Your recent editorial “Cigarettes. Drunken Driving. Next: Guns?” suggested with some optimism that a shift in public attitude toward guns could follow that toward cigarettes and drunk driving, both of which have declined dramatically in response to public safety campaigns and lowered social acceptance. I certainly share this hope, but not the optimism.

The editorial notes that the comparison is “inexact,” but one key difference virtually ensures that guns will not follow the same pattern as the other two public dangers mentioned: owning guns enhances people’s perception of their own safety. Preservation of personal safety is a most basic human need, ranking just above physiological needs like food and water on Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs pyramid. Neither cigarettes nor drunk driving can credibly posit such a claim, but the old “it takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun” adage speaks to the perceived safety advantages of gun ownership.

Gun opponents argue — correctly — that owning a gun is more likely to result in death or injury to a family member than in a thwarted attack or home invasion. But the risk is easily dismissed by the typical gun owner, who will insist that his and his family’s good mental health and proper gun storage habits mitigate any risk of suicides, armed domestic violence, or accidents. Regardless of the logic of those claims, the essence is this: Having a gun makes the owner feel safer. In fact, a 2017 Pew Research study noted that two-thirds of gun owners say protection is a major reason they own a gun.

The editorial offers a hopeful advocacy for stricter gun laws, which are certainly needed and may offer some help in reducing gun violence. But the sad truth is that real change is unlikely, as our politicians are more likely to cater to people’s emotions than facts and data. So unless we can convince some 100 million U.S. gun owners that their guns actually make them less safe, we will keep losing the fight against guns in the United States.

— John Lynch, Evanston

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