Letters to the Editor: Buffalo, Uvalde and now Tulsa — we need more single-issue anti-gun voters

To the editor: After the Supreme Court’s twisted interpretation of the 2nd Amendment in District of Columbia vs. Heller in 2008, people became more entitled to own guns of different types and quantities. Gun enthusiasts were gleeful, and many became what are known as “single-issue voters.” They go to the polls primarily or exclusively to vote to maintain their 2nd Amendment rights. (“Police: Tulsa gunman targeted surgeon he blamed for pain,” June 1)

After Buffalo, Uvalde and now Tulsa — and the dozens of other mass murders that preceded them — I will now be a single-issue voter too. I will not vote for any candidate for any office who does not explicitly support gun control, including but not limited to banning AR-15-style rifles and other weapons of war.

There is no reason for these murderous firearms to be available to private citizens. All the obfuscation about mental health problems and hardening of schools will not make us safer. The gun problem is exactly that — a gun problem.

Barbara H. Bergen, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Following the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the GOP and gun rights advocates have been saying we need to arm teachers and “harden” schools.

The mass shooting at a Tulsa, Okla., medical center only a week later exposes this solution for what it is — ignorant and oblivious to the broader problem.

Arming teachers is ridiculous, for too many reasons to discuss here, but mainly because it doesn’t answer the problem of shootings in supermarkets, movie theaters, nightclubs, city parks, churches, synagogues, mosques, outdoor concerts, festivals, law firms, hospitals and so on.

There’s no possible way to “harden” every possible location of a mass shooting.

Daniel O’Connell, Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

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To the editor: It’s not the school or the clinic. It’s not the church or mosque or temple. It’s not the market or postal sorting center. To be distracted by the location of a mass shooting ignores the real problem — guns.

Mass shootings in the U.S. account for a very small number of total deaths and injuries caused by guns. According to the Gun Violence Archive, in this country there have already been more than 18,000 deaths and 15,000 injuries due to guns in 2022.

These counts fail to measure the impact on the thousands of families, friends and co-workers. The only way to address these appalling statistics is by targeting guns. Failure to do so will ensure that we as a nation continue to suffer.

David Dassey, Pasadena