Editor:

In Switzerland, a majority of the adult male population is required by law to keep in their home either a SIG 7.5mm Stgw or the newer 5.56mm SG550/551. Both of these weapons are in essence man-portable, fully automatic machine guns. They are designed for the express purpose of killing people. Both of these weapons are nearly impossible to legally acquire here in the United States due to Federal regulation of this class of weapon. However, despite this prevalence of lethal hardware, Switzerland has virtually no violent crime. It is plain from this example that the possession of firearms does not automatically encourage crime. Great Britain is a nation with a similarly low crime rate and very few guns. Clearly, the number of firearms has only a negligible effect, positive or negative, on rates of violent crime.

So what separates Great Britain and Switzerland from places like New York and Washington, D.C.? One merely needs to take a walk around the bad neighborhoods of Washington or New York to learn why. Poverty, drugs, homelessness and poor parenting are all extremely prevalent in New York, Washington and other large American cities. These factors do exist in Switzerland and Great Britain, but in far lesser magnitudes. These problems and others have far more influence on the crime rate than firearms. If this is so, why do so many politicians favor gun control legislation as a way to control crime?

They like it because it is a cure-all that is easy to sell to the voters. One cannot pass a law that will outlaw poverty or automatically instill family values. However, violent crime committed with firearms is among the most prominent symptoms of crime. Politicians can make it seem as if they are fighting crime effectively by passing tougher and tougher gun control laws. However, not only do these laws infringe on the rights of law- abiding citizens to defend themselves, but they provide the illusion of progress, distracting us from the true underlying causes of crime. Crime cannot be stopped by treating the symptoms. It will continue to eat away at our society from within until we begin treating the true causes of the disease.

Chris Upchurch
computer science freshman