The missing issue: gun control

Every year, some 31,000 Americans are killed with guns; nearly 340,000 more are victimized in gun-related crimes, with more than 73,000 of those treated in hospital emergency rooms for nonfatal gunshot wounds. The rate of firearms-related homicide in the U.S. is 20 times that of the next 22 richest nations combined, yet measures to reduce the loss of life and the enormous economic and social costs of gun violence have become a virtual non-issue in this year's political campaign season. Neither President Barack Obama nor challenger Mitt Romney appeared willing to risk even talking about renewing a ban on assault rifles with large-capacity magazines — like the one used in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting this year — when the subject was raised by a questioner at the second presidential debate.

November 5, 2012