Letters to the Editor: Keep flags at half-staff after the Maine shooting. We'll have to lower them again anyway
To the editor: The White House, which lowered flags to half-staff to honor the mass shooting victims in Lewiston, Maine, might as well leave the flag there to remind Americans of the 100 daily victims of gun violence in this country.
The dead and injured of Lewiston deserve our attention now. But we must also consider the monetary costs of the shootings: Think of the medical and funeral expenses, additional law enforcement pay and business losses that come because one man wielded a weapon that used to be banned in this country.
With their longtime opposition to reasonable gun control measures such as universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, the National Rifle Assn. and the Republican Party are truly asylums for the morally insane.
Bob Ladendorf, Los Angeles
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To the editor: The coverage of the mass shooting in Maine misses something about these kinds of events — all but a few mass shooters are men.
Perhaps the problem runs deeper than guns.
I am a woman. I carry a gun for protection, specifically for protection from men who could easily overpower me and kill me with physical strength alone.
Perhaps instead of getting rid of guns, we should get rid of men. Food for thought.
Angela Rhoten, Proctor, Okla.
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To the editor: Oh, the irony — the president of the United States gets called out of a State dinner honoring the prime minister of Australia after yet another mass shooting.
Australia enacted strict gun laws in 1996 in response to the Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people were killed by a gunman who was using two semiautomatic rifles.
In response, then-Prime Minister John Howard oversaw the enactment of the National Firearms Agreement. About a third of the country's firearms were taken off the streets with gun buybacks and voluntary surrenders. All firearms must now be licensed to the owner, and license holders must demonstrate a "genuine reason" (which does not include self-defense).
By most definitions of what constitutes a mass shooting, there hasn't been any in Australia since then. Where's John Howard when you need him?
Jon Rowe, Costa Mesa
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To the editor: Considering the suspected Maine shooter’s history and those of other shooters, I have to reflect on a protester's placard that I saw:
"If guns aren’t the problem, people are the problem, why are we giving guns to the problem?"
It starts every conversation I have with people about gun control. I have yet to hear a good answer.
Ron Roup, San Clemente
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
