Dear Editor: The recent shooting of seven young people at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., underscores why this country needs to initiate further gun-safety while aggressively enforcing the firearms laws it already has on the books. There are an estimated 200 million firearms in this country. When there are that many guns, the chances are good that every once in a while one of them will fall too easily into the wrong hands. That’s apparently what happened in the National Zoo incident. Police believe a 16 year-old youth gained access to a 9 mm handgun and used it to shoot the victims, who ranged in age from 11 to 16. It’s an inescapable fact that guns are too readily available in our society. That’s why I recently decided to join with my Democratic colleague Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg in sponsoring legislation that would require color photographs on state firearms identification cards. The measure also would require all new handgun buyers to pass a gun safety course. The bill would put handgun ownership on the same footing as licensing for motorists. Since New Jersey requires testing and color photographs for prospective drivers, shouldn’t the same standard be applied for a device as lethal as a handgun? Today guns are out paced only by motor vehicles as a cause of fatal injury stemming from a household or recreational consumer product. But the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the year 2001 firearms will surpass motor vehicle as the leading cause of product related death in our nation. New Jersey has been fortunate in avoiding highly publicized mass shootings such as the National Zoo incident or last year’s Columbine High School tragedy in Littleton, Colorado. But how much longer can this state bank on being spared from such gun violence? The United States leads the industrialized world in rates of firearms death among children. It’s time New Jersey stopped playing the odds and take action that would help prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands in the first place. It’s time the Legislature passed legislation that would regulate gun owners in much the same fashion as motor vehicle drivers. Assemblyman Albio Sires D-West New York