By Douglas and Dorothy Reilly

Recent media articles have discussed the problem of guns, and school and mass shootings. The basic problem here is the absurd number of guns in the USA; our country has over 11 times as many guns per 100 citizens as the average of the rest of the world.

There are about 88 gun deaths per day in the USA. Barely 2 percent of these are mass shootings, over 80 percent are suicides, and the rest domestic arguments, police shootings, and accidents. The availability of a gun makes a suicide or a domestic incident much more likely to result in death.

After the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, much was said, but nothing was done. My wife and I believe the same lack of action will occur here.

We’re not protesting guns for hunting. In New Mexico, as other areas, hunting provides winter food for many families. When we lived in northern Italy, we learned licensed hunters had to keep their rifles or shotguns in the questura, police station, except during hunting season.

The reaction of the students at the Parkland school and elsewhere may force some action. Disarming the public is not conceivable; however, some steps might be taken. Universal background checks would be too difficult to enforce to be effective. Banning firearms like AR-15 and other semi-automatics could be more enforceable.

There must be other acceptable bipartisan actions.