Dear Editor:
In response to Donna Berskoetter's letter on March 1 she identifies the need to dig deeper into causes of crime which is insightful. In recognizing that people with history of drug abuse and mental illness can be potential problems in committing crimes, it seems that requiring universal background checks prior to purchasing guns or ammunition would help in limiting persons with these conditions from accessing weapons for killing.
Just as she points out in her letter, there are many reasons why crime is committed; there are many ways that we could deter commission of crime. I didn't understand why she believes that removing the option of banning large magazine clips would not be an option for deterring more deaths.
In the Arizona shooting of Gabby Gifford and the other people in the crowd, a person knocked the magazine out of the hand of the shooter when he tried to reload. If large capacity magazines were banned this would be another way of preventing more death, if he didn't have to reload he could have kept killing people.
We seem to talk easily about wanting a "culture of life" but we aren't willing to pass laws that may make the law-abiding citizen a little more time in purchasing their guns and ammunition to deter the person who wants death.