Teaching Kids About Guns

* So you honor a person who teaches lies to schoolchildren! It should be obvious that the statement, “Older kids need to hear that guns are used for one reason only: killing,” is a baldfaced lie (“Teaching Kids That Guns Aren’t Toys,” Personal Best, Dec. 18). The number of target shooters alone, without counting the many other nonlethal gun users, from casual plinkers to skeet shooters to Olympic triathlon athletes, shows the falsity of the statement.

Implicit in the argument [Farideh] Kioumehr makes is the assumption that killing is, per se, bad. In the general sense of the word, which I assume she means, this is acceptable only to a total vegetarian. In reference to humans, while regrettable, it is sometimes quite necessary--or are we to denigrate those who won our country’s independence or those who maintained it.

If Kioumehr wishes to present a moral argument against real and toy guns, she should avoid claiming falsehood as fact. Further, the Los Angeles Unified School District should not support activities based on teaching lies.

B. CHANDLER SHAW

Granada Hills