Letters to the Editor: Could the 2nd Amendment’s framers imagine the racist rampage in Florida?
To the editor: Why might the U.S. be the sole developed country that suffers a nonstop deluge of heartbreaking firearm murder sprees? Chalk it up to contorted readings of the 2nd Amendment by our nation’s Supreme Court conservatives. (“There’s no place like America for gun violence,†editorial, Aug. 28)
As The Times’ editorial laments, the high court posits that the right to own and carry concealed weapons cannot be infringed “by laws that are not rooted in practices that existed in the late 18th century, when the 2nd Amendment was drafted and ratified.â€
Ah, yes, the glorious late 1700s, when women were deemed chattel and Blacks were enslaved.
Those abhorrent historical practices aside, the most lethal individual firearms were single-shot muskets, which could not fire more than one shot every 20 seconds and were far too bulky to be concealed.
So why not construe the 2nd Amendment to limit possession of firearms to those no more lethal than muskets?
Greg Gilbert, Burney, Calif.
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To the editor: I wish that your newspaper — along with advocacy organizations and government entities — would stop using the term “gun violence.â€
This term gives the entirely false impression that guns — inanimate, mechanical objects — jump up and do something by themselves or are responsible for their misuse. Instead, use “criminal violence,†which puts the blame for misuse on the people who are doing it.
California is an outlier because of its high level of hoplophobia (the irrational fear of weapons), its anti-2nd Amendment and anti-gun bias, and its bigotry against law-abiding gun owners and people who wish to become gun owners.
The state needs to stop writing laws that have a detrimental effect on the 2nd Amendment individual right to keep and bear arms. Use the laws already on the books to deal with criminals.
As well as crime statistics, each state should be required to keep an accurate record of crimes that have been thwarted by armed, law-abiding citizens. The federal government should publish the accumulated statistics each year.
David R. Russell, Santa Monica
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To the editor: In his recent autobiography, U2’s lead singer Bono makes this apt observation of America’s relationship with guns:
“Americans, it seemed, have the same problems with firearms that we Irish have with alcohol. The problem being that we don’t think we have a problem.â€
Perhaps what we really need is a 12-step program for the vast number of Americans who have an uncontrollable addiction to guns.
Donald Bentley, La Puente
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To the editor: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, he of “Florida is where woke goes to die†fame, says he finds the racist murder of Black people unacceptable.
This is the same man who has made a political career massaging racial hatred among his supporters.
Woke people are simply those who are awakened to and dismayed by the social and economic injustice still inflicted on the Black community. What effect did DeSantis imagine his actions would have?
Marcia Goldstein, Laguna Woods
