I wanted to share my response to a recent article that ran in the NYTimes regarding firearms.
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To The Editor:
I worry your recent article "The rich, the famous, the armed" (Feb 20) portrays firearms as tantalizing accoutrements of New York's power elite.
By placing those whose job responsibilities might call for firearm licensing (myself, other officers of the court and law enforcement like the Queens DA) alongside glamorous celebrities, you risk portraying guns as inviting, even fashionable.
However unintended, headlines like "The rich, the famous, the armed" and "boldface names with gun" dangerously play into Americans' fascination with firearms. It undermines our efforts to eliminate gun violence, unlicensed handguns, and laws that allow the sale of semi-automatic weaponry.
Guns are not funny or amusing. They are the instruments of tens of thousands of violent deaths each year. Instead of glamorizing or trivializing guns, I wish your paper would bring attention to important efforts to control gun sales around the country, including the efforts of our Mayor.
Yetta Kurland, Esq.
New York, NY
Feb. 20, 2011