THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609180011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 39 lines
As much as we applaud the sentiment of the lyrics of Sheryl Crow's ``Love is a Good Thing,'' referring to watching ``our children as they kill each other with a gun they bought at the Wal-Mart discount stores'' (Sept. 11, People), we agree with the executive of Wal-Mart who argues that his company has a right not to sell Miss Crow's album - and we would add ``for whatever reason.'' Certainly dealers have a right to choose the merchandise they offer for sale. That being the case, we would urge Wal-Mart to choose responsibly as well.
The June 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that more U.S. teen-agers die from gunshot wounds than from all natural causes of disease combined; that firearms-related mortality accounts for almost half of all deaths among African-American teens and that almost one-fourth of people arrested for weapons offenses in 1993 were younger than 18 years. Since 1979, more American children have died from gunfire than have members of the U.S. military in the Vietnam War PLUS every American hostile action since that conflict ended. In 1993 alone, 5,751 died by firearms!
We find it hard to believe that any informed merchant wants to contribute to the killing and maiming of our children by firearms. We would ask, then, as responsible, caring citizens, Wal-Mart and all similar general-purpose, family-oriented retail outlets exercise their right to choose on behalf of the children of the United States as well as on their own behalf. We would ask them, as they choose NOT to sell other merchandise that they find inappropriate, to choose as well NOT to sell, by catalog or over the counter, firearms that find their way into homes and onto the streets and into the hands of minors who currently are killing themselves and others at an appalling rate.
PATTY MASTERSON
Vice president
Virginians Against Handgun Violence
Virginia Beach, Sept. 11, 1996 by CNB