Attack crime from all sides

It has been six months since the massacre

in Newtown, Conn., yet Congress has failed to enact common-sense gun legislation. Last week, there was another shooting in St. Louis and at least four people were killed.

How many more need to die before we have had enough? This is not about the Second Amendment; no one is confiscating guns. This is about keeping guns away from the people who are not supposed to have them. Universal background checks and banning high-capacity magazines would help curb some of this violence. When will enough be enough? Julie Eichorn

Columbus, Ohio

I commend Micah Khah, who leads

a grass-roots effort in communities to discuss behavior modification, for recognizing that the high crime in Camden, N.J., is not related to guns.

He is proactively working to change the urban culture (“Bloody Camden; this isn’t Newtown,” News, June 5).

How can anyone expect success All gun laws do is make it harder for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves. The streets are already flooded with criminals with guns. New laws won’t affect criminals. It isn’t as if they follow laws to begin with. Good people will just become easier targets.

Edward Brantley

Often, criminals steal guns or buy them from straw purchasers. Therefore, this issue needs to be addressed on a national level.

No one state can fight gun violence alone. As long as the mentality is that “thugs are cool,” people will find a way to get a gun, especially with more than 300 million of them already existing in the U.S.

Sam Taylor

Guns do not cause violence; they are a tool to be used as the person sees to use it. Anything people can wrap their hands around can be used as a weapon to kill.

Leslie Martinez

How about we focus on the real issue: What are we doing about mental illness?

Brian Wendel