Mailbag: The intersection of assault rifles, mental illness

As someone in favor of strong gun-safety regulations, surprisingly I find myself in total agreement with Wayne LaPierre of the NRA. I agree with him that the manufacture, sale and possession of assault-type weapons with large ammunition clips should not be prohibited, except for criminals and the mentally challenged.

However, I also happen to think that anyone who believes that they need to own assault-type weapons with large ammunition clips to protect themselves from their own government are, by definition, mentally challenged. So also are any hunters and sportsmen who seem to need these for their sporting activities.

Hence, no one would qualify to own these weapons, and there would be no source available for criminals to buy them. Isn’t it amazing how simple some solutions are, once you set your mind to a problem? And while we are at it we should also classify as mentally unstable any elected officials who have these same beliefs. They should have no place in the civic arena of public discourse.

Jamshed Dastur

Newport Beach

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Newport shooting

Re. the news stories on the arrest of Stanwood Fred Elkus, 75, of Lake Elsinore, on suspicion of shooting Dr. Ronald Gilbert, 52, of Huntington Beach, multiple times in the torso at a Hoag-associated outpatient facility in Newport Beach.

I’m betting we will be hearing from regular commentator Chuck Cassity, a gun-rights advocate, once again in your Forum pages, advocating that all doctors and nurses carry guns.

Jon Rowe

Costa Mesa

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Military-style weapons

To those that keep saying we need to ban military weapons, please do your homework. The firearms used in Aurora, Colo. and Newtown, Conn. are semi automatic firearms just like 90% of all handguns shotguns and rifles sold in America. They are not full-auto rifles that the military uses.

If you really want to ban something, look at vehicles, knives and clubs; they kill more people than firearms do every year.

Michael Liechty

Fountain Valley

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N.B. parking tickets

This past week, a friend’s car (tourists from Illinois, welcome to Newport Beach) and my neighbor’s car have been ticketed for parking on the wrong side of the street or facing the wrong way. Yes, it wasn’t a police officer, it was the meter maid!

We have a car go down our street maybe once every five minutes. In other words, it is a very quiet one-block street. We won’t let out guests pay the ticket, so we will be out the money. This ticket is worth $55 to the city. Is the city that short of money that this is needed?

Quite an insult to anyone caught in this money trap! Is there not enough work down at the beach parking lots and streets that they need to scrounge the city’s streets to make an extra buck?

Frank Feller

Newport Beach