Roberti Recall and Gun Lobby

* Your editorial (“Roberti Recall: Taking Aim at Courage,” Feb. 9), regarding the recall of state Sen. David Roberti (D-Van Nuys), is on the mark. Roberti was my Senate partner in the successful passage of the Roberti-Roos bill to stop the sale, manufacture and transport of military assault weapons; I know firsthand how malevolent the gun extremists can be.

Now, we publicly see why gun reforms are so difficult to enact. The recall of Roberti is testament to the gun lobby’s zeal in attempting to discredit and remove from the political scene voices of courage and reason.

It is quite apparent in every public opinion survey that more than 80% of the public supports a ban on these deadly assault weapons. The public knows that to get a handle on crime we need to increase penalties and get the heavy weaponry out of the hands of criminals. Yet, the reason it took so many years to enact a ban is because of the undue influence of the National Rifle Assn. and its affiliate groups.

It’s time to exert our collective influence.

Roberti is a courageous public official who deserves our help, not just because his name is personally on the line in this recall, but because literally all of our hopes of enacting sane gun reform in the future rest on the outcome of this election.

MIKE ROOS

Los Angeles

* To me the headline of the editorial should be “Roberti Recall: Taking Aim at a Carpetbagger.” I believe you have underestimated the voters of the 20th District. Most agree with the ban on assault weapons but what we are upset about is having a carpetbagger represent the Valley. Spending one or two nights in a rented apartment does not make a legislator knowledgeable about Valley issues.

The Valley has 1.6 million residents and it is about time that the “political bosses” stop telling us who is going to represent the Valley. To represent an area one must live in the area and participate in its activities.

I didn’t sign the recall petition but would have if I had been approached. I am not a member of the NRA, support the assault rifle ban, but object to having incumbents from other districts who are running because of their incumbency and can raise lots of money to discourage good candidates from running. Although I am a Democrat I will vote to recall Roberti and will vote against state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal, who just “rented an apartment” in our district so he can also become a carpetbagger when he runs for the seat in November. It’s time for the Valley to stand up and be counted.

JOSEPH MERDLER

North Hollywood

* Emperor Roberti thinks he can rule the world. If you want to talk about courage, finally someone has the courage to confront him with a recall and he starts calling names, “gun wackos, extremists.” Everyone who doesn’t agree with Roberti is an extremist. Well, here’s a name for Roberti, “big government fat cat.”

TIM ELLIOTT

North Hollywood

* I don’t live in or even near Roberti’s Senate district, but the recall assault on him from the marshmallow-brained NRA and gun nuts is truly despicable, and costly to the taxpayers. And their own words unmask their vicious charade:

One leading opponent said that the recall effort “has had a marriage of convenience with gun activists” (Feb. 8). Another wrote in a memo that “the beast is wounded . . . it’s time to go in for the kill. . . . “ A third (convicted of illegally owning a machine gun) admitted that “the whole purpose of the recall of Roberti is retribution” for the 1989 law Roberti sponsored outlawing assault weapons in California that were massacring our children.

Coming just eight months before his Senate career ends anyway (because of term limits), this effort is further sullied by the fact that several of these disgruntled do-nothing losers ran against (and lost to) Roberti in 1992 and have filed to do so again as part of the recall in April. What pathetic self-serving two-faced hypocrites they are.

Our state is better for having people of courage like Roberti in public office.

BRIAN E. FINANDER

Long Beach

* Regarding the recall of Roberti, I am one Republican that disagrees with this group. I believe my background qualifies me to speak on this issue a bit more than those folks who are asking for a recall due to Roberti’s 1989 legislation on automatic weapons control.

I was in law enforcement for 31 years, and in the latter part of my career seized 2,500 semi- and fully automatic firearms. Many of these weapons were used in violent crimes including multiple murders. All remaining weapons were used as a defense by an army of grouped criminals in Los Angeles County.

I doubt very sincerely that these types of weapons make good collectors pieces, are used for hunting deer and elk, or target practice. The only purpose they do serve is to defend against or kill human beings.

Roberti has been and is a pro-law enforcement politician. All one has to do is peruse his record for the last two decades.

STAN NELSON

San Pedro