MENU

Sections

  • Home
  • About
    • The Chestertown Spy
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising & Underwriting
      • Advertising Terms & Conditions
    • Editors & Writers
    • Dedication & Acknowledgements
    • Code of Ethics
    • Chestertown Spy Terms of Service
    • Technical FAQ
    • Privacy
  • The Arts and Design
  • Local Life and Culture
  • Public Affairs
    • Ecosystem
    • Education
    • Health
  • Community Opinion
  • Donate to the Chestertown Spy
  • Free Subscription
  • Talbot Spy
  • Cambridge Spy

More

  • Support the Spy
  • About Spy Community Media
  • Advertising with the Spy
  • Subscribe
June 22, 2025

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

  • Home
  • About
    • The Chestertown Spy
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising & Underwriting
      • Advertising Terms & Conditions
    • Editors & Writers
    • Dedication & Acknowledgements
    • Code of Ethics
    • Chestertown Spy Terms of Service
    • Technical FAQ
    • Privacy
  • The Arts and Design
  • Local Life and Culture
  • Public Affairs
    • Ecosystem
    • Education
    • Health
  • Community Opinion
  • Donate to the Chestertown Spy
  • Free Subscription
  • Talbot Spy
  • Cambridge Spy
8 Letters to Editor

Letter to Editor: Guns and Jarts

June 17, 2022 by Letter to Editor

Share

As a youngster, I loved playing Jarts.  I’m old enough to remember the original version.  The heavy metal tips were designed to stick firmly in the ground if you threw the lawn dart with enough of an arc.

In 1987, a seven-year-old girl was killed when a Jart thrown by another child penetrated her skull.  At that time, there had been 6,100 emergency room visits in the past 8 years resulting from lawn dart injuries, but the federal government had resisted banning the product.  Enough was enough – public outrage over this death led the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to immediately ban Jarts (although you can now buy a safer version with plastic tips).  I could live without Jarts.

Fast forward to 2022.  The Center for Disease Control reports that 3,219 children aged 1 to 18 died from firearms in 2020 — the leading cause of death for this age group.  Mass killings of children involving assault rifles are all too frequent.  Hundreds of children die annually when guns are not safely secured in the home.  Irresponsible gun sellers target youth in their advertisements.  The few gun safety regulations that exist are riddled with loopholes.

So how did we get to a place where one unnecessary childhood death was too many when it came to Jarts, but 3,219 children dying from firearms each year isn’t enough to justify taking significant action regarding firearms safety?

The modest reform package working its way through Congress is a good first step and hopefully will pass, although it’s discouraging to hear that some members of Congress will not even support these common-sense reforms.  More will need to be done if we really care about keeping children alive by reducing the number of childhood firearm deaths.

Ron Ketter
Easton

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: 8 Letters to Editor

Kent Attainable Housing, Inc., Awarded for Maryland’s Community Investment Tax Credit Program The Dumbing Down of America by Maria Grant

Letters to Editor

  1. Bob Moores says

    June 19, 2022 at 8:20 AM

    Excellent logic, Ron, but it seems futile against people whose priorities and agendas supersede saving the lives of our kids and other innocent folks.

Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article

We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.

Copyright © 2025

Affiliated News

  • The Cambridge Spy
  • The Talbot Spy

Sections

  • Arts
  • Culture
  • Ecosystem
  • Education
  • Health
  • Local Life and Culture
  • Spy Senior Nation

Spy Community Media

  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising & Underwriting

Copyright © 2025 · Spy Community Media Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in