Beating the NRA at its own game

Re “The slaughter in Las Vegas,” editorial, Oct. 3

The expression of outrage over the slaughter of at least 59 innocent people in Las Vegas sounds like a broken record. The Los Angeles Times’ editorial points the finger at National Rifle Assn.’s enormous influence.

I have a simple proposal to counter that influence: Those who oppose the NRA’s lobbying should offer to match that group’s contribution to any politician’s campaign on the condition that the candidate support gun-control legislation. I am confident that many millionaires and billionaires would donate to the cause.

Most of the politicians who depend on campaign contributions from the gun lobby should have the courage and conviction to do what is best for the country. No other civilized country in the world loses so many of its citizens to senseless shootings.

If money talks in democracy, then two can play this game. Simply expressing outrage over inaction in Congress is not going to make any difference. Vijay Jeste

Redondo Beach

If only the guy on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel had used a silencer,

nobody would have heard him. He could have shot many more people and perhaps made his escape undetected. He might have been a free man today. Instead, he’s dead.

We need public access to silencers. And low-yield nuclear weapons, especially for those moments when you’re more than just irritated.

If all those concertgoers had each carried their own submachine gun, they could have laid down withering return fire that would have taken out every window of the Mandalay Bay hotel. To paraphrase Barry Goldwater, “Collateral damage in defense of the 2nd Amendment is no vice.”

As a country I think we’ve already traveled most of the way to the loony bin. Now, somebody has to make it to 60, so stay low. Bruce Strathdee

Palm Desert

Hillary Clinton called out the NRA for opposing restrictions on silencers. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow pointed out that fully automatic assault rifles are legal. Liberal politicians quickly called for stricter gun controls.

Silencers are irrelevant to this tragedy. It has been illegal to manufacture fully automatic assault rifles since 1986. I doubt the Las Vegas shooter went to the considerable expense and hassle to obtain legal assault rifles. Gun control laws would not reduce the illegal weapons trade and have certainly not reduced gun violence in the major cities where they are in place.

Let’s have a discussion about sensible solutions and not knee-jerk, ineffective grandstanding. The detestable killer owned numerous legally acquired weapons. He brought an arsenal into a hotel undetected. I would not be surprised to learn that he suffered from mental health issues.

Connect the dots and take appropriate action. Hal Bookbinder

Oak Park