To the editor:

I am proud of Jason Knight for making gun violence prevention an important issue during his campaign and am concerned that Daryl Gould thinks that this issue is not important to voters. 

District 67 House candidates square off.

Voters do support gun safety efforts, as shown in a 2016 poll conducted by the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence where 92 percent of Rhode Island voters supported restricting possession of guns by domestic violence offenders and 82 percent supported restricting the carrying of concealed guns in elementary schools.

Although Rhode Island has one of the lowest rates of gun violence in the country, many Rhode Islanders are losing their lives to gun violence. A recent study by the Center for American Progress shows that from 2005 to 2014, 437 people were killed with guns in Rhode Island, including 59 people younger than age 21. These are not just numbers; these are people. A gun-related suicide occurred every 14 days and a gun-related homicide occurred every 23 days from 2005 to 2014.

Mr. Gould calls gun violence prevention a “distraction.” Lives lost to gun violence are not a distraction, but preventable tragedies that shatter families and communities. Rhode Island has important life-saving work to do.

Sydney Montstream-Quas

Barrington