Reduce emotions to find solutions

My son was friends with one of the NIU victims so I understand how people feel.

I can understand how angry, scared, confused and frustrated everyone is now.

Sadly, too many people are using this tragedy to once again climb up on the anti-gun or pro-gun soapboxes.

So I would like to ask everyone to step away from their emotions for a few moments -- to think with your heads instead of your hearts.

Washington, D.C., has the toughest gun laws anywhere in the country. Washington, D.C., also has among the highest per capita rates of murder, rape and robbery of any city in the country.

Put these two facts together, and it becomes obvious that stronger gun laws don't help.

It's like putting a Band-Aid on cancer. I'm just as angry, scared, confused and frustrated as everyone else.

And I don't know what the answer to all of this is.

But I do know that if, instead of working together, we just polarize into pro-gun and anti-gun and go looking for a quick fix, we will never find a real answer.

Ed Emerson

East Dundee