Assembly Vote on Unsafe Handguns

* Re “Assembly Votes to Ban Handguns Deemed Unsafe,” Aug. 20: To all would-be gun prohibitionists, please take a lesson from alcohol prohibition and the drug war. Should you succeed in banning guns, all you will achieve is gun anarchy, a huge black market in guns. Instead of the nicely regulated system you have now with numbered guns that are traceable to their owners, you will have unnumbered guns traceable to no one. Don’t like Saturday night specials? With thousands of machinists making guns in backyard shops, there are going to be a lot more of them.

KIT MAIRA

San Fernando

* Now a law to ban unsafe guns. By all means, we must have guns that will kill properly. How about a bill next to rid us of pit bulls that won’t attack? If you wonder why the streets are unsafe, look no farther than elected officials.

GALE FRIGO

Bakersfield

* I can’t understand why gun owners always cry “slippery slope” or “camel’s nose” every time a new gun law is passed. Wait a minute. Maybe it is comments like this from Majority Leader Kevin Shelley (D-San Francisco): “I too would love to see guns banned. . . . We’re not there yet, so we vote on measures now that we can support and then we move society along.”

SCOTT JONES

North Hollywood

* My grateful thanks to LAPD Chief Bernard Parks for his courageous stand on assault weapons and Saturday night specials (Aug. 18-19). His proposal to collect, destroy and ban these weapons is not only the right way to go but the only way.

NORMA S. MUNGER

San Pedro

* The National Rifle Assn. contends that it is my right as a lawful citizen, protected by the Constitution, to keep and bear arms in defense of life and liberty. Parks has pronounced his conviction that my lawfully possessed arms should be seized and destroyed. Which statement sounds like fascism to you?

DONALD STACHOWIAK

Northridge

* Due to the power of the NRA, we don’t seem to be able to enact gun control measures or enforce those measures already on the books. It would seem appropriate, therefore, that an excise tax of 50% should be put on the sale of guns and ammunition in order to provide for victims of the violence rampant in our society.

BOBBIE CORBETT

San Clemente

* You write, “Banning gun sales from public property is the right thing to do” (editorial, Aug. 17). Banning the gun shows isn’t solving our problem. People are going to purchase guns whether we like it or not. The key is better control on gun sales and education. There needs to be a longer waiting period for doing background checks. There also needs to be a limit on how many guns someone can purchase.

Our children need to be educated on the dangers and consequences of using guns. There should be a mandatory training course for people who purchase guns. For example, this class would teach them where to store their guns to prevent children from getting ahold of them.

As someone who has grown up in a violent neighborhood, I have seen what guns can do to the innocent and the community. But until there isn’t a single gun in this world, we should be able to feel protected. And if that means owning a gun, we should have that right.

JAMILA GAINES

Los Angeles