Swiss Numbers Don’t Add Up

* I see that Santa Ana had reached the lofty 1993 plateau of 59 murders by Sept. 15 (“Homicides in Santa Ana Tie Yearly Record,” Sept. 16). At that rate they will have about 83 by the end of the year. Interestingly, I was recently reading that the nation of Switzerland had about 80 murders in 1991. This would make Santa Ana’s murder rate 20 times greater than Switzerland’s Of course, Switzerland also has a very low rate in all other violent crime categories. Those Swiss figures came from a country which has one of the most heavily armed citizenries in the world where the government actively encourages shooting by promoting shooting ranges in every town and village. It also sells weapons, including assault rifles and even heavier weapons, to its citizens at cut-rate prices. How do you gun prohibitionists explain that away?

JOHN HAMAKER

Laguna Niguel