Readers React: Guns and death: Why is so hard to make the connection?

To the editor: I stopped dead in my tracks seeing these two headlines side by side in your paper. Do the people of Roseburg, Ore., really not see the connection? (“Residents still oppose gun control,” Oct. 5, and “Town asks, Why? Why? Why?” Oct. 5)

Are people desperately clinging to their guns because they feel powerless in the face of changing technology, social norms and climate?

Is that the basis for the epidemic of gun fetishism?

All I know is that it’s a sad state of affairs when someone who paints toenails is more highly regulated than someone who purchases multiple guns and rounds of ammunition.

Tama Winograd, Valley Village

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To the editor: Well, citizens of Roseburg and every other city in America, it’s time to decide what type of country we want to live in. Do we want reasonable gun laws that protect all of us, or do we want an America in which our schools — elementary through college — have metal detectors, armed guards and barbed-wire fences, just like prisons?

Steve Fisher, Studio City

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To the editor: In the spirit of George Carlin, I offer the following thought:

Every time there is a mass shooting, the gun lobby proclaims that it would be a mistake to regulate or restrict gun sales in any way. Instead, they say that the best way to prevent such tragedies is to make sure that no one who is mentally unbalanced or unstable is allowed to purchase a gun.

If you follow that argument to its logical conclusion, no member of the National Rifle Assn. would ever qualify to own a gun. After all, there’s a reason for the term “gun nut.”

Michael Asher, Valley Village

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To the editor: With all of this gun control talk, I have not heard one politician say how they plan to take guns from criminals, only law-abiding citizens.

John Henry, Culver City

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