Editorial Backing Tough Gun Laws Triggers Controversy
* I am writing this letter in response to “Shooting Loopholes in ‘Tough’ Gun Laws” (July 18).
I can understand how people come to the conclusion that we must have tougher guns laws to stop gun violence when every day we hear about another person being killed by a gun. The problem with making tough laws is that it will not do a thing to stop the killing.
In this editorial a Santa Ana police officer states that there are more shootings because more guns are available, and that the homicides by guns in Orange County have doubled in the last seven years, but we need more “tougher” gun laws. I would just like to point out a few facts: There are now over 20,000 gun laws on the books, and there is not a city in this country that can say gun violence has gone down; contrary to what people think, it is harder to obtain a gun now than, say, 15 years ago; 92% of the guns used in violent acts are obtained though illegal channels, and the semiautomatic “assault rifles” as the media calls them were banned in 1989, yet nobody mentioned that nationwide these weapons were used in less than half of 1% of crimes from 1980 to 1990.
I know this is a difficult issue to solve, but I feel the answer is keeping criminals behind bars, not depriving people of their constitutional rights.
XAVIER PIEQUET
La Habra
* Your editorial on tough gun laws missed a very important point. Liberal courts have made it easier to use a gun in a crime. (Defendants) can plea-bargain, get parole and if you are a minor, you get your hand slapped. Regardless of the crime, if a gun is used there should be extra jail time.
There should be more effort made to stem the tide of illegal guns, stolen guns and guns to minors. This is where your proliferation of handguns in crimes comes from, not from honest citizens who have a right to protect themselves from these animals.
As for the Harris Poll, we both know polls can be slanted in any direction you want, you just have to ask the right people to get the answer you want.
CHARLES KAUFFMAN
Santa Ana
* Guns should be banned forever. Too many innocent victims are either killed or injured every day by shootings. I don’t consider guns as a kind of protection, even though some do; they can also harm many other people by mistake. Not all people purchase guns for protection; some only purchase them to kill others.
Orange County used to be peaceful. All of a sudden, there’s gang violence and many innocent victims are killed by guns or drive-by shootings. Some are mugged at their own street corners. Others are shot while shopping or even going to school.
It’s not safe to go anywhere anymore. A person never knows when (he or she) might be a victim of violence. It can happen at any place and at any time. Everyone should be able to walk out of (his or her) own home and not be afraid.
A lot of the shootings had to do with gangs. No one can end gangs, but we can stop them from killing or injuring others. Banning guns is the first step to ending violence in Orange County.
SUSAN PHAN
Huntington Beach
* Your editorial (July 18) expresses an intolerance for guns and the ease in which they can be obtained. Where is your intolerance toward people and the subculture that not only tolerates this violence, but provokes it? You want to blame inanimate objects. How about putting the responsibility where it belongs--in the laps of the perpetrators of this violence.
More and more, you and other members of the media have become apologists for a way of life that condones and creates violence. You become apologists because you either don’t condemn these horrific actions and the culture that condones them in your editorials, but blame the same gun laws that millions of citizens exercise lawfully daily. You frequently show us why so many of these perpetrators are victims, (and) you give wide access to those who have become the professors of victimology, blaming everyone but the ones who pull the trigger.
The laws are being broken by lawless people who will ignore your suggested laws that will penalize law-abiding citizens. It’s not the guns, it’s a culture, stupid.
THOMAS H. JUSTIN
Newport Beach
* “. . . Even the toughest laws will not stop homicides” (Times editorial “Shooting Loopholes in ‘Tough’ Gun Laws,” July 18).
Do you people read the stuff you write? You editorialize against guns and then summarize by saying anti-gun laws won’t do any good anyway. That’s what we gun owners have been saying for years. Now you agree but you continue on with your irrational opinion like an intellectual lemming. With thinking like that it’s lucky you have business people to actually run the paper.
STEPHEN J. MOORE
Irvine
