Archived Opinion

Ebola nothing compared to gun violence

To the Editor:

News has recently come of the death of a second ebola victim on U.S. soil — a doctor from Sierra Leone flown here too late for treatment. Several thousand have died in the West Africa epidemic, too, and every death of a precious human being is tragic, of course.

But why have we allowed the media and political leaders to fan the flames of fear into a panic? We’re taking extreme measures at airports to keep potential ebola potential carriers from entering the country.

At the same time, however, there are 11,000 victims of gun violence in our country every year — a true epidemic. And no such panic over gun deaths occurs; no media or political figures are calling for gun control to prevent these deaths; no efforts to keep guns out of the hands of those who would use them to cause death are being taken.

I wonder why? Are the lives killed by guns less sacred that those lost to ebola? Perhaps we should “follow the money”?

Doug Wingeier

Waynesville

Smokey Mountain News Logo
SUPPORT THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS AND
INDEPENDENT, AWARD-WINNING JOURNALISM
Go to top
Payment Information

/

At our inception 20 years ago, we chose to be different. Unlike other news organizations, we made the decision to provide in-depth, regional reporting free to anyone who wanted access to it. We don’t plan to change that model. Support from our readers will help us maintain and strengthen the editorial independence that is crucial to our mission to help make Western North Carolina a better place to call home. If you are able, please support The Smoky Mountain News.

The Smoky Mountain News is a wholly private corporation. Reader contributions support the journalistic mission of SMN to remain independent. Your support of SMN does not constitute a charitable donation. If you have a question about contributing to SMN, please contact us.