Readers React: Gun trigger locks can save lives -- of criminals

To the editor: My suspicion is that the members of The Times’ editorial board are unfamiliar with guns. To make a statement about trigger “locks that take seconds to open” is ludicrous. It is exactly those seconds that can mean the difference between life and death. (“Let’s lock up L.A’s guns,” Editorial, Nov. 12)

And it is not just seconds — it is many seconds. These trigger locks are very small. Additionally, most guns come with a key lock — first you have to find the key.

Members of the editorial board should complete a class on handgun safety and then have a gun fixed with a lock placed nearby. Have an instructor announce that an armed intruder has just kicked in your door. While the instructor is shouting at you to simulate the tension of the moment, obtain the gun and open the lock.

I think it only fair for you to learn about this rather than just make uninformed statements.

Robert Braley, Bakersfield

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To the editor: I agree that firearms should be locked and put away when not in use.

I’m an elementary school substitute teacher in L.A. Unified. One day while a class was sharing things brought from home, a second-grader opened her lunch bag and pulled out a pistol. I quickly took it from her and called the office. School officials escorted her and her weapon out of the class and called her parents.

As a former infantryman, guns don’t frighten me. But a child having access to one and also having no problem carrying it around scares the heck out of me.

What’s the answer?

Hal Rothberg, Calabasas

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