The Death of a Brave Deputy : Rookie is gunned down by a .357 magnum, as gun pandemic continues

Every time an active-duty law enforcement officer puts on a uniform, he or she knows there are huge risks involved but that few officers have to pay the ultimate price. However, because one thug had a handgun, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Nelson A. Yamamoto was made to pay that price, after only two months on the street.

Herein lies another tragic story of handguns in Los Angeles. County law enforcement has been robbed of an officer with a promising future and of one of the too-few Asian-Americans in the Sheriff’s Department.

Yamamoto died Tuesday from four wounds suffered in a gunfight at a Walnut Park house Sunday night.

He and two other deputies were responding to an all-too-familiar complaint--”men with guns behaving threateningly.” Without warning, two suspects, one armed with a .357 magnum, opened fire at close range. The deputies shot back, killing one.

Two men fled; one of them, authorities say, is wanted in connection with murders in North Hollywood and El Salvador.

This shooting marks the first time a Los Angeles County deputy has been killed in the line of duty since 1989. This incident and others in the seemingly endless string of gun deaths are the inevitable consequences of the unmitigated proliferation of cheap and easily obtainable firearms.

The National Rifle Assn. argues that only law-abiding citizens are hurt by limitations on the manufacture, importation and sale of handguns. Tell that to the family of Nelson Yamamoto.