If you drink, don’t drive
Fourth of July is a time to celebrate our nation’s independence with family and friends, so if you are going to drink, please don’t drive. Alcohol not only impairs your ability to drive, it impairs your judgment about whether you can or should drive. Too often, people who drink think they are OK to get behind the wheel because they only feel a “buzz.” The truth is you don’t have to be drunk to be a danger to everyone on the road.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, during the July Fourth holiday weekend from 2010 to 2014, 752 people lost their lives in crashes involving drivers with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or more. These fatalities account for 39 percent of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities over this same five-year period.
Be safe this holiday weekend and don’t drink and drive. Designate an alcohol-free driver and help keep our community and roads safe.
Jerry Skogmo, executive director, Renz Addiction Counseling Center
Is national FOID card plausible?
My letter is in regards to two articles — “Mego: National FOID card might be key to curbing future Orlando-style gun attacks” by Bill Mego and “Gun control is a no-brainer” by David McGrath. My perception of the McGrath dissertation is it was more about banning guns than about controlling access to guns. Like most articles of this nature, sources are referenced, statements are made, and there is no workable mechanism provided to take that first step toward something positive. I also question why McGrath did not reference how gun control in countries like France work. Gun laws in France are much more restrictive, but even so, the Paris terrorist attack occurred with these restrictions in place, and 130 people were murdered, and another 368 were injured.
The Mego article does provide what I would call a meaningful first step toward limiting gun purchases. Mego elaborates on the firearm owner ID card in use in Illinois, which is required to make purchases of ammunition and firearms. Procuring an FOID requires a fee and a background check by the Illinois State Police. What Mego recommends is taking the Illinois process national. Would a national FOID work? One might investigate what recently happened to Chicago Sun-Times reporter Neil Steinberg when he set out to show how easy it would be to purchase an assault weapon in Illinois. He was denied. According to the gun shop, the denial was due to an admitted history of alcohol abuse and for a charge of domestic battery involving his wife. Steinberg claims it was because he is a reporter.
Does the FOID work in restricting purchases of firearms, and would it work nationally? There are no guarantees, but it seems something like a national FOID card might be a positive first step toward limiting the procurement of guns by those who shouldn’t be allowed to have one.
Kenneth Fron, North Aurora
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