Easy Access to Firearms

* Re “A March on Gun Carnage,” editorial, Aug. 15: Before his rampage at the Jewish center, Buford O. Furrow Jr. was judged to be dangerous enough that he was not supposed to possess firearms and those that he had were to be confiscated. His parole officer was supposed to visit him to see if he had any illegally but this did not happen. Before his attack on schoolchildren in Stockton, Patrick Purdy was arrested as a felon for shooting trees he claimed were attacking him. Purdy was allowed to plea-bargain his felony to a misdemeanor. When he purchased seven different handguns on seven occasions he passed California’s background check and waiting period because no notation of his felonious activity was made on his record due to the plea bargain.

While the Clinton administration brags about the “thousands” of gun purchases to criminals that have been stopped by the Brady Bill, less than a dozen have been prosecuted under the law. They just let them walk away to purchase a firearm through illegal means.

There should not be a march on the Capitol to express the “nation’s anger and anguish over the failure to achieve better controls on guns.” There should be a march on Washington to express outrage over the failure to fully implement the laws we already have.

MICHAEL THOMAS

El Toro

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L.A. Police Chief Bernard Parks is absolutely right in calling for the abolition of Saturday night specials and automatic weapons (Aug. 14). Only in America are the mentally--and morally--disturbed allowed access to an arsenal as a “right.” As for the Republicans who have long served as errand runners for the NRA, by virtue of impeding the kind of sensible gun legislation most Americans want, they deserve nothing less than to share the fate of the pro-slavery Whigs who came before them and who were equally out of step with their times. Which is to say, obliteration.

MARK L. WILLIAMS

North Hollywood

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Once again, a single individual with a gun has cast into public disfavor those who dare to proclaim that they wish to retain their privately owned firearms. I own a few firearms, and I’m not a member of any gun-owning organization, but I did belong to one of the oldest gun clubs around; you might have heard of it, the U.S. Marine Corps. I made it my entire career without shooting myself or any friendlies around me.

Instead of trying to violate the rights of law-abiding citizens, may I suggest that we brand these hate-filled fanatics as threats to the Constitution (domestic terrorists) and let my former colleagues and their peers clear out their wasp nests of hate and ignorance. If communities want to take a stand, how about taking it against the brains that commit the crimes?

WILLIAM R. BENSON

Orange