ORANGE, Leslie Day-Ebert: Well, now what? It appears that the recent Orange County shooting rampage by Ali Syed was carried out with a shotgun – Joe Biden’s recommended


weapon of choice. This was not the dreaded “assault weapon” that has so many people up-in-arms. So now what? Do we ban shotguns as well?

And, before we completely lose our minds here, I suggest that we start a national movement to curtail the violent video games and movies that exacerbate this mentality of lawlessness and multiple murders.

You cannot convince me that someone who sits in front of a video game that rewards you for killing the maximum number of people in the minimum amount of time does not influence young boys and men. Ask any psychologist about the effects of violence or pornography, hour after hour, day after day. It leaves an imprint.

Apparently Syed was “a gamer,” I’d be very interested to know exactly what video games he played. Where is the outrage against the video games and movies that perpetrate and glorify this violence?


ORANGE, D.L. Marshall: After the latest O.C. shooting, as horrible as it was (three people dead, three wounded and then the killer shot himself), at least it was not the dozens of fatalities that it could have been had Syed used an assault-style rifle or handgun with large ammo clips.

He had a shotgun, which is lethal, but using it kept the number of people killed low. This is all we can do to curb the violence. We cannot stop people from flipping out on a shooting spree, but we can try to keep the fatality numbers down.

I am a believer in the Second Amendment. I have friends who have guns and know guys who like to hunt legally, but the restrictions the government is trying to implement are needed.

It’s not that big of a deal to have to reload more often when you go target shooting. I know that gun control won’t stop these terrible incidents, but at least let’s do as much as we can to curb these acts of violence in the future. Doing nothing is not the answer.


SANTA ANA, Doris Hirota: Many years ago, a contributor to letters wrote: “Would America have dropped the Big Bombs on Japan if it knew that Japan was able to retaliate in kind?” Unless we are able to “retaliate in kind,” as individuals or as a nation, we are sitting ducks.

Domenici’s shame

IRVINE, Mark Smith: If a politician, now serving in the U.S. Senate, announced that he has fathered a child out of wedlock with another senator’s daughter, I doubt his constituents would have elected him again [“Domenici had son outside marriage,” News, Feb. 21]. Former Sen. Pete Domenici now wants to sanctimoniously acknowledge this transgression.

He lied to many, I am certain, in order to keep this secret for years. Now he is to be championed as an “honorable man”? An honorable man would have acknowledged this event when it happened or soon thereafter, not 30 years later when it is expedient to do so.


Join the conversation

Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement
