Solve the gun issue — and solve crime issue
Solving the gun problem would solve the crime problem to a large extent, a reader writes. Credit: AP/Brittainy Newman
Solve the gun issue — and solve crime issue
Your editorial “Wanted: Communication on crime” [Opinion, Oct. 30] cannot begin until we first solve the gun problem in this country. America has become a "killing field." The right to gun ownership given to us in the Second Amendment has created an atmosphere and environment in this country that lends itself to all sorts of gun crimes, including mass killings. Solve the gun problem and you solve the crime problem to a large extent. See how Australia and Canada have dealt with this terrible, important problem.
Jules Jacobs, East Islip
Most mass shooters were never criminals until they turned their legally owned weapons on innocent people. Most individuals who commit mass shootings were not criminals, until they were, by deciding to vent their anger and frustrations on the public.
Yes, mental health plays a large role in addressing these issues, but we are not at the stage where we have sufficient resources to address everyone who needs that help.
Unless someone is guarding gems, large sums of cash or the like, the need for weapons such as AR-15s is not on par with public safety concerns. Police, armored truck drivers and bank security seldom if ever carry automatic weapons. If police do, they have the necessary training.
While it is true that most gun owners are law abiding and do not harm others, the same can be said of motor vehicle owners, yet we have laws to protect the public when their owners harm other people. Critics of AR-15s and the like are asking for prudence and common sense in granting permission for legal ownership of these weapons, which are most likely to be used to commit mass tragedies, and for government to enact and enforce policies for ownership responsibility.
Robert J. Pollack, Bellmore
Wouldn’t it be smart to limit the numbers of guns in our communities and ban the use of the kinds of weapons of war that do such terrible damage? Ask the most recent groups of surviving families of mass shootings what would be appropriate. Maybe if we didn’t have so many guns, the young shooters wouldn’t have been in such situations to begin with.
Joan Nelson, Ridge
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