Child Slain in Gang Area

Re “ ‘They Took My Son From Me,’ ” Aug. 9:

How often, dear Lord, do we have to read about grieving parents whose children have been murdered on the streets of Los Angeles by gangs who ply their hatreds with seemingly no recourse from the authorities that be?

The story of the Martinez family, who found it necessary to remove their broken-down car from East 61st Street, and lost their 9-year-old son Hector by trying to obey the no-parking law, is enough to really make citizens wonder why there are not police patrols on every corner of gang-ridden areas. If we don’t have enough money for this, where are the armed forces that could be used for this purpose? Where has sanity gone, when money is more important than citizens’ lives?

KATHARINE R. DUNN

Calabasas

* If there is one lesson that the tragic shooting death of 9-year-old Hector Martinez teaches us, it is this: No amount of “gun control” will ever keep firearms out of the hands of the madmen, thugs and murderers who prowl our streets.

Calls for further restrictions on firearms ownership among the peaceable, law-abiding public miss the point entirely. Inner-city crime and violence are a product of family breakdown, endemic racism and multigenerational poverty. Taking affordable firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens does nothing whatsoever to address the critical problems of our inner cities.

JAMES WERNER

Venice