New Gun Laws in Los Angeles

* The L.A. County Board of Supervisors and the L.A. City Council are to be commended for the courage they have shown since Jan. 1 in adopting sane gun policies. Al Martinez’s Feb. 9 column, “A Mingling of Voices,” speaks to the community sentiment regarding this issue. The leadership shown by L.A. Councilman Mike Feuer and Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky, Gloria Molina and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke should serve as a model for other local legislators and the state representatives.

Every day in 1997, 10 people sustained injuries severe enough to cause death or extended treatment in a level one trauma center in L.A. County. Every resident of this county should demonstrate his or her support for uniform regulations on guns to reduce the threat to our children and our communities. We must never again accept the preventable deaths of 1,370 persons in one year from guns.

BILLIE WEISS, Exec. Dir.

Violence Prevention Coalition

of Greater Los Angeles

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* The Board of Supervisors’ comments that the gun manufacturers should be responsible for deaths from their guns is ridiculous. The manufacturers go out of their way to let the public know that someone can and will be killed by bullets coming out of a gun. They have never tried to hide the fact that this could happen.

The tobacco industry, however, has gone out of its way to hide the fact that their product will harm people. Even the warning on the package from the surgeon general says that the product “may cause harm.” As a paramedic, I treat people who use both products and it’s obvious that the public knows that bullets can and will kill and they think that smoking won’t hurt them. Regardless, even if someone has emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cardiac problems. If the board wants to waste time and taxpayers’ money on superfluous accusations, maybe it’s time to elect a new board that will work for the public it serves.

BEN FRASCONA

Diamond Bar