appetite for keeping me from having more than one beer with dinner. But it's OK for me to own and carry as many guns, magazines and ammo as I want?

Seems the alcoholic beverage industry doesn't have a huge lobby like the National Rifle Association or the Second Amendment to hide behind, as gun manufacturers do. Profit and money seem to drive our common sense these days, not hard statistics.

Gayle McLachlan

St. George

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