Wednesday, January 14, 2004

‘Unloaded’ headline misleads readers

Re: “Teen killed with ‘unloaded’ gun”:

Please tell me how an unloaded gun that your paper put as a headline on the front page of the paper of Jan. 7, 2004 could happen.

The teen was killed with a gun. It was not unloaded, otherwise the teen would not have been killed.

I’m 69 years of age, been around guns since I was 12 years old, and one thing that my daddy told me was that every gun is loaded no matter if you see someone remove the bullets; it is still loaded. Treat guns in this way and you never hurt anyone.

People who have guns around must educate their kids on how to handle guns and the safety that goes with them.

No gun that I know of, unloaded or loaded, ever killed someone. Just as I know of no car that got into an accident without a driver.

We educate our kids to drive; why not do the same when it comes to guns?

Just don’t mislead people by using “unloaded.” Tell it as it is: “Teen killed with a gun.”

John G. Hill

Fayetteville, Ga.