PUBLIC FORUM : RESPONSE APPRECIATED.We should all be extremely proud of our Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. police, fire and paramedics for their very prompt, decisive and personal compassion for these children during the terrible shooting at the North Valley Jewish Community Center. Perhaps this will help us appreciate all of them for their superior training and dedication to the public. One photo showing the police officers leading the small children away from the building says it all. - Gary M. Schechter Woodland Hills Blazing helicopters As I am typing this letter, there are no less that seven aircraft circling over my neighborhood. There are half a dozen helicopters and even a small fixed-wing plane. The news channels are ablaze with the breaking news from Chatsworth, where the police believe a murder suspect from the shootings in Granada Hills is holding up in a hotel. One of these days, during coverage of a similar event, one or more of these aircraft will crash, perhaps into one another. Do any of you want this breaking news story to occur in your neighborhood? I'm sure the other channels will get fabulous ratings. It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a we enacted some legislation to limit the number of these aircraft over our homes. - Steve McCombs Chatsworth No more killing Four children and an adult were shot this morning not far from where I am writing this. Their wounds were bought by the National Rifle Association National Rifle Association (NRA) Governing organization for the sport of shooting with rifles and pistols. It was founded in Britain in 1860. The U.S. organization, formed in 1871, has a membership of some four million. Both the British and the U.S. and paid for by the politicians who take the NRA NRA (National Rifle Association of America) organization that encourages sharpshooting and use of firearms for hunting. [Am. Pop. Culture: NCE, 1895] See : Hunting blood money and deliver the votes that keep guns within easy reach of every nut who wants to play god. Make no mistake. Guns kill. They give their owners a sense of omnipotence om·nip·o·tent adj. Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful. See Usage Note at infinite. n. 1. One having unlimited power or authority: the bureaucratic omnipotents. and an impersonal way to make their crazy dreams of power come true. But they are also money makers for every gun dealer, legitimate and illegitimate, and for the bought politicos who take the contributions and hide behind the Second Amendment. When, America, are we going to wake up and say: No more? When are we going to be outraged enough to stop doing business at the price of our children's safety? - Jim Turner Jim Turner can refer to:
Granada Hills Guns not the problem In a country with 260 million people, a few go crazy every day. If 1 percent of the population goes murderously insane in any given year, and 1 percent of those decides to act violently against others, roughly seven acts of violence will be reported each day. Of course, had the madman in Granada Hills chosen to use knives, pipe bombs, poison, fertilizer or chain saws, his barbaric act would be local news. Lives would still be ruined; parents would still be devastated dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. . The only difference: The anti-gun fanatics would not leap forth, rubbing their hands with ghoulish ghoul n. 1. One who delights in the revolting, morbid, or loathsome. 2. A grave robber. 3. An evil spirit or demon in Muslim folklore believed to plunder graves and feed on corpses. glee, to hijack the suffering of innocents in order to advance their unconstitutional agenda. It is a near thing when I contemplate who is more despicable: those who perpetrate per·pe·trate tr.v. per·pe·trat·ed, per·pe·trat·ing, per·pe·trates To be responsible for; commit: perpetrate a crime; perpetrate a practical joke. these crimes or those who seek to build a political advantage upon the broken and bleeding bodies of the victims. - James F. Glass Chatsworth Gun-toting cowards I am angry about the shootings at the North Valley Jewish Community Center and around our nation. These gun idiots - not all responsible and sane gun owners are gun idiots - repeatedly seem to forget something: First, they are cowards to assault those who cannot defend themselves. Second, we targets and potential targets massively outnumber them. No matter how many of us they may slaughter, there will be that many, and more, who rise to stand in their place. I say to these gun-totting sickos: Be forewarned that you will never win. You are evil, and those of us who are targets will never let you win, despite what you think. Eventually, you will be stripped of your guns and your dignity, and you will be found out. If you don't wise up and stop this stupidity, you will be greeted by masses who are mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore! We must never forget. - Marie Raksin Granada Hills Wrong comparison After the shootings, I watched ``Night Line'' with Ted Koppel Edward James "Ted" Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is an American journalist, best known as the former anchorman for the American Broadcasting Company's Nightline. . Knowing his and his network's views on gun control, I wasn't surprised. Ted and his network compared U.S. and Canadian border cities' firearm and murder statistics. I would like to suggest that Ted and his network try comparing U.S. cities with cities in Israel <onlyinclude> The following list of cities in Israel is based on the current index of the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Within Israel's system of local government, an urban municipality can be granted a city council by the Israeli Interior Ministry when its or Switzerland, where almost every home has some sort of military assault weapon and ammunition. Now, while Israel is still leery of its neighbors, Switzerland's neighbors have for the most part been friendly. These countries' cities have lower murder rates than we do and freer access to real fully automatic assault weapons. Their secret? The values of society are different. Since Cain and Abel Cain and Abel In the Hebrew scriptures, the sons of Adam and Eve. According to Genesis, Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. Cain was enraged when God preferred his brother's sacrifice of sheep to his own offering of grain, and he murdered , man has killed man. It's the person, not the means. - Peter J. Kurt Woodland Hills Violence hits home Well, it happened again - another random act of senseless violence. Why? Why did he do it? Chatsworth is just a stone's throw stone's throw n. A short distance. stone's throw Noun a short distance Noun 1. from my home. I used to live in the neighborhood of the center that was shot up. As I write, a news show is airing a continuing saga that has not ended yet. I am stunned by it all. It's one thing to hear it came from across the states and now - shades of Noun 1. shades of - something that reminds you of someone or something; "aren't there shades of 1948 here?" reminder - an experience that causes you to remember something North Hollywood - is visiting my door. A madman with a gun. Unbelievable. He came from the state of Washington and recently moved to the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , my home. Why? Why lug (1) (Linux Users Group) A formal or informal organization of Linux users who gather together virtually or in person to exchange information and resources. Some groups maintain mailing lists and send out newsletters for their members. all that hardware to my Valley, my home? Just to shoot up my streets, my people, my neighbors, who live quietly and didn't ask, want or deserve to be shot up. Five people shot, for what? Pal, I hope you enjoyed the attention in the spotlight. Now, enjoy the bars that you so richly deserve. - John C. Weaver Reseda Speaking too soon Once again the gun-hating politicians, like Gray Davis and Bill Clinton, put their mouths in gear before they knew any of the facts relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc the tragedy that happened Tuesday in Granada Hills. It turns out the suspect is a felon An individual who commits a crime of a serious nature, such as Burglary or murder. A person who commits a felony. felon n. a person who has been convicted of a felony, which is a crime punishable by death or a term in state or federal prison. . It already is illegal for a felon to purchase guns. These politicians want only headlines in the newspaper or sound bites on TV, not safer societies. Their objective is a society where only criminals have guns and the rest of us are defenseless. If they truly wanted a safer society, they would work to make it possible for the average person to obtain a permit to carry a weapon. - Ken Coulson Tujunga NRA's creed The Aug. 10 shootings at the North Valley Jewish Community Center, when coupled with the even more deadly, rapid-fire massacres in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arkansas, give the lie to the National Rifle Association's banter that guns don't kill people; just people kill people. The association's similar and automatic public-relations approach, after each massacre or near-massacre, fails to recognize the symbiotic relationship symbiotic relationship (sim´bīot´ik), n in implantology, that relationship assumed by an implant and the natural teeth to which it has been splinted. between the trigger finger trigger finger - overuse strain injury of one of the people who kill people and the automatic-firing, bullet-spraying weapon. If these instruments of mass destruction were not so readily available to the populace, a potential killer with only a knife would be hard-pressed to get in close enough to his selected victims to create such carnage. He or she would also be much more likely to get caught. I wonder if presidential contender George W. Bush now has second thoughts about signing the recent bill legalizing concealed weapons in Texas? Texas Gov. Bush might do well to check with his father, former President George Bush, who resigned his membership from the NRA in protest of its extreme policies and tactics. - Louis Robins Van Nuys Teach tolerance The shootings at the North Valley Jewish Community Center were intolerable and now appear to be the act of a person who is mentally unstable. The shooter's background shows a history of mental problems, an attempted suicide and a recent conviction for assault. The question raised by the Daily News is how does this violence stop. It stops in the home with the family. The family is really the problem here, not guns or any other weapon. The incident at the center shows that federal and state gun control is a joke, because it is ignored by criminals. We should focus on the family in the context of the parents' own family values. We need to teach and educate our society rather than create a society based on the theory that monetary compensation equals success. We need to extract the ``me'' out of the social context and try to show that we are all in the United States for a reason. All that we can do as a society is to be vigilant against random violence and to encourage the generations after us, through education and positive reinforcement positive reinforcement, n a technique used to encourage a desirable behavior. Also called positive feedback, in which the patient or subject receives encouraging and favorable communication from another person. , to resolve their conflicts in nonviolent ways and to respect positive societal values. - Leigh Datzker Chatsworth CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. officers lead children from the Jewish Community Center to safety after Tuesday's shooting. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
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