Okay, I’m used to howling in mirth at Tom Knighton’s ramblings and then moving on. This time, however, I believe a retraction is in order. Mr. Knighton column in the April 20 issue makes claims that the CDC lists firearm homicides at a rate of 2,670 per 100,000. The actual rate, easily found on the CDC’s website, is 4.2 per 100,000.

This leads one to question his earlier assertion that there are 2.5 million instances of people defending themselves with guns every year. Is this simply made up to balance the ridiculous calculation that there are 2.15 million firearm homicides a year in the U.S. (rather than the actual number of 18,361 from all causes)?

Daniel Churchman
Leesburg

Editor’s note: Churchman is correct; Knighton misreported the national homicide rate. See Knighton’s response in Inside Albany on A5.