Readers React: How to decrease gun violence? Readers are split

Gun violence has been a common thread in Times letters this week after the deadly mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., on Oct. 4.

As news of two more campus shootings on Friday -- at Northern Arizona University and Texas Southern University -- surfaces, most readers who wrote to us are adamant that crimes involving guns are happening far too often in our country.

But while they all feel saddened and outraged by these tragedies, they seldom agree on what needs to be done about them. Here are just a few of the varied responses we received this week to the proliferation of American gun violence.

Ellen McMahon of San Diego proposes a change in the Constitution:

Since many of our Founding Fathers erred in their acceptance of slavery, could they have also erred in their writing of the 2^nd Amendment? It took a Civil War to correct the first mistake; will it take a Daily War to correct the second (2^nd)?

Steven Klotzsche in Los Angeles isn’t willing to give up that right:

Hey you L.A. Times readers: Next time you or I are attacked by someone, you can reach for your nail polish, but I will reach for my gun -- my personal thanks to the 2^nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Private citizens simply don’t need guns, says Doris Reed of Los Angeles:

The NRA and other like-minded radicals thumb their nose at responsible gun ownership, playing on the uninformed fears that Big Brother (the government) is the reason more guns are needed. The absurdity has to end and can only do so if, as a collective, people declare that enough is enough.

More guns, says Nancy Daly of Ladera Ranch, will only make things worse:

Does anyone think that in the pandemonium of a mass shooting, with multiple armed people panicked and pointing guns, that fewer people will be killed? Really? The U.S. just mistakenly and repeatedly bombed a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, in the fog of war because of faulty intelligence or communications. These were trained professional soldiers and horrible mistakes were made. How would an active-shooter episode turn out any better?

Rod Wickham of Everett, Wash. is solutions-oriented:

Here is a way to curb gun deaths. For starters, all guns should be registered and their histories recorded the way vehicles are. In order to own and operate a gun you must have a license. To get the license you must show proficiency by taking a test with a gun licensing agent. Once you have a license, you then would have to get liability insurance for each gun you own. If your gun causes damage, the insurance would pay out to the victim of the damage. If you have too many incidents or if you have a record of violence, your rates are going to go up — just like bad drivers. The way the law is now, the victims of mass shootings get no compensation. If similar damage was caused by a vehicle, they would receive millions.

The 2nd Amendment would stand unchanged and a new market for insurance would be created. Everybody wins.

But Dafni Black in Culver City doesn’t think any law will stop the tragedies from occurring:

Is there any law that is already on the books or proposed that could/would have stopped any of these mass shootings?

All these proposed gun laws are just a sop to try to make people feel better and as if they are “doing something” to prevent the next incident. The problem really has to do with mental illness more than guns. Why is there not an outcry for better control of people suffering from mental illness?

They shouldn’t shoulder the blame — it’s a bigger issue, concludes Linda Shabsin from Diamond Bar:

It is easy to blame gun shootings on people with mental illness, because people with mental illness don’t have a strong lobby. People killed on a day-to-day basis in this country far outnumber those killed in mass shootings. Can we blame all these shootings on mental illness or may some of these shootings be blamed on the availability of guns? I think we need to stop blaming mental illness for what ails this country and place the blame on the government’s inaction and on the citizens of this country who elect these officials.

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