The latest massacre by a crazy person is again stunning. But the call for gun restrictions remains wrong. I won't pontificate about why, I just want to appeal to everyone's common sense.

None of the killers has been a "normal" gun owner. None has been a member of the NRA. All had mental issues. The toughest gun laws in the United States exist in Chicago and have done so since the Sullivan laws were enacted, yet gun violence is pandemic.

Chicago has more than 15,000 police officers (one for every 187 people) while Belleville has 82 (one for every 500). The major crimes happen close to major cities and are not by people who hunt but rather those who "kill" people in fantasy video games --for "fun." The Boy Scouts had and may still have a merit badge for marksmanship. No Boy Scouts have been involved in these honorific crimes.

In the 1950s the U.S. had a population of 180 million. We were mostly of Northern European descent. Now have 330 million of many ethnic types.

In the 1980s Ronald Reagan cut mental health care from the budget. Belleville Mental Health closed. We never heard of autism; now it's common. You figure it out. But gun control is not the answer.

Joseph M. Reichert

Belleville