March, but know the facts on guns, deaths

Next week, high school students will be walking out of school to protest … well, I'm not sure. If you ask them, some say guns, some say gun violence, and others go so far as to say the NRA. While I have a little problem with using precious school time to do this, I do think that exercising the constitutional right to assemble and voice their opinion is a good thing if only for being more aware of the constitution and the power of masses. With that power comes responsibility.

To fill a gap that I'm pretty sure is being left by our public education system, I offer the following data on deaths in the US annually: 610,000 deaths from heart disease; 42,000 deaths from opioids; 37,000 vehicle related deaths; 13,000 deaths by firearms that were not suicide

Am I alone in wondering why there is not outrage at the diets, driving habits (i.e. texting while driving), and the availability of illegal drugs in our schools when these causes dwarf the number of death caused by guns, and the number of deaths from school shootings being a tiny fraction of one percent?

Let's hope they don't conveniently forget about that other constitutional right.

Keith Gray

Mettawa