Carnage on our streets

THIS IS a time for action. I am Chiara Levin's cousin, and my first instinct when I heard the news that she was shot and killed in Dorchester was not to blame anyone but to mourn the loss of this wonderful woman ("Visiting Ky. woman slain outside party," Page A1, March 25).

That would be irresponsible of me , however, especially since I want to help prevent this type of tragedy from happening again.

Boston has had 14 murders in less than three months. If our political leaders won't do something to end gang violence, there are plenty of us who will.

The Reverend Bruce Wall of Dorchester has proposed adding youth programs to keep kids out of gangs and focusing on something positive. I applaud that.

For the shooter who killed Chiara, I say this:

Nothing you do can bring her back, but you can still do something to help those who loved her. Throw away your weapons, give up violence, and tell others to do the same. If you can't turn yourself in, at least realize you must not continue down this path of violence.

I don't want to see more people killed, accidentally or intentionally.

JONATHAN SCHWAB
Telluride, Colo.

I WAS so relieved to finally see the issue of easy access to guns brought up near the end of the March 28 article "Child, 11, brings gun to class, is arrested" (City & Region). Davida Andelman, chair of the Greater Bowdoin-Geneva Neighborhood Association, is quoted as saying, "It is unfathomable to me. You can go out any day of the week in this community and get guns."

While certainly significant social issues play a part in violent crime in the area, there seems to be no public interest in uncovering where all these guns come from, much less public outrage that inner-city teenagers seem to be able to get their hands on a gun whenever they want. There is a significant illegal market in firearms that correlates to the carnage on our streets, yet seemingly no political or social will exists to address it.

Connecticut Against Gun Violence has started the Red Flag campaign with the support of community groups and law enforcement. The intention is to highlight the accessibility of firearms through illegal sales, and the need for both local and national legislation to address it.

Massachusetts officials and community leaders might be well advised to look into this program and adopt it as another tool in the effort to end the violence plaguing our city.

BETSY BOGGIA
Natick

JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN says that the Second Amendment clearly provides for citizen gun ownership ("Last thing we need is more gun laws," Letters, March 21). It does, but in the context of guns being needed to support the militia. Times change, however, and the role of the militia has been taken over by the National Guard, the police, and the US armed forces.

To say that guns are not intrinsically bad but that misuse of them is bad is to state the obvious. The fact that if guns are available people will use them to kill is also obvious. According to 2003 figures, one is 37 times more likely to be killed by a gun in the United States than in the United Kingdom, where guns are banned. So, guns manifestly do not make the citizen any safer.

WILLIAM G. GARRETT
Middlesex, England

AS A 25-year Boston police veteran, I am morbidly amused by the naive reaction of some people to the return of the Guardian Angels to Boston, a walking publicity stunt if ever there was one.

From past experience, many of the "angels" are frustrated cop wannabes from Brookline, Newburyport, and Newton who want to live out their suburban tough-guy fantasies for the TV cameras. My advice: Please stay home and patrol the Chestnut Hill Mall parking lot or volunteer for your local auxiliary police department, where you can wear an official uniform on Sundays in the summer. A procession of red-bereted nitwits from Needham and wimps from Wellesley will undoubtedly do nothing but consume limited police resources as they are chased down Geneva Avenue by the local residents.

JAMES W. CARNELL
Boston

The writer is Area A-1 representative for the Police Patrolmen's Association.