I hold elected officials to a higher standard to support their statements regarding policies and political partisanship claims.

As published in your letters to the editor last week City Councilman Noel Gerken asserted that, “Gun violence and deaths in our society are increasing at an alarming rate.”

I believe the second half of the sentence means to state that the increasing deaths are a result of gun violence. The FBI statistics are that murder rates, including gun crimes, have been trending downward since 1993 – 24,526 vs. 2011 – 14,612.

Whether you are for or against new gun laws the debate deserves to be centered on facts not chicken little rhetoric.

Larry Giampapa

Covington