Letter of the Week: Gun control is needed

When it comes to the gun issue, we are a nation out of control.

According to a Pew Research Center poll this summer, 85 percent of the nation is in favor of background checks and nearly as many favor laws preventing people with mental illness from purchasing guns.

When it comes to acting on this issue, our elected officials just kick the can down the road.

There is nothing wrong with gun ownership. I happen to own a few. But along with this right comes accountability and responsibility.

Background checks would go a long way in preventing the mentally ill and convicted felons from buying firearms. To make this happen, we need elected officials who have not sold out to the gun lobby.

If they refuse to act, then the 85 percent of the people need to replace them with candidates from the right and the left who will be responsible officeholders and who are not for sale.

William Mace, 70, of Overland Park, is a lifelong Kansas City area resident. He served 22 1/2 months aboard the USS Independence from 1966 to 1968. He was in the U.S. Naval Air Reserve in Olathe. He retired as a journeyman electrician with Union Pacific Railroad, where he worked for 41 1/2 years. He and Laurel, his wife of nearly 50 years, have two sons, David of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Benjamin of Wichita, as well as four grandsons and one granddaughter.

This story was originally published November 1, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Letter of the Week: Gun control is needed."