I am very displeased with the poor journalistic practice displayed in Linsen Li’s opinion piece on gun control in Monday’s Kernel. The column displays the liberal bias that we have to read, listen and watch in the news across America.

First, Mr. Li insinuates that the majority of us are incapable of responsibly owning a firearm by stating the responsible owner rule is a total failure. The worst part is that his basis for making this claim is that, “nationally, firearms are one of the leading causes of deaths each year.” This is nothing more than a claim without proof or a false accusation.

A car can be used as a dangerous weapon. Shouldn’t we ban those too? A student could get mad at his professor and run him over after class. That’s the same hypothetical being thrown to us about guns.

If you take a look at the Jan. 6 article titled “Michigan sees fewer gun deaths — with more permits” published by the Detroit Free Press, you will see that their fears about concealed carry laws changed once they saw the result: a decrease in violent crimes. The article also states that only 1 percent of licenses have been revoked since 2001.

Finally, the people who are interested in obtaining a concealed weapon license are not your typical lawbreakers. We want to carry our weapons for protection and to detour violence. If you are “mentally unstable” and planning a shooting, are you really going to take the time to get a concealed weapons license?

Joshua Gaines

Computer science junior