Letters to the Editor: Stay safe from gun violence. No more church, school, shopping ...

To the editor: This is America, where guns and “stand your ground” laws proliferate. To avoid getting shot, please adhere to the following:

Do not attend elementary, middle or high school. Do not go to college. Do not drive a car or ride in one. Don’t be a pedestrian or enter a movie theater. Or a restaurant. Never attend concerts or sporting events. Do not stay home (stray bullet) or go out (stray bullet).

Do not have a job. If you do, stay away from people being fired. Do not go to a hair salon or grocery store. Don’t get married or divorced.

Do not attend religious services. Don’t knock on doors or drive up the wrong driveway.

And remember, “stand your ground” is for the guy holding the gun, not you.

Seek out America’s safe zones: Gun shows, gun stores, National Rifle Assn. rallies and white supremacist marches.

Stephen C. Lee, La Habra

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To the editor: I don’t think “stand your ground” rules are the issue in the recent spate of people shooting others who posed no threat to them.

“Stand your ground” means only that a person who, without fault, reasonably believes that he is faced with an actual threat of death or great bodily harm need not retreat. That has been the rule in California for more than 100 years. (See the California case People vs. Hecker from 1895.)

The problem is shootings by those who do not reasonably believe they are threatened. This is rooted in the overriding and unreasonable fear of others, which has been stoked by the NRA and craven politicians who cry, “Crime! Crime! You need a gun!” even in the face of the fact that the violent crime rate in the U.S. has been steadily declining for decades, and is now about half of what it was in 1990.

John Hamilton Scott, Sherman Oaks

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To the editor: Gun owners tell us that gun owners are good, law-abiding citizens. And they are, until they aren’t. Then people die.

Then gun owners (and legislators) shrug their shoulders and give us “thoughts and prayers.” And do absolutely nothing.

Lanore Pearlman, Claremont

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To the editor: Perhaps The Times should consider a new section devoted entirely to gun violence: Sports, California, Calendar, Death.

Robert Brown, Santa Monica