Letters to the Editor: How many shootings do we need before American legislators take action?
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- Two students killed, nine wounded in Brown University shooting Dec. 13, coinciding with Sandy Hook anniversary, prompting urgent calls for gun reform legislation.
- Writers cite 75 school shootings nationally in 2025 and question when lawmakers will prioritize gun control over NRA influence and campaign donations.
- Some argue systemic change requires addressing broader cultural issues around violence, mental health access and how society teaches the value of human life.
To the editor: As the nation prepared to mourn the 13th anniversary of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting and the 26 lives that were lost during that massacre, another gunman opened fire at Brown University in Rhode Island Saturday (“Police search Brown University after shooter kills 2 and injures 9 on campus,” Dec. 13). This time, at least two were killed and nine injured.
Personally, I’d like to know if the shooter planned the attack to occur the day before the anniversary of Sandy Hook, or was it just a terrible coincidence? Either way, what happened this past weekend is another American tragedy fueled by hate or illness — or both.
Once again, I urge the president to convene a Camp David gun summit with representatives from the National Rifle Association, 2nd Amendment proponents, law enforcement and families of victims in attendance. How many more times do we need to experience this madness before true gun reform legislation is enacted?
Denny Freidenrich, Laguna Beach
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To the editor: After every mass shooting in this country, voices are raised demanding legislative limits on firearm ownership. But again and again, politicians (many of them beneficiaries of campaign donations from the NRA) tell us that this is a time of mourning and not an appropriate time for talk about gun control legislation.
They and members of the Supreme Court continue to hide behind the 2nd Amendment in spite of the fact that none drafting that amendment could have imagined the development of repeat-firing guns, available today to disgruntled students and anyone carrying a grudge.
There have now been at least 75 school shootings in the U.S. this year alone. So may we ask today, following the tragic mass shooting at Brown University, if it is finally time to raise questions over gun control?
Edward Grubbs, Spring Valley, Calif.
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To the editor: Fifteen killed on Bondi Beach, Rob and Michele Singer Reiner killed with their own son as a suspect, a mass shooting at Brown University, Russia continues to bomb Ukraine, the U.S. is bombing boats in the Caribbean and the list goes on. It seems to me that we are living at an especially violent time and that these horrific incidents are coming faster and faster.
I am left with many questions. What are we teaching our kids about the value of all human life? What behaviors are we modeling to people of all ages? How do we treat one another, whether or not we know or even like them? What are we doing to ensure people with mental health or drug addiction issues do not have access to guns? Again, the list goes on.
We need a new narrative in this country — and in the world. One that calls for us to do better. I think it needs to arise from the bottom up rather than be mandated from the top down. We must each live, speak and vote for a more peaceful, just, kind and connected world.
Joanna Ryder, Hermosa Beach
