Lenore Skenazy’s Feb. 9 column, “Tangled logic,” dismisses the efforts of responsible citizens to call for new gun control laws. To paraphrase Gandhi: “The moral fiber of a society is determined in part by the efforts taken to protect its children.” Mark Kelly and Gabrielle Gifford’s group, Americans For Responsible Solutions, are working to enact laws proven to reduce and prevent deaths by guns — logic derived from actions that have worked elsewhere in the United States and the world. While other factors play a role in mass and individual killings, the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity clips are a proven cause. The ban of assault weapons by one country that experienced mass killings such as Newtown’s (Conn.) has had no mass shootings for more than two years. A similar ban in the U.S. seems like a logical step to improve our moral fiber and reduce deaths.

Skenazy’s displays tangled logic in mocking a Canadian school’s efforts to reduce injury to children by banning wearing single-strand chords after a child got his caught in a door and was injured. Banning the sale of assault weapons and large clips might prevent the death and/or injury of one child. Such logic seems reasonable in a society that works to protect its children and its constitutional rights.

Richard Lesan

Cedar Rapids