NRA's ludicrous excuse | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated.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.

Re "Giffords asks Congress for bold gun control bill" (Tribune, Jan. 31):

The National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre told the Senate that the NRA does not support requiring universal background checks for gun purchasers because criminals wouldn't subject themselves to a background check. Duh!

Of course criminals won't do that, And why? Because breaking the laws is what criminals do! It is their profession!

Since when do we not pass laws because we don't think criminals will follow them? The idea that we should avoid enacting mandatory background checks, or any other law, solely because criminals will ignore them is absolutely ludicrous.

What if we had failed to enact stricter drunken driving laws solely because "criminals would simply ignore them"? In the past 30 years, drunken driving fatalities have dropped nearly 70 percent.

Will the same impact take hold (in 30 years) regarding laws governing guns? I don't know, but considering the potential consequences, it is certainly worth a try.

John Costa

Salt Lake City