Guns: Shooters ‘Broke the Law’
* Re “Gun Laws: L.A. Again in Vanguard,” editorial, March 27:
As an avid recreational shooter, I practice safety at home, in the wilderness and at the range. I am not a safe gun handler because of laws passed but because of my knowledge of firearms--from training and hands-on experience. All the laws on the books are not going to stop the uneducated or those driven to commit crime from making deadly choices.
You applaud Los Angeles as a vanguard, saying, “This bloody spring should also rouse to action other men and women of conscience in Washington.” Yet none of the school shootings would have been altered in any way by any of your vanguard’s actions of mandatory fingerprints, limitation of small handguns or potential limiting of ammunition sales. None. I feel your emotion, but I don’t understand your logic.
Every shooter involved in your “bloody spring” broke the law. They carried loaded weapons in a vehicle--illegal. They concealed weapons--illegal. They discharged weapons in city limits--illegal. They killed or wounded others--illegal. What did the laws already in force do to stop them? Nothing. Yet you somehow think layering even more laws on top will somehow make a difference. If you are going to refer to the school shootings, stick to the facts. These kids had mental problems and all the laws on the books couldn’t stop them.
BARRY LAWS
Los Angeles
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The recent school shootings have been met with moral and political paralysis. An example is the mantra that there are no easy answers. Another is the rolling in of psychologists to look for reasons in the murk of the adolescent mind. The root of this paralysis, however, lies with the National Rifle Assn. That organization and the politicians in its pocket have put the interests of gun owners and gun manufacturers above those of America’s children, families and schools.
Jason Hoffman “did love his guns” (“5 Hurt in Gunfire at High School Near San Diego; Student Is Held,” March 23). Now is the time to end America’s love affair with the gun. All countries have disturbed and confused adolescents. America is the only advanced democracy in which these adolescents have easy access to guns. It is time for strict and far-reaching gun control legislation.
CHARLES THORPE
La Jolla