Letters to the Editor: When will Americans admit, ‘It’s the guns, stupid’?
To the editor: Thank you for one of the best editorials I’ve read concerning gun violence. Your point about killers having one thing in common — they have guns — reminds me of an exchange I heard years ago: In reply to “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” someone said, “People with guns kill people.”
I read some initial reporting about the Monterey Park suspect having some anger issues. Whether or not that turns out to be true, it reminds me of Homer Simpson being told he had to wait for a background check before purchasing a gun. Frustrated, he replied, “But I’m mad now!”
Reducing gun violence requires we continue to consider many issues. In the meantime, how many deaths will it take, how many years will it take, until we and the people we elect admit, “It’s the guns, stupid”?
John Saville, Corona
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To the editor: In addition to guns, mass killers have more important things in common — desires for notoriety, and to inflict as much misery on society as they have suffered in their lives.
The Times’ front-page stories on the Monterey Park shooting and your coverage of the suspect and the terror he allegedly inflicted surely fulfill these desires. Furthermore, The Times’ coverage (and that of countless other newspapers and broadcasters) will assure other monsters that their future acts of horror will achieve similar outcomes.
More than 70 million Americans are gun owners, and 99.9% of them never use a firearm to take a life. Yes, America needs to stop the carnage of the 0.01% of gun owners who commit these atrocities.
Editorials would be more useful if they focused on outlawing removable magazines holding more than six shots, red-flag laws that operate quickly and cheaply, and laws creating consequences for people failing to report an atrocity they know is being planned.
David A. Walsh, Manhattan Beach
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To the editor: This is sick. We are sick as a society to tolerate this all so folks can have their guns. Guns have become the golden calves that are worshiped and defended against any sensible laws.
Oh, we have to obey the 2nd Amendment and make sure we have guns for “2nd Amendment remedies.” That part of the Constitution was written when we had muskets that had one shot and took a few moments to reload.
Our forefathers could not have imagined today’s assault weapons, and the purpose of the 2nd Amendment certainly wasn’t to give citizens the means to overthrow the government if they thought it was out of control.
When will this insanity stop and we say enough is enough? I would give up my right to own a gun because the safety of our communities is more important.
Anne Earhart, Corona del Mar
