Columbine Slayings

* Caroline Forell said that gun owners should be taxed to pay the bills of the “Columbine children” (Commentary, May 4). I am a gun owner, and I denounce this evil scheme. I have never broken a law in my life. It is insane to tax me, when obviously the Columbine victims had a hand in this as well (they bullied those two perpetrators into insanity). Also, the principal of that school, the police and the parents of the two criminals all let this thing get out of hand.

What in the world did I have to do with these events in Colorado? Were you responsible for the “O.J. incident” because you owned a kitchen knife?

CHRISTOPHER KELLER

Alhambra

* Re “Life Is Precious--or It’s Not,” Opinion, May 2:

How does Barbara Kingsolver explain the fact that we had far less of a youth crime problem during World War II, when the government was using far more violence to “solve problems,” as she delicately puts it? As for the use of the death penalty, she is apparently unaware that, until only a few decades ago, the death penalty was used more frequently and administered much more swiftly than it is now and was sometimes even used to punish kidnappers and rapists, not just murderers. So why were even more children not inspired to murder in those days than in 1999?

MARC RUSSELL

Los Angeles