Your 29 Cents Worth--and Then Some

Lolly Hellman of Studio City writes:

Mr. Harris, I have to agree with Ron Yorke of Reseda, you are pretty much full of (expletive deleted) on this subject. . . . Do you honestly believe that if we had gun control, that this would actually help to deter violent crime in our City of Angels?. . . These people are heathens and guns or no guns, they’re going to find a way to harm us and thank g-d for our constitutional rights that give me the right to bear arms which I do, and will continue to do so!

My g-d, I’ve fallen behind in my correspondence!

Lolly Hellman’s letter, dated Dec. 8, was in response to my last column excerpting reader mail. If I’ve learned anything in my first year on this job, it’s that gun enthusiasts have itchy keyboard fingers. Meanwhile, readers have also weighed in on such topics as the legacy of Frank Zappa and have inquired about the mysterious wording that explains my occasional absence from these pages.

If you take the trouble to write--and invest 29 cents postage--it seems only fair that your letters be quoted now and then. (Besides, it fills space.)

Allow me to correct the vociferous Lolly Hellman on one point: Ron Yorke of Reseda did not suggest that I was full of what Hellman thinks I’m full of. For the record, Mr. Yorke wondered about my choice of drugs. There’s a difference.

Still, I’ve yet to hear a good argument against stronger firearms regulations.

It’s interesting, but some gun enthusiasts argue that society is too tough on guns already. They would have you believe that the root of gun violence is that our laws on firearms are already too tough. Some say society would be better off if just about everybody--or at least every adult--carried a pistol as routinely as car keys.

They mouth platitudes like “An armed society is a polite society”--as if Miss Manners grew up in old Tombstone. They launch a recall campaign against state Sen. David Roberti because he advocates gun laws that, polls show, are supported by a vast majority of Americans. They complain about the Clinton Administration’s plans for a nearly tenfold increase in fees for 284,000 federally licensed gun dealers.

How lax have the laws been? Times staff writer David Freed, in a memorable 1992 series on firearms in Los Angeles County, discovered that federally licensed gun dealers here included convicted felons, people with a history of mental illness and a “survivalist” who, according to friends, stopped speaking 10 years ago for spiritual reasons. (Elsewhere, a permit was issued for a dog.) Moreover, hundreds of Los Angeles dealers ignored local laws requiring that they secure $300 city permits.

Officials say the sheer number of gun dealers overwhelms the ability of law enforcement to monitor their enterprise. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen contends the fee increase would weed out 80% of the gun dealers and make inspection more meaningful. Those who refuse to pay higher fees but persist in selling firearms would be outlaws operating in a black market subject to stiff penalties.

Darn but Lolly Hellman, g-d bless her, wasn’t the extremist I thought she might be. In a telephone conversation, she was enthusiastic about an idea suggested by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno: a safety test for those who wish to possess guns. If you need to pass muster with the DMV to acquire a driver’s license, why not a test for gun owners?

The idea might seem especially appealing in Los Angeles County, where more people die as the result of gunshot wounds than auto accidents.

Speaking of guns and violence, another letter concerned “Thugun and Natasha,” a children’s play written by Mary Mann. Loosely based on the videotaped slaying of Latasha Harlins by Soon Ja Du in a dispute over orange juice, Mann’s play uses rap music to deliver a message on the danger of firearms.

Jacqueline Dorfman of Encino writes:

If what you state in your article is that Mann’s play explores how racial animosity, poverty, fear and violence itself all conspired to help Du pull the trigger, then I have concerns about that message. . . .

MOST people who are racially bigoted, or who are poor or fearful or live in a violent world, do not kill or steal. So to try teaching young minds to put blame on poverty etc. is to raise the next generation to expect less of people instead of insisting on decency. If my children were of school age now . . . I would be trying to teach personal responsibility for their actions and not wanting them to look for excuses for indecent behavior.

Dorfman allows that she had not seen Mann’s play and that her commentary is based solely on my column. Having seen a videotape of the play, I don’t share her fears about “Thugun and Natasha.” The play, in acknowledging the social ills that provide the context of the Harlins slaying, doesn’t minimize the role of individual responsibility.

Dorfman raises a valid concern about moral education--how legitimate problems may be transformed into “excuses.”

But in any case, I regret to report that so far the Synthaxis Theater Company of Burbank, which hoped to perform “Thugun and Natasha” in dozens of Los Angeles elementary schools, has been unable to secure funding for its project.

And now, just one last letter from a reader who has noticed something interesting about the Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays when, for some reason, my column isn’t featured.

Bob Horn of Winnetka writes:

Is there a code behind what the paper says as to why your column doesn’t appear some days? I have seen it variously described as you were “on vacation,” had “the day off” and, ominously it seems to me, that your column “does not appear today.” In Soviet politics, for example, we Kremlinologists knew that differ e nt phrases were not used casually or accidentally but rather had specifically different meanings.

Readers may recall Bob Horn, the subject of a past column. An expert on the former Soviet Union, he was a member of the Cal State Northridge faculty before he was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Horn is virtually paralyzed, breathes with the aid of a ventilator and writes by nudging a computer mouse with his foot. He still has minor movement in his legs.

Let’s see. “On vacation” means just that. “The day off” may mean that I just pleaded for mercy. (“Had an off day” would perhaps be more accurate.)

As for the ominous “does not appear today,” well, I’m afraid I’ll have to leave that to the scrutiny of Timesologists.

You see, Professor Horn, if I went into too much detail, my column would not appear today.

If I’ve learned anything in my first year on this job, it’s that gun enthusiasts have itchy keyboard fingers.