Gun Control, Profit, and Individual Rights

The article ``Mayors Urge the Congress to Go Beyond Crime Bill,'' Nov. 17, states that the Senate is expected to approve a bipartisan bill that will spend $22 billion to build more prisons and put 100,000 additional police officers on city streets.

This is surely a very shortsighted measure, and doesn't get to the core of the problem at all. There are many more beneficial ways of spending this vast sum of money. First ban all firearms except for those used by authorized officials - and all firearms must be registered. This is not a new idea. Supposedly the gun lobby is very powerful, but is not the life of every citizen more valuable and important than the imagined right to own a gun? Will we never learn that the welfare of others comes before one's own selfish interest? Joy Walker, Maroochydore, Australia

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