Guns and NRA

Re Shawn Hubler’s Sept. 16 column on the LAPD Police Reserve Foundation’s selection of Charlton Heston as the chair for its meeting: As a retired deputy sheriff I support any ban on assault weapons, as I see no need for any ordinary citizen to have one. However, I and all the active and retired police officers I know are in favor of honest citizens having unrestricted ownership of handguns. I believe it is the opinion of most police officers that if handguns are registered it will be the first step to confiscation. I believe, and I think most police officers believe, in the old saying, “If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” If every honest citizen were allowed to carry a concealed weapon (with proper background checks and training), we would see a tremendous drop in the crime rate.

I do not belong to the NRA and believe that some portions of its stand on guns, particularly assault weapons, need to be modified. However, many police officers are NRA members and support that organization’s viewpoint.

JOHN A. JOHNSON

El Segundo

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Hubler writes that LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks says National Rifle Assn. President Heston is at the helm of a movement that is “peddling something that is far more dangerous than other special interest groups, and hiding behind a constitutional issue that I don’t think exists.”

Chief, if the right to keep and bear arms does not exist, where did all those guns in the hands of Americans come from?

JIM DODD

San Diego

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Re “Gunman Opens Fire Inside Texas Church; 8 Dead,” Sept. 16: God bless America. The land of the not-so-free terrified masses. Where else in the world can one legally buy weapons and then turn around and take out large groups of people? I am so happy that my right to hunt and target-practice is more important than thousands of people’s lives.

I have one complaint, however. My right to bear arms should include the right to buy dynamite and nuclear devices. What’s the difference between being able to take out 10-20 people or 200,000? Where exactly do we draw the line; 30 people, 40 people? Remember, weapons don’t kill people, people kill people!

CRAIG S. BLANCHARD

Long Beach

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Gun advocates and the NRA, please take note. The gun-toting “law-abiding citizens” they so frequently mention only become the criminals they despise after they have killed or maimed others with their precious weapons. Do we require many more thousands of gun deaths caused by so-called law-abiding citizens to make this point?

Incidentally, the argument frequently used to compare auto-related deaths to gun deaths must be dispelled. Cars are made for transportation. Guns are made to kill!

MANUEL E. NUNES

Garden Grove

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It’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Your Sept. 19 editorial composed of photographs of slain innocents was the most powerful pro-gun-control statement I have encountered to date.

DIANA VOIGT

Palm Springs