Lott and Dershowitz on Gun Control

Thanks for printing the two articles on gun control by John R. Lott Jr. and Alan M. Dershowitz (Commentary, May 25). You could hardly have shown a better comparison.

Lott presented some of the overwhelming body of evidence that repressive gun control does not decrease violent crime and actually leads to its increase.

Dershowitz has no evidence at all, other than the no doubt unintended evidence, from his repeated use of “gun nut,” that hate talk is just fine for liberals.

DENZEL L. DYER

Rancho Palos Verdes

*

Lott makes the assertion that ordinary citizens carrying concealed weapons can reduce the rate of shooting innocents. If there is potential or real deterrence to such crimes by arming the citizenry with concealed weapons, imagine the added impact on potential killers if citizens actually displayed their weapons openly, say in holsters. Who would dare attack a man, woman or high school student who had a big .44 magnum strapped to his or her hip. In the schools, adult recess monitors could assure model behavior by carrying Uzi automatics slung over their shoulders.

FRANK B. ANDREWS

San Juan Capistrano

*

Lott scares me with his rhetoric about allowing all “law-abiding” citizens to be armed so that we can be a “safer” nation.

Three cheers for Dershowitz’s commentary--I would like to know who my gun-toting neighborhood kids are. He’s right, the National Rifle Assn. is the most scary organization in the country, with its unrelenting pro-guns-under-any- circumstance stand.

JOHN RETTIE

Santa Barbara

*

I’m bemused by Dershowitz’s rabid assault on the Bill of Rights. Actually, he gives the Founding Fathers a pass: Yes, they did indeed mean that individual citizens have the right to keep and bear arms.

His concern is with the “gun nuts” (his phrase) like me who point out that the 31 states that now have concealed-carry laws have, without exception, enjoyed an overwhelming decrease in violence. No group, government agency or private body spends more on gun safety than the NRA: $100 million in eight years.

I recall that time we all look back on, when streets were safe and there was no thought of gun control, though, as now, there were some 200 million firearms in private hands.

“Hell hath no fury like a liberal found wrong.” Dershowitz is a criminal lawyer; that’s his choice--the likes of O.J. Simpson and that ilk. He can deal with that. As for me, I’ll stand with Jefferson, Madison, Tom Paine and Sam Adams. I’m happy with my choice.

CHARLTON HESTON

Beverly Hills

*

Every time another schoolchild is shot and dies in America, whom do I think about? I think about Charlton Heston.

JAMES PRIDEAUX

Los Angeles