Gun shot wounds and deaths cost Americans $12 billion a year.

 From USA Today on 03/06/13

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON Gunshot wounds and deaths cost Americans at least $12 billion a year in court proceedings, insurance costs and hospitalizations paid for by government health programs, according to a recent study.

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Editor's note:

I wonder every time I see one of the those Repeal the S.A.F.E. signs on someone's lawn if they realize the true costs of gun violence in this country? I wonder if they know that resorting to guns doesn't make them safer or provide the real protection they are looking for?

I don't know if education is the answer because owning guns is such an emotional issue for a certain group of people whose beliefs in the issue are usually fear based whether they recognize it or not. The sad thing is that owning a gun increases the livelihood that you will be killed by one. So owning and having a gun does not make you safer, it makes it more likely that you will be injured or die from a gun and if not you then a loved one.

The question is how to help people feel safe in other ways that by having a gun for "protection"?

I don't know how many guns there are in Brockport. I know I don't have one at my home so I feel a little safer than if I did have one. Do you have a gun in your house? Does it make you feel safer? Really? Why?

For $12 billion we could feed a lot of hungry people, educate a lot of students, create a lot of beautiful art and music and parks and make the world a more beautiful and loving place.