Readers React: Making ‘not one more’ gun death a reality

Iwould like to thank Steve Lopez for pointing out the grim “everyday statistics” of gun violence. I have been part of a group that has worked in the L.A. area to change the culture of guns. In many ways we have been successful, with some of the strongest legislation in the country. (“Ignoring the insanity of gun violence,” Column, May 27)

But, as Lopez points out, it is the massive, sensational killings like the ones in Isla Vista a week ago that get attention, while the daily scourge goes on.

During the Vietnam War, there was an ongoing list of military deaths and injuries that was

published and aired regularly on the news. It helped turn a generation of young people against the war. Maybe The Times and other news outlets need to keep a box score of the number of gun deaths in our community so that this young generation can effectively change the culture of guns in our society.

The wish of a victim’s father, Richard Martinez — “not one more” — deserves to become reality.

Roberta Schiller

Los Angeles

The writer is a board member at Women Against Gun Violence.

I am firmly in favor of rigorous background checks on gun purchases, but even these would not have stopped Eliot Rodger’s rampage. Under our current mental health system, there was nothing that could have gotten him flagged and prevented him from acquiring the guns that he used.

And guns were only one instrument of death; what about the car he drove? And the knives he used to kill his roommates?

The real failure in this case was our lack of an effective mental health system.

I am very sorry for the loss suffered by Rodger’s parents and by the parents of his victims, but they need to focus their fury on our inadequate mental health system, which has put individual rights above the rights of others.

In this case, Rodger also was very much a victim of his own “rights.”

Catherine Cate

Santa Ana

I have seen little mentioned about the stores where Rodger bought his guns and ammunition.

Did no one there question why a young student was doing this? Did no one think to alert the police? Do the owners of these stores look the other way when they are making a sale to such a young individual?

Are there no ethics involved when selling a gun to someone?

Diane Stanfield

Santa Monica

I didn’t understand slums until my daughter lived in one. I knew the facts, but not in the visceral way I did when she couldn’t walk her dog or buy groceries.

I thought I knew something about the grief of families in Littleton, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., and Newtown, Conn., but it changed when more slaughter came to UC Santa Barbara, where my husband has been teaching for 29 years.

I was in the stadium when a grieving father begged us to demand changes so these killings aren’t as commonplace. I am convinced his pleas are in vain and in a few months he’ll have to live with the indifference, and even enmity toward him, from fellow Americans.

How do the parents at Sandy Hook Elementary and all the other survivors of mass shootings cope with the fact that their children’s deaths are acceptable to most of our citizens?

Norah Madigan

Santa Barbara