Md. You used way too broad a brush to paint an image of people who hunt and own guns as murderous. My husband and children are hunters. We live in a rural Texas community where, like thousands of other places across the nation, owning firearms is not unusual. We've managed to rear generations of well-adjusted children who have taken their places as respected members of our communities, unlike the amoral animals who perpetrated the Arkansas tragedy. We accept the physical and emotional brutalization of children as a matter of course.
Children kill because their spirits have been killed.
I am stunned that experts continue to blame television and the media for playground massacres that involve youths and guns. America must know that as long as guns are easily available, killings will continue. The N.R.A. is not to blame for the aberration of Jonesboro. In the community where this tragedy happened, hunting has been a part of life for centuries. The N.R.A.'s courses on gun safety, insistence on the presence of adults whenever youngsters are handling firearms and political activities to preserve responsibly a historical right are worthwhile undertakings.