What You Said About …

Muhammad Ali TIME’s June 20 issue prompted a deluge of mostly appreciative comments–including even poetry–and many letters from readers who had been indelibly marked by chance encounters with its subject. Alfred Sonny Piccoli of Bloomfield, N.J., recalled the day when, at age 17, he said hello to Muhammad Ali on a Newark, N.J., street. The champ imparted advice that Piccoli passed on to the kids he supervised as a longtime juvenile probation officer: “Don’t ever back down from a fight that you know is for something worth fighting for, even if you may not win it.”

Robert Lipsyte’s tribute to Ali as activist and athlete was “a masterpiece,” wrote Ron Strine of Webster, N.Y., that Mike Wilson of Lomita, Calif., said “in a few pages captured the complexity of the Great One.” But some were critical of any celebration of boxing. Although Leonard Shapiro of Boynton Beach, Fla.–the son of a ’60s fight promoter–fondly recalled watching Ali “revive” the sport, Katherine Kreuter of Rancho Mirage, Calif., wondered whether it’s time to “question the sport of boxing itself.”

For others, Ali’s life had present-day resonance, especially considering the negativity of some popular assumptions about Islam, his chosen faith. “Even in death,” wrote Frances Hagen of Oakhurst, Calif., “Ali is shaking up our preconceived notions.”

HOW GUNS STACK UP

As politicians debate gun control after the massacre in Orlando, TIME has broken down data on the gun laws and cultures of 10 countries. The results, illustrated by animated graphs, make clear how much of an anomaly U.S. gun ownership is. With 270 million guns (that’s 88.8 guns per 100 people), the U.S. has hundreds of millions more than India (4.2 per 100 and more than 88 times the number in Australia (15 per 100 people). For the whole story, visit time.com/gun-data

U.S.

Guns per 100 people: 88.8

AUSTRALIA

Guns per 100 people: 15

LIGHTBOX

In Russia, photographer Emanuele Satolli documents the legacy of the deadly drug krokodil, so called for its scaly side effects. See more at time.com/lightbox

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