Letters to the Editor: Want to feel safe? Try this before outlawing guns

To the editor: I am a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn. who owns several modern sporting rifles (sometimes called “assault weapons”). I would gladly give up those firearms if doing so would stop mass shootings. (“Even Republican voters want more gun laws. Why don’t their representatives?” Opinion, April 11)

But we all know mass shootings wouldn’t stop, right? They would just continue with revolvers or pump-action shotguns.

If the goal is to save some lives, then there are many things we could do to accomplish that. Certainly if we all drove just 40 mph on the freeway, that would save many lives. Speed governors could be installed on all cars — why does anyone need to go 80 mph?

We could install car ignition locks to prevent drunk driving. Certainly these changes would save far more lives than any assault weapons ban. But gun grabbers want other people to make sacrifices to make them feel safer.

Last year, The Times reported that the Los Angeles Police Department had essentially banned pretext stops. Buried in the article was the fact that after that change, over five months there were 374 fewer firearm seizures than the same period a year prior. Will one of those guns be used in the next mass shooting?

Chris Duke, Simi Valley

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To the editor: If the Supreme Court believes that decisions about a woman’s right to decide whether or not to bear a child should be left for the individual states to decide, then why should we not repeal the 2nd Amendment and let each state decide if and how gun ownership should be regulated?

Rita Zwern, Burbank

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To the editor: It is bewildering keeping track of the enormous number of gunshot deaths in the United States every year. No other country in the world comes close to our tolerance of such widespread death. This was inconceivable when the framers wrote the 2nd Amendment.

Modern news coverage could help us better keep up with this daily carnage, similar to factories that have a “scoreboard” showing the number of days since the last accident in order to encourage safety.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, so far in 2023 more than 11,500 people in the U.S. have died because of gun violence. It would be a great service for The Times to keep a daily scoreboard of gunshot deaths alongside the weather report.

Mark Green, Pacific Palisades