Letters to the Editor: We panic-bought guns. Homicides are now up. Coincidence?
To the editor: On the front page of the July 6 California section, there were two headlines — "Handgun sales across the state jumped 65.5% amid pandemic," and, "Bloody weekend leaves more than a dozen killed."
The U.S. Supreme Court in its 2008 District of Columbia vs. Heller decision held that the Framers' "originalist" intent was for the 2nd Amendment to give individuals the right to keep and bear arms — meaning, effectively, that we have ready access to firearms so we can just kill each other whenever we choose to. It's not like there's any mention in the 2nd Amendment of a "well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state."
The closest to a so-called militia was led by a shaman ransacking the U.S. Capitol.
Bruce N. Miller, Playa del Rey
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To the editor: "Guns fuel deadly surge in L.A.," a headline in the print edition tells us. Of course. And cars fuel drunk driving, right?
The article further states that 2020 was a "very unusual year for homicides with a small increase in killings in the first half of the year, followed by a dramatic rise in the second."
Could it perhaps be due to radical changes in attitudes toward police after the "mostly peaceful" demonstrations that started mid-year? Just asking.
Barry DuRon, Oxnard
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To the editor: Your articles reporting the spike in handgun sales during the pandemic and the homicides over the Fourth of July weekend make me think there might me a connection there.
Is it possible that the more heavily armed the populace becomes, more people will be killed by the firearms they bear? After all, what else are all those guns for?
John Humble, Santa Monica
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To the editor: After years of reading articles in The Times about gun violence, I decided to conduct a scientific experiment during the lockdown.
I closely watched a handgun for 30 days. I kept waiting for it to shoot me and my family and then go after my neighbors. It didn't. In fact, it never moved.
As such, I have come to the conclusion that a handgun is an inanimate object and is incapable of killing anyone without the intervention of a person.
Perhaps your focus on homicides should be placed on those who kill, because I am now certain that it is not the fault of the handgun any more than it is the fault of a pencil for misspelling a word, or the fault of a fork for one's weight gain.
Richard Miggins, Toluca Lake
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
