Taking their own shots

Re “Under the gun,” editorial, March 18

Your opinion misses the core ideal of the 2nd Amendment -- the individual right of self-defense against tyranny, whether by petty criminals or governments run amok.

When such tyrannies cease to exist, the 2nd Amendment can be called obsolete. We are not there yet. I don’t see any signs we are getting there, either. Your coverage of the killings in Los Angeles is on point -- another example of tyranny, by gang members, against which the law-abiding have no defense, which ensures homicides go unsolved because of a lack of witnesses.

Why can’t anyone in these areas of the city have a concealed carry permit but people in Beverly Hills can? The man who was burned to death could be alive today if he had been armed.

George Schirtzinger

Pasadena

In response to your editorial, it seems to me the 2nd Amendment is redundant. The right to keep and bear arms is so sacred to the right-wing gun lobby, it must be covered under the 1st Amendment, freedom of religion.

David Kase

Palos Verdes Estates

I am well aware that the landmark case presently before the Supreme Court, a case that ostensibly seeks to apply the 2nd Amendment to residents of the District of Columbia, will have a significant effect on gun-control laws, far beyond the district. It would be nice, however, if the same people and organizations, such as Vice President Dick Cheney and his hunting partners, who so generously want to give district residents the “right to keep and bear arms,” would work just as zealously to give the same Americans a far more fundamental right: the right to elect a voting representative in Congress.

Dorian de Wind

Austin, Texas