To the editor: Another shooting: in the church no less (“3 dead, including the attacker, and 17 injured in the shooting at the Catholic School of Minneapolis”, “ August 27). It is so common in this country that we barely blink. When are we going to wake up as Americans? Countries that have strict weapons policies have many less shootings. They dislike the people who say: “Weapons do not kill people, people kill people.” Of course, but if people had no weapons in their hands, they couldn't shoot anyone.
Republicans have made arms rights one of their main problems. There is no place for weapons in our country, none. Few people kill their dinner and bring it home. Any politician who supports weapons rights must be voted outside his position. And we, as Americans, must realize that not all “rights” should be rights. As a mother, when my son abused his “rights”, they were taken.
Paula Petrotta, Rancho Palos Verdes
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To the editor: Children lost to armed violence deserve more than prayers and clichés. Politicians and the media should stop using these tragedies for self -promotion. Tears and hollow speeches will not save lives.
We need real solutions of experts in the application of the law, countries that have stopped armed violence and mental health professionals. Politicians prepare careful statements to avoid angry the National Rifle Association, maintaining inaction.
Those who recycle hollow phrases that allow armed violence must be dismissed. Instead of accepting these deaths, we need genuine efforts to change laws, create safeguards and educate about causes.
News organizations must investigate and highlight real options for prevention. The sensation of incidents without addressing solutions normalizes youth deaths. The media that do not expose political obstacles become complicit in this crisis.
Ronald Kotkin, Long Beach
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To the editor: I saw the news tonight and I horrified, since it started with another shooting in an American school. My father was a war veteran from the world II who returned from Guadalcanal in a wheelchair. After the war, he maintained weapons in our house, including a gun and a rifle, but any ammunition that our father could have had was hidden. My brother no longer allowed us to point out any weapon, even a water gun, anyone. My dad was an expert shooter who went to a shooting field. However, he acknowledged that ammunition for weapons of war should not be in a house where children could find them.
I shudder every time I hear about a shooting at an American school. How many children should die? The United States can stop this butcher shop and at the same time allow citizens to possess weapons.
Marilyn Weiss Alper, Sherman Oaks
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To the editor: I am a mother, grandmother and great -grandmother, so, of course, the news of the school shoots in a church in Minneapolis hit me viscerally. But what brought me immediate tears was the child who He told a journalist that he covered himself as they had “practiced.” Primary school children in the United States should regularly be taught how to react to shots. Reading, writing, arithmetic and survival of a shooting.
Mary Rouse, Los Angeles
