Reagan’s Support for Brady Bill

The military puts “reasonable” censorship controls on the reporters of the Gulf War and the press calls it a violation of the First Amendment.

The U.S. Supreme Court allows a conviction to be upheld, even if a confession was coerced, as long as other evidence presented at the trial would have resulted in conviction and liberals cry violation of the Fifth Amendment (Part A, March 27).

If The Times and liberals interpreted the Second Amendment the way they do the first and fifth, they would want every adult in the U.S. to own a gun.

Handgun Control Inc. lies notwithstanding, a seven-day wait would not have affected John Hinckley. He owned his guns months before he shot Reagan and he did not have a history of mental problems or a criminal record.

The fact is that controls for inanimate objects do not work. England instituted gun control in the 1920s ostensibly to prevent the Irish Republican Army from acquiring arms. It never worked. Witness the recent mortar attack on the prime minister’s residence in London. New York and Washington ban handguns and they are the murder capitals of the country.

Waiting periods and bans have never reduced crime. Even the U.S. Justice Department has stated that a seven-day wait would be ineffective. If the anti-gun jihad would turn its energies to dealing with the criminals and drugs causing the problem, some of its stated goals might be accomplished.

PAUL S. MILBURY

Los Angels