Nation’s tragedy
The death of 20 precious children and seven adults in a gun-fueled rampage isn’t just the tragedy of the “anti-gunners” [“Run on guns,” page one, Dec. 20]. It’s the nation’s tragedy.
If you are happy about making more money from it by a run on your gun shop, it seems to me that whatever shreds of decency and decorum you have left would require you to keep your mouth shut about it.
—Toni Cross, Seattle

Laws won’t stop killings
I laugh at those who naively think that gun users intent on evil will respect and obey new gun-control laws when they do not give credence to the laws we already have.
If assault rifles are (magically) eliminated, people will kill people with pistols, and then the anti-gun people will call for a ban on sidearms. That is why “only some” gun control is a slippery slope.

I say we ban cars. If Adam Lanza did not have easy and convenient transportation to the school, the tragedy might not have occurred. Registration and licensing are not enough. Car owners still drink and drive and kill people. Cars in the hands of unskilled youth also kill people. Stolen cars are involved in accidents that maim and kill.
Cars kill thousands more each year than do guns. Banning cars will also thwart future potential car bombers. People do not kill people, cars do.

—Byron Gilbert, Seattle