Summit County Republican Party chair Note: This guest editorial reflects my opinion as a Summit County resident, rather than my role as the GOP party chair. Often, when people react emotionally to subjects difficult for them to rationally process, the greatest casualty is the truth. Lynne and Ed Rutans’ response in the April 28 edition to Jerry Heck’s earlier editorial in support of the Second Amendment is no exception. When people use percentages without referencing the base numbers, one should be interested in what those base numbers represent and why a specific date range was selected. The Rutans’ assertion that “rate of gun deaths increased by almost 40% from 2008 to 2018” and the choice of 2008 as the baseline would seem to indicate an immediately burgeoning firearm crisis, but is that true?