Gun Limit

Concerning the L.A. City Council’s vote to limit the purchase of a handgun to one per month, Jan. 28: I am at a loss to understand why council members chose that time interval. If one per month would be beneficial, would not one every two months be better or one per year or one per lifetime? The compelling reason for one per month must surely apply to one per lifetime.

SAMUEL ZARCOFF

Los Angeles

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The L.A. City Council’s scheme to ration liberties is absurd, as is The Times’ rationale for supporting it (editorial, Jan. 27). The type of trafficking in guns that the measure is supposed to address is already illegal under federal law. If city officials believe that illegal gun sales are occurring, then they ought to inform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; it’s their bailiwick. (If officials believe that these crimes are being ignored by the BATF, then perhaps they ought to sue the federal government.) All this ordinance will accomplish is to harass law-abiding gun purchasers. Rationing liberty is not a way to reduce crime.

STEVE BELL

Woodland Hills