to the editor: Guest contributor Adam Winkler's op-ed on the impact of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to allow open carry of firearms in California demonstrates once again the folly of “originalism” and the need to repeal and replace the Second Amendment (“The Supreme Court made a mess of gun laws” January 8).
The patchwork of conflicting gun laws in states across the country puts us all in danger. USA has one of the highest rates of firearm deaths in the world, and the costs in hospital bills for the injured, law enforcement and court cases add up. billions of dollars a year. It's time to put an end to the handshakes, the “thoughts and prayers,” and the candle-and-flower-filled shooting sites and to end the obscene reverence for the Second Amendment.
Bob Ladendorf, Los Angeles
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to the editor: If we are going to argue that the regulations are invalid because they did not exist in the musket era, we must apply the same logic to the weapons themselves. You cannot claim an 18th century right for a 21st century killing machine. It leaves us to wonder: If the definition of “firearm” continues to expand while regulations remain frozen in the past, where does the madness end?
Juan Arcos, Long Beach
