Hey, leave those kids alone

Didn’t you play war when you were small?

I’m an 8-year-old boy who would like to play with an airsoft gun.

I disagree with the people who have written in about the “war games.”

I think we boys should be able to play with these guns as long as

we keep the colored caps on for safety. I also don’t think these boys

are making fun of the military. I think they respect the military and

look up to them.

ANDREW BOUKATHER

Newport Beach

What is the purpose behind all the negative, politically correct

objections to the Pilot photo of kids playing war or cops n’ robbers,

or even cowboys n’ Indians? Far from encouraging anti-social adult

behavior, I believe such games encourage moral distinctions between

good and bad -- as in, “good guys” and “bad guys” -- and encourage

patriotism.

All of these childhood games have positioned good guys versus bad

guys. In my youth it was the U.S. Marines, Army, Navy or Air Corps

versus the World War II Axis enemies or cops versus robbers.

And even when the perception of who were “bad” guys was sometimes

skewed -- as in cowboys versus Indians -- we still favored the

perceived good versus the perceived bad. And that seems also to be

offensive to today’s morally relativistic, politically correct

liberal establishment.

GORDON MARHOEFER

Costa Mesa

I am responding to your article on the war games being played

behind the Newport Aquatic Center. I have read two other letters to

the editor on the warring at in that area.

First of all, if the adults want to shut down the Newport Aquatic

Center, where will we go to airsoft for free? We get guns out of our

systems early, unlike kids that don’t have airsoft guns and play with

real ones. Those kids don’t get the enjoyment of playing with fake

ones.

Playing volleyball and flying kites is all good, but after a while

we need variety.

We need to try something new. I have been airsofting at the

Newport Aquatic Center for about a year now -- please don’t shut it

down and ruin our fun.

NATHAN FREIBERG, 15

Newport Beach

The front-page picture of boys out playing war in the Back Bay

saddens and distresses me. We have enough trouble with guns, gangs

and violence in today’s society that one wonders why parents

encourage and endorse this by buying uniforms and guns too.

We are blessed with lovely weather for outdoor play that is

positive, so why does it have to be kill, kill, kill?

SHIRLEY THORNE

Newport Beach