Controlling Gun Sales

In a knee-jerk reaction to recent tragic shootings, the L.A. County supervisors banned the sale of guns on county property. Now the gun show promoters are suing the county (Sept. 8). I have an alternative. Selling legal guns to legal buyers on county property should be encouraged. It’s the back-room, illegal sales that are a problem. The only thing the county needs to do is ensure that all sales on county property are legal.

Why can’t we have Sheriff’s Department deputies with computers do a background check on all persons entering the show? No felons allowed. Yes, it would slow down the process of entry into the show, but is that too much of a price to pay to keep guns out of the wrong hands? Let legitimate collectors buy legal guns; they will tell you they have nothing to hide--they are just hobbyists exercising their constitutional rights. Let the law enforcement authorities keep those who through their own criminal actions forfeited those rights from becoming a menace to society and interfering with the rights of good citizens.

KEN CONSTANT

North Hollywood

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In “64% Back Gun Control Over Right to Ownership, Poll Finds” (Sept. 3), you failed to mention how the pollsters phrased the questions, an all-important point. How do we tell if those questioned are knowledgeable or not?

The real reason such polls are useless is that “gun control” is proven to be useless. Criminals, by definition, do not refer to laws when acting! Every time a criminal or mentally disturbed individual uses a firearm to shoot someone, those ignorant, or worse, of the facts cry for more gun control laws. These acts are already illegal; they cannot be made more illegal.

To defer to those who have not had the opportunity to study the history of political justice, who do not therefore realize the significance of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, is the greatest error of all.

KIM WHITMYRE

Long Beach

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Since the state of California requires literacy, good character, fingerprinting and a fee to obtain a teacher’s credential, it should also require gun owners to be able to read the whole 2nd Amendment, to provide evidence of good character, to sign a pledge to become part of a “well-regulated” state militia, if necessary, and to support that pledge with fingerprints. The militia license fee could help defray the costs of administering the tests. The fingerprints, for gun owners as well as teachers, would assist authorities in identifying felons or others who are morally unfit to assume the responsibilities they are undertaking to serve their state and their nation.

HELEN H. GORDON

Santa Barbara