Children’s safety is under fire

Re “Why kids can’t be kids,” Opinion, March 29

Where does this writer live? I bet it’s not South Los Angeles or Watts or Compton. Does the writer think sexual predators are the only concern? My three small children recently had to drop and lie in the prone position because of a shooting right outside their elementary school. Not to mention witnessing high-speed car chases, gangs and addicts on a regular basis.

I’ve been in Korea since November 2006, and it breaks my heart to not be home to protect them. Stay inside? You bet. Until I can return and move them with me to my next duty assignment.

ENRIQUE REVELES

Uijongbu, South Korea

*

The statistics are clear: Kids are safer now than at any other time in history. I have one thing to add: There is safety in numbers. When I was a kid in the 1970s, most of us walked or rode bikes to school, and the streets were full of kids. Woe be to the predator who tried to victimize one of us. Even a small group of 10-year-olds can put up a hell of a fight.

I recall an incident when I was in third- or fourth-grade and some drunk adult was harassing kids on the way home from school. He soon found himself under a barrage of rocks and garbage. I never forgot the sight of a grown man running from a small group of kids.

ROBERT CONSTANT

Mar Vista