Readers React: Banging on guns -- and Jonah Goldberg

President Obama, speaking during a press conference at the White House last week, said that failure to act on gun control is a 'political decision.'

Oct. 9, 2015 5 AM PT

To the editor: It’s frightening to realize that a significant percentage of Americans are terrified of their government and their fellow citizens. How else to explain the near hysteria over any conversation on gun control? (“How not to fix gun violence,” Opinion, Oct. 6)

President Obama’s anger and frustration with yet another mass shooting reflect the feelings of the majority of Americans. Why do we as a country seem to be paralyzed in the face of ever-growing slaughter?

It’s an overreach of breathtaking proportion to insist, as Jonah Goldberg does, that “none of (Obama’s) proposals ... comprehensive background checks, closing the gun show ‘loophole,’ would help.”

How can we know if we don’t try them?

Susanna D. Wilson, La Habra Heights

To the editor: I was overjoyed as I scanned the headlines the other day. “Finally!” I said to myself, “Jonah Goldberg is going to tell us how to fix gun violence!”

But then I read more closely. No, it turns out he’s only explaining how not to fix gun violence, which is to politicize the issue, use facts to bolster your case or otherwise be Obama. So, the same old GOP meme dressed up with fancy words. Nice try, Jonah, but the issue already is political, we have actual facts supporting our arguments, and it ain’t about Obama.

Millions of Americans of both parties will go to the polls this time and vote your NRA apologists out of office, and start making it hard for crazy people to buy automatic weapons.

Which actually is a way to fix gun violence.

Steve Weller, Encinitas

To the editor: Dear Mr. Goldberg: Almost every week you are blessed to occupy a good amount of space on The Times’ Op-Ed page.

You have this once-in-a- lifetime opportunity to influence the world, yet you squander your talent writing silly political tabloid trash.

Since it is Congress that writes the laws, and we are about to have a new speaker of the House, why don’t you take the lead as a top journalist and help the gun control discussion move forward in Congress on common ground?

Dennis Arntz, Laguna Niguel

To the editor: What is different is that mass killers in the U.S. have ready access to guns.

The logical solution — followed in other countries — is to tightly regulate guns and make them hard to own.

Handguns have only one purpose, other than a small shooting sport: to kill or injure other people. And military-style assault rifles have no legitimate civilian purpose.

Daniel Fink, Beverly Hills

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