The regular litany of gun deaths reported in the news jades our sense of outrage at these senseless killings.

In Florida a professional football star is killed; in Omaha, Neb., seven people are killed in a shopping mall -including an Illinois State University graduate - and Sunday, four people are shot to death in two church facilities in Colorado.

Incredibly, the church victimized had an armed security guard. An armed security guard at a church in the United States!

The mall massacre had some people talking about employing airport type security for malls. But these incidents are but a small number of the average of 83 gun deaths a day in the United States.

Are we helpless amidst this carnage that kills Americans at a rate 19 times higher than 35 high income countries combined - who generally have sensible gun laws?

Are there no voices to but brakes on this tragedy? Even the best the Pantagraph editorial advised was to "be vigilant."

Congress and the president were so unconcerned that they would not continue a military style assault weapons ban when its 10-year sunset period expired in 2004.

It is time we demand our government to address this issue and enact sensible gun control laws.

Must we all become armed, fearful of each other, before we have the courage to act?

Dr. John A. Bertsche

Normal

Do you agree?