Grim Lessons at Santana High

• Two killed and 13 wounded by teenager in school gun rampage (ET, 6 March, 2001)

Re "Shooting at School Leaves 2 Dead and 13 Hurt" (front page, March 6):

An angry 15-year-old goes on a shooting spree and the response, as always, is, "Send in the grievance counselors." 

There will be no change in gun laws, no conflict-resolution classes, no anti-bullying classes or child-rearing classes (which encourage empathy, which is inversely related to violent behavior). 

There will be no extended paid parental leaves and no after-school programs so that children won't grow up angry at being neglected.

Still, if the fact that the California teenager will be tried as an adult fails to serve as a deterrent, rest assured, the grievance counselors will be ready.
MYRIAM MIEDZIAN
High Falls, N.Y., March 6, 2001
The writer is the author of a book about boys and violence.

To the Editor:

Re "Shooting at School Leaves 2 Dead and 13 Hurt" (front page, March 6): President Bush called the shooting at Santana High School in Santee, Calif., "a disgraceful act of cowardice." If that is the case, then we have many disgraceful acts of cowardice in a Congress that refuses to come to grips with guns and the related violence in our schools.
ROBERT L. SYMPSON
Lynbrook, N.Y., March 6, 2001

To the Editor:

Re "Guns in Young Hands" (editorial, March 6):

After each shooting, there is much hugging, weeping and praying, but nothing concrete is done to stop school or other handgun killings. Isn't it possible that too many uncontrolled handguns exist? How many must die before America comes to its senses?
EDWIN S. JAMES
Rock Hill, S.C., March 6, 2001

To the Editor:

Re "Guns in Young Hands" (editorial, March 6):

The teenager arrested in the California school shooting was disturbed, adrift and had telegraphed his troubled state to his peers. 

You mention an "early warning guide" that President Bill Clinton directed the Justice Department to develop "to help adults identify and reach out to troubled children." This problem must be discussed in terms of parental responsibility.

Guns in young hands are easily controlled by hands-on parental love. Your call for "a fresh and urgent look at the whole subject of school violence and gun control" is an old bromide sure to stir emotions, not to foster progress.
HUGH G. CUNNINGHAM
Vero Beach, Fla., March 6, 2001

To the Editor:

Many states, including New York, have strong laws regarding the sale of guns. But unless there are federal laws regarding sales of guns, the trafficking of illegal, unregistered guns from other states makes us vulnerable to tragedies like the one in California (front page, March 6).

Whether stricter rules of registration and licensing would have prevented this shooting is not known. What is known is that the downside of having to follow procedures similar to those used to license drivers and register vehicles is far outweighed by the cost of having our schools and communities under potential siege either by criminals or those who are disturbed.
ROBERT A. KAPLAN
New York, March 6, 2001
The writer is treasurer of the Manhattan Million Mom March.

To the Editor:

Re "Shooting at School Leaves 2 Dead and 13 Hurt" (front page, March 6):

It is said of individuals, and it is likely true of nations as well, that one's greatest strength is one's greatest weakness. Could it be that the root of persistent violence in the United States is its great strength, commercialism, turned to the production of violence as entertainment?

These producers are externalizing the cost of their industry to the rest of us, and it is time to tax them heavily for every bullet that is fired in the production of entertainment for commercial profit and nothing more. This would surely improve the quality of entertainment as well.
DENNIS SENTILLES
Rocheport, Mo., March 6, 2001