Opinion: Pro-gun lawmakers need to hear from voters outraged over shooting deaths

To the editor: I wholeheartedly agree with Richard Martinez, a father who lost his son in the 2014 massacre in Isla Vista, Calif. No parent should suffer the heartache that he and many other parents have of losing a child to gun violence. (“The latest San Bernardino shooting brings back memories of my son, who was killed in Isla Vista,” Opinion, April 12)

It is time that we as citizens demanded that our elected officials took themselves out of the back pocket of the gun lobby. Time and again they have defeated gun-control measures when they should have looked out for the interests and well-being of voters instead.

Write or call your elected officials and demand background checks for all gun purchasers. We can do so much more to make our country safe.

Carmela Elsley, Thousand Oaks

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To the editor: I agree with Martinez that too many individuals who are out of control have access to guns no matter how they are obtained, legally or illegally. However, I believe the solution to the problem is much more related to the issue of self- control and anger management.

The words from a song in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific” ring true today: Children need to be “carefully taught.”

Michael L. Friedman, Torrance

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