Los Angeles Times

The kids are all right

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Re: “Welcome to the Revolution,” March 25

I graduated from Fairfax High School in 1949 and became part of what was known in the 1950s as the Silent Generation. As I watch the breathtaki­ng performanc­e of today’s high school students rising up to confront a bipartisan political establishm­ent that has completely failed to provide them with the kind of rational gun laws that they, and adults like me, deserve, I must acknowledg­e a great feeling of shame as I look back on the failures of my generation.

It is time for the members of my generation to follow the leadership of these amazing teenagers by supporting them in every possible way, especially in the voting booth. The failures of my generation will only be compounded if we have to wait for these wonderful teenagers to become registered voters. Charles M. Weisenberg Beverly Hills

“G-o-o-d Morning Vietnam!” was what I half expected to hear at Saturday’s March for Our Lives rally. After all, both then and now it’s the youth of America responding to no-action adults as a deaf and blind Congress allows the targeting of their own youth by the greedy profiteeri­ng of death weapons’ manufactur­ers.

Whether it’s a war in Southeast Asia or in their own schools and cities, America’s teenagers are the ones actually dying and are rising up and saying, “No more.” At least today, adults applaud and support them. Janet Kinosian

Santa Ana

As a product of the ’60s, I know how hard it is to transition from the emotionali­sm of a march to real social change. So I challenge all the people who marched this weekend and this past year, whether young or old, black, white or brown, to remember their reasons for marching and register to vote and vote in each and every election of their remaining lives. Make a real difference. Julie Smith

Camarillo

Anti-gun protesters were being protected by security personnel and officers with all types of firearms, from AR-15 rifles to handguns, to keep the marchers safe. They literally brought out the big guns to protect people … protesting guns.

Demonstrat­ors exercised their 1st Amendment rights to destroy their 2nd Amendment rights, the very amendment that protects them and makes possible the former. Judy Watson

Lancaster

If there really is a revolution brewing out there, kindly sign me up for the counterrev­olution.

I certainly have no issue with folks exercising their 1st Amendment rights as long as it does not conflict with our 2nd Amendment rights. Further, the tactic of targeting, isolating and demonizing the National Rifle Assn. is straight out of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.” Geoffrey C. Church

Los Angeles

My father was shot and killed at his desk one Monday morning in a mass murder. The gun debate is personal in our family.

People against outlawing assault rifles claim that they are fundamenta­lly the same as traditiona­l hunting rifles, except for the aesthetics of looking military. Big lie. That pistol grip at the trigger of an assault rifle is an essential difference. It was introduced to make shooting as many human beings as possible as fast as possible, firing rapidly from the hip in an assault — not aiming carefully from the shoulder at a single deer.

Don’t be fooled by the smoke-screen argument from the NRA or others. Ask any GI or vet which weapon is better for killing as many human beings as possible in the shortest time, a traditiona­l hunting rifle or an assault rifle? Jerry Small

Venice

 ?? Chip Somodevill­a Getty Images ?? STUDENT Emma Gonzalez addresses the March for Our Lives rally on Saturday in Washington.
Chip Somodevill­a Getty Images STUDENT Emma Gonzalez addresses the March for Our Lives rally on Saturday in Washington.

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