Letters to the Editor: America is getting back to normal. And that means mass shootings

To the editor: In the city of Orange, people were murdered as they went about their daily lives by yet another angry man with a gun. Women, men, children, the young, the old: It just doesn’t matter to gun murderers because … they are angry!

To top this off, there was a gun show recently at the Orange County fairgrounds. Large crowds, no apparent distancing, mostly men, many unmasked. Yep, a gun show selling more weapons and ammunition. Just after Atlanta and Boulder, Colo.

I am so angry that California allows government property to support the sale and transfer of guns and ammunition. No more gun shows on public property.

Rebecca Chadwick, Costa Mesa

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To the editor: America is the only high-income country where “getting back to normal” after a pandemic means shootings resume in places where people should be safe.

And yet despite COVID lockdowns, 2020 was one of the deadliest years on record for gun violence.

Mass shootings are the tip of the iceberg of this country’s gun violence crisis. The vast majority of gun deaths in the U.S. are daily gun homicides and suicides. And more guns than ever before — around 40 million — were purchased last year alone.

Tell your senators to act. Now.

Paul Bacon, Hallandale Beach, Fla.

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To the editor: Of all the world’s developed countries, the U.S. alone suffers persistent widespread gun violence.

Why? The answer primarily lies with the National Rifle Assn., to whom virtually all Republican congresspersons are beholden.

Even a minimally corrective measure, such as closing a loophole that allows gun sales without thorough background checks, is denounced by the NRA, and in turn draws lockstep opposition from the GOP.

So long as Republicans take their marching orders from the NRA, our nation has no realistic hope of escaping the scourge of gun violence.

Edward Alston, Santa Maria, Calif.