Karina Gomez
On New Year’s Day I had the great joy of seeing my 6-year-old daughter ride her bicycle without training wheels for the very first time. It was also the day I read that little 6-year-old Karina Gomez died in vain from a stray bullet.
David Gomez, his family and Karina will never experience the joy of childhood’s great wonders. My heart goes out to them and to all other victims of senseless shooting on our streets.
L.A. homicide rates have been dramatically reduced over the past year (Dec. 29). But please! Let us not slip into complacency. Every senseless homicide is one too many. No one should accept having to live with such violence.
MICHAL S. ATKINS
La Canada
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The headline of your Jan. 1 editorial echoed what I have been asking myself the past 10 years: How dare they?
How dare the families and the leaders in the communities in which they live allow the very existence of these lawless gangbangers? How dare they relinquish all responsibility for the control of their young people? How dare they continue to allow them to live in the community, turning a blind eye to their gang activities? How dare they profit from the illegal activities, as they do when they accept money from the gang members which is obviously ill-gotten?
Until the communities from which these thugs originate come to their senses and refuse to tolerate these menaces to society, thugs will continue to hold sway over our city and wreak havoc wherever they go.
MICHELE PETERSON DAVIS
Los Angeles
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The Times’ editorial only serves to stir up the emotions of its readers without offering any suggestions as to how to end this kind of tragedy. If you really want to begin controlling gangs, you’ve got to legalize drugs. Drugs are one of the main reasons that gangs form and the chief way that money flows to them. This money is what keeps them armed. Deny to them their reason for being. Legalization will create many new jobs, from production and distribution to retail sales, and even rehab clinics for people who need help. With legalization comes control.
Go ahead, roll your eyes, but I will take these kinds of businesses over dead little girls in the street any time.
STEPHEN T. MARCHILLO
Pomona