To the editor:

I wanted to respond to Daryl Gould’s Letter dated 10/19/16 in the Barrington Times. Mr. Gould indicates that the issue of gun control in a local campaign is “simply a distraction.”

Well, I was distracted when 49 people were gunned down in a night club in Orlando back in June. And I was distracted when 9 worshipers were gunned down in a church in Charleston last year. And I was distracted when Arien Daly was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend in Providence last year. And let me tell you that I was really distracted when 20 first-graders and 6 educators were gunned down in their elementary school in Newtown, Conn.  

Since the Sandy Hook shooting, our federal government has not passed a single law to protect Americans from senseless gun violence. Fortunately, Congress isn’t the only avenue for change. State government can pick up where the federal government fails its citizens. And since Sandy Hook, our neighbors in Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts have passed meaningful gun laws. What has RhodeIsland’s General Assembly been doing about gun violence since Sandy Hook? Virtually nothing.

That is why we need to elect candidates who care about reducing gun violence. I urge my fellow citizens to be gun sense voters. With over 33,000 deaths from gun violence every single year in our country, your life and the lives of your loved ones may very well may depend on it.

Jennifer Boylan

Barrington