Letters to the Editor: 'Kids matter more than guns' shouldn't have to be written in the Constitution
To the editor: Are children not more important than at least some of our freedoms? The people who wrote the Constitution were careful to include specific protections, including the right to free speech and to keep and bear arms in support of a "well-regulated militia." ("Even as mass shootings multiply, federal judges are erasing gun safety laws," Opinion, March 31)
Our Constitution includes nothing about the protection of children. Perhaps the framers thought that no such mention was needed, since the need to care for children is self-evident. Yet, the bearing and use of firearms causes the avoidable deaths of children every year.
Perhaps the gentlemen in Philadelphia more than 200 years ago never considered the possibility of wicked or insane people murdering children in schools. Such a horror was unimaginable.
Wicked acts tend to be illegal; insanity is not. Therefore, if everyone gets to have firearms, some children will be slaughtered.
We cannot un-kill children whose lives are ended by armed lunatics. But we can and must prevent some people from bearing arms, no matter what some think the Constitution requires.
It is shameful that some now say, "I wish I lived in a nation where citizens cared more about their children than they do about their firearms."
Jim Blackburn, Palm Desert
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To the editor: What does the U.S. Constitution have in common with the Bible? Answer: Both are antiquated and open to abuse and misinterpretation.
Today, they allow for ridiculous interpretations that fit absurd prejudices conveniently at the expense of hapless victims.
If pro-gun judges continue to reign, their biased interpretation of the Constitution will continue to enable mass shootings to no end. This must stop.
Armando Cepeda, Anaheim
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To the editor: How interesting that some Supreme Court justices have decided that the gun laws of the 1700s and 1800s must determine their rulings on gun safety laws now.
My prediction is that birth control will be banned next since it didn't exist in the 1700s and 1800s. And, since women did not have rights back then, those rights can be erased.
Susan Barrett, Los Alamitos
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To the editor: A letter writer misleadingly describes the things that he feels make the AR-15 unsafe for civilian use.
The truth is, all guns are designed to kill; this is not exclusive to the AR-15.
Most modern rifle bullets have a necked-down cartridge to increase speed at the expense of mass. All bullets create a shock wave on contact. There are much more powerful hunting calibers designed to kill very large game animals.
I don't think the AR-15 is the monster of the gun world. People are the real monsters. Knowledge is key.
Robert Jaroszewski, San Marcos, Texas
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
