Letters to the Editor: Rebutting the pro-gun line ‘guns aren’t the problem, criminals are’

To the editor: One of your readers stated that guns are not the problem, criminals are.

Well, how many gun killings are committed by people who weren’t criminals yet? How many weren’t criminals until they had shot a few people?

How many were simply drunk or too young to control their tempers? How many were in a domestic dispute? How many were suicides? How many were children who got their hands on a gun that their parents legally owned?

These would not happen if people did not have easy access to guns. Education about guns is not sufficient in most of these cases.

Don’t let ideology obscure the reality of what easy access to guns costs us.

Rita Skinner, Riverside

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To the editor: A letter writer complains about your use of the term “gun violence.” He claims that people in California have an irrational fear of guns.

Not just California, but also the whole country has an entirely rational fear of gun violence in places where firearms do not belong: schools, churches, grocery stores, malls, restaurants, concerts, nightclubs and hair salons.

The public’s right to feel safe when visiting these venues is being trampled by those who insist that the right to bear arms supersedes all others.

Our right to anything ends where it interferes with the rights of others.

Kathy Harty, Sierra Madre

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To the editor: Everyone seems to be missing the real cause of gun violence entirely.

In this modern world, there are so many people who feel alone and powerless. But they all know this one unmistakable truth: “If I have a gun, you had better pay attention to me.”

Wayne Via, Dana Point