2nd Amendment, School Shootings

* Once again, a nation wrings its hands and asks where it went wrong--why we didn’t see the warning signs. But the fact of the matter is that some students have hated certain teachers and other students since the dawn of time.

The difference between America and the rest of the world is that our citizenry, including our children, has easy access to guns. Until we abolish the 2nd Amendment, this carnage will continue and our leaders will speculate about various hidden forces that cause it, instead of condemning the true culprit.

JAMIE HANES

Los Angeles

* I really must take exception to Rabbi Gerald Zelizer’s comment that our pursuits “of life, liberty and happiness . . . are being eroded because of our absolutist understanding of a constitutional right written for another time and place” (“When Assessing Blame, Look Inside,” Commentary, April 22). He was referring to the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution, stating our right to keep and bear arms.

There are (depending on which data you use) about 1 million citizens each year who still have life, liberty and are able to pursue happiness because they had a firearm with which to defend themselves. Does the rabbi really want to open a dialogue about which, if any, of the rights stated in our Constitution should be reconsidered? If one amendment is only appropriate for “another time and place,” may there not be others?

FORREST BONNER

Huntington Beach

* Let’s have a moment of silence for the 12 innocent Columbine High students and one teacher who were senselessly murdered. They are the victims of the 2nd Amendment.

DERMING WANG

Diamond Bar

* We lay blame on the objects of destruction, when in reality it is the people behind the weapon. Be it bombs, guns, knives, forks or spoons, we are the ones in control of the devices at our disposal. Even smart bombs go astray!

GARY HILL

Cerritos

* Cameras don’t kill people, people kill people. Now that the NRA is having a meeting in Denver, let’s not hear “guns kill people, people kill people” again. The NRA should avoid the cliches and speak intelligently about responsible gun ownership. Come on, if I want to kill someone I’ll most likely get a gun to do the job. We don’t read a lot of stories about gun owners defending themselves with guns; the self-defense story doesn’t really ring true.

The Constitution wasn’t meant to give every bozo a weapon, was it?

JIM WASSON

Irvine

* The ultimate blame for recent tragedies (Littleton, Jonesboro, etc.) belongs to all of us who are too cowardly to change the permissive gun laws. How can we call ourselves a civilized society if we sanction the ownership of lethal weapons? What do we expect to happen? I am angered and ashamed to call myself a citizen of this country!

MARILYN SIMS

Marina del Rey

* One question: How do the administrators at Columbine High School explain why they allowed a hateful, racist group with a name like “Trench Coat Mafia” to exist as an official club with a photograph in the yearbook? Wake up and smell the swastikas! They were a disaster waiting to happen.

KIMBERLY RYAN

Los Angeles

* Police in Colorado defended their decision not to go busting into the school (and save some lives). “We had no idea who was a victim and who was a suspect” (April 22). Here’s a clue: The victims were bleeding and the suspects had shotguns. I thought SWAT stood for special weapons and tactics. I guess in Colorado it means sit, wait and think.

TIM ELLIOTT

North Hollywood

* Isn’t it time that we all gave serious thought to teaching and living the principles of nonviolence and tolerance? If we do not, as individuals and as a community, begin to adopt such worthy ideas, we will continue to suffer the consequences.

IRENE BRIGGS

Huntington Beach