Officer’s Death and Gun Control

* As I saw the front-page picture of little Dylon Brown, who has just lost his father (Dec. 4), I couldn’t help wondering if condolence is the only thing we can do in incidents like this. Easy access to guns is one of the reasons why there are more gun-related incidents in the U.S. than other countries at peace. However, we continue to take our freedom of weapon possession for granted without a hard look on gun-related problems. Gun control movements are as difficult as anti-tobacco movements used to be.

When my brother chose gun control as his essay topic, his teacher returned his paper and said it was a hopeless topic. Not until campus shootings happened one after another did the teacher begin to discuss the issue of gun control with the class. How many more police officers, youngsters and innocent bystanders have to die for people (or politicians) to realize that gun control is a pressing issue?

DELICIA HSU

Rowland Heights

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* The death of LAPD Officer Brian Brown was a tragedy. The exploitation of his 7-year-old son’s grief by newspapers and news shows is a disgrace. I realize that the news media really only deal in bad news, but this crosses over the line--way over.

BART BRAVERMAN

Los Angeles

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* I sat down with my cornflakes and grabbed the paper while my 9-year-old was in the shower. I looked at Rick Meyer’s photo of Dylon Brown and started sobbing. Beth Shuster’s article was wonderful, but that photo said it all. Reminded me of John-John’s salute, but he was too young to understand his loss. Dylon knows.

CHERYL DAVIES

Temple City