West Hollywood Gun Ban Vote

The poor suffer the most from violent crime. The answer, according to the West Hollywood City Council’s liberal crime experts, is to ban the manufacture and sale of the so-called Saturday night specials to the law-abiding poor (Oct. 17). The explanation is that this will better allow the police to reduce the number of guns on the streets. Gun control is a fraud both because it strips people of their constitutional right to bear small arms and it does not demonstrably reduce crime in the process.

The West Hollywood City Council’s liberal crime experts’ penchant for gun control is an ironic reversal of traditional liberal advocacy on behalf of the poor. They believe, contrary to their rhetoric about community policing, that the police, rather than the community, should be the primary deterrent to crime. They believe, contrary to their rhetoric about empowering the poor, the law-abiding poor should not be trusted with a gun in an incipient self-defense situation.

NORMAN F. BIRNBERG

Long Beach

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* Women Against Gun Violence applauds the West Hollywood City Council for seizing the legislative initiative to ban Saturday night specials and proclaiming its readiness to challenge, if necessary, the state’s preemption of local gun control laws.

With state lawmakers repeatedly rejecting legislation to ban these junk guns, we are confident that other cities will follow West Hollywood’s lead and accomplish what 78% of Californians (and 76% of this state’s gun owners) want: the elimination of Saturday night specials.

Saturday night specials don’t save lives, they take lives.

SUSAN SHAW, Project Director

Women Against Gun Violence

Los Angeles

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* Praise to Councilman Steve Martin for recommending that we all stand up to the NRA. To add to this position of Steve Martin’s and Paul Koretz’s, who helped sponsor the law to ban handguns in West Hollywood, I urge that we stand in unity in each and every city in this state and elsewhere. The Constitution also guarantees us the right to live without fear of gunfire in our homes, schools, workplaces and communities.

If you are truly afraid, do not buy a gun. Instead take extra action against the NRA. This action will result in the saving of lives.

CAROL ANN TAYLOR

Inglewood

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* Three cheers for Chief Eugene Byrd of Isleton (Oct. 15), who wisely recognizes that society is safer when criminals don’t know who’s armed. Boos to California Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren for obstructing justice.

Contrary to your article, California Penal Code does not require “justifiable need . . . such as a proven threat” for issuance of a concealed carry weapon (CCW) permit. Section 12050 merely requires “that good cause exists.” Surely the distinction here is more than one of semantics.

DAVID CODREA

Manhattan Beach

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* Your article concerning Byrd handing out 700 concealed weapons permits in less than a year misses the point. The permits in themselves do nothing good or bad. What are the permit holders doing, good or bad? It seems that no one in this country trusts the judgment of the average citizen, except those who wrote the Constitution.

GLENN YOKUM

Mira Loma