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This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated.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

Society condemns addictions to alcohol, drug, gambling and pornography, yet nothing is said about gun addiction, the obsessive-compulsive demand to have a gun within reach 24 hours a day.

Gun addicts are consumed by an irrational fear that the federal government will take their weapons. The resulting tunnel vision transforms them into a narcissistic personality, which explains the drive to purchase even more weapons and ammunition following the gun violence in Newtown, Conn.

Unfortunately, too many Republican legislators are gun addicts. And their outrageous, promiscuous gun legislation, bought and paid for by gun manufacturers, guarantees that guns end up in the wrong hands.

More young Utah males die from guns than auto accidents. Nationally, 100,000 dead and wounded annually create an epidemic that has no excuse for being.

Sen. Orrin Hatch's staff member for gun issues told a group of us that the senator says "Americans are a violent people." What a dismal assessment of those he represents. What a pitiful excuse for doing nothing about gun violence.

Utah's gun-addicted legislators should be barred from creating gun legislation. We don't let drug addicts make drug policy, nor do we choose alcoholics for the liquor commission.

Ron Molen

Salt Lake City