Gun Proliferation and Violence

In response to “Under Fire: The Proliferation of Guns in Los Angeles County,” by David Freed, May 17-21:

While experience has taught me to distrust the information and the judgment of the press in general and The Times in particular on the subject of firearms, the first installment of the five-part series about the impact of firearms on the county struck me as surprisingly well-balanced. No one with any sense will dispute that the criminal misuse of firearms adds a dangerous and lethal element to our society’s mushrooming problem of criminal violence. What some of us, who own and use firearms for personal protection as well as for sporting competition and recreation, get nervous about are simple-minded responses to this serious problem; regulations that tend to have an unreasonably burdensome effect on lawful and responsible gun owners and a minimal impact on criminals or the use of guns in crimes.

What would constitute reasonable and effective regulation? What sort of measures could actually depress criminal misuse of firearms without abridging the right or the reasonably perceived need of the ordinary, law-abiding citizen to own and use firearms? If these questions are ever to be answered in a way that offers any hope of reducing the carnage, advocates of gun control who see lawful gun owners and their organizations, rather than criminals, as the enemy will have to give way to people who are willing to see that NRA members and other gun owners are as concerned about violent crime as anyone else. Working with law-abiding gun owners, rather than campaigning against them, might actually produce proposals for effective control of the criminal mis-use of firearms, without violating the lawful owners’ reasonable and legitimate interests.

LEE WARREN SMITH

Culver City