Student Deaths and Access to Guns

I am writing in response to your “Guns and Poses: Need for Busts and for Licensing,” editorial (June 22). I am a social studies teacher at Paramount High School. Two of my students died from gunshots this year. One was a suicide in the fall. The other was a murder last month.

These two boys had a lot in common. They were both fine students. They were helpful to me in the classroom. They were kind and polite to me and the other students. They were well liked by their classmates. They made me smile. I looked forward to seeing them. They had bright futures to look forward to. They are both dead. Gary and Alfred will be missed by me, their friends and family.

Thank you for your article addressing the issue of the proliferation of guns in Los Angeles County and the rest of our country. I don’t know if the proposals you endorse will work. I don’t know what will work . . . but we need to try something. Maybe these boys would be alive if guns were more difficult to get, or tracked better. Keep the issue alive to stop the killing. Maybe something will be done to stop the killing.

DENNIS A. EQUITZ

Santa Ana