People, not guns, create the problems in our society

In response to Leslie Holzner's Sept. 19 letter ("The Proliferation of Guns in Our Society Is a Horror"): The blame for gun violence is misplaced.

Yes, it is a tragedy that those five basketball players were shot. However, blaming the guns for that incident is misdirected and ignorant. The letter stated, "We must do something, now, to remove guns from our environment and to eliminate the dreadful damage they are causing." I think Ms. Holzner is confused.

Does the gun fire itself? Of course not. That's physically impossible. Someone has to pull the trigger and that, of course, is a person. A criminal. Not a law-abiding citizen. This proves the statement "guns don't kill people, people kill people." It takes a person to murder, not the weapon itself.

More important, did you realize that the majority of gun crimes are committed with illegally obtained guns? Banning law-abiding citizens from having guns won't solve the issue. Prosecuting criminals to the fullest extent of the law is a good start.

England has passed legislation banning guns to reduce gun violence. Guess what? Gun violence has increased dramatically because of it. Why? Homeowners are left defenseless and criminals know that. Criminals do not adhere to the laws.

In the end, it's only common sense to realize that banning guns from law-abiding citizens like myself is not the answer. Criminals must be removed from our environment, not the guns.

BOB HOFFMANN
Murrysville

---

Wasn't that a tip-off?

I was just reading the Sept. 20 article concerning the Duquesne University shootings ("2 Charged, 1 Sought in Campus Shootings"). According to police, one of the gentlemen in the group that did the shooting asked student Brittany Jones if they would be searched at the door. Ms. Jones went up to the security people at the door and asked them if they would be searched. They said no!

Shouldn't this have caused a little concern to the security people? If I had been asked that question, I would have immediately said yes, you will be searched since you asked the question. Simple measures to prevent serious problems.

JIM GORALZICK
South Side

The writer is a 1980 Duquesne University graduate.

---

All are senseless

As upsetting as the Duquesne University shootings are, I think your editorial "The Duquesne Attack" (Sept. 19) is equally upsetting.

To say that the shooting was "an attack on civilized assumptions," and it was shocking in its "unfairness" is mind-boggling. Do our civilized assumptions include the concept of "fair" shootings? Where does a "fair" shooting occur? In the streets of Homewood? At the U.S. border with Mexico? In the wasteland that's Iraq? If that's the case, then our "civilized" assumptions need to be attacked.

Maybe when we lose the concepts of "fair" and "unfair," we will begin to see any shooting for what it is: a senseless, avoidable tragedy for all involved. Maybe if we let ourselves feel the sadness instead of thinking about the degree of fairness, maybe we'll quit tolerating any of it, anywhere, if only for the simple reason that it just hurts too much. Can we really say the assailant is any more cowardly and callous, any more uncaring, than those who watched him go bad and stood back and did nothing? Than those who won't even step close enough for fear of becoming "fair" game?

These are our kids. Stop and feel the pain. Let it move you. Be courageous.

AMY P. KENNEDY
Edgewood

---

Good stewards

Regarding the Sept. 16 article "EPA Memo Outlines Lab Closings, Staff Cutbacks, Reduced Oversight": Only in our nation's capital can reasonable spending plans be spun into a signal the sky is falling.

Like every other federal agency, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has an obligation to the American taxpayers to look continually for ways to do our job better, while spending less of their money. At EPA, we are good stewards of our environment and good stewards of our tax dollars.

The president's 2007 budget meets or exceeds every clean air, clean water and land cleanup goal we set the year before, plus it meets additional congressional requirements -- all while spending 5 percent less than in 2006. Today the air is cleaner, the water is more pure and the land better protected than before EPA was created more than 35 years ago. We will continue to deliver to the American people the environmental results they expect and deserve -- all while keeping our eye on the bottom line.

LYONS GRAY
Chief Financial Officer
Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, D.C.

---

Power over litter

I would like to thank Brian O'Neill for his Sept. 14 column ("Let's Pick a Day and Clean Up Pittsburgh"). In it he talked about his idea for walkers to clean up as they go.

I walk around my neighborhood daily, and the thought never occurred to me. Of course, I saw the litter and occasionally I would pick up and toss recyclables into the collection bins, if it was recycle week and trash day, but I never made the connection that it was within my power to clean up my neighborhood.

I was, of course, dissatisfied with the trash I saw each day, but until Brian's column I was willing to live with it. That is until today.

After my first lap around the 'hood, I decided to get a trash bag and a glove and pick up everything I saw that I could find in the street. I was amazed that in my one-mile lap, I filled an entire plastic shopping bag with wrappers, plastic bottles, even a spoon. As I made a third lap (sans bag), I determined to collect everything I had overlooked or missed and decided that it was unacceptable to live in my neighborhood and allow it to look this way.

I hope that others read this column and did the same. Stopping to pick up these items is a small price to pay to live in a clean neighborhood. Once again, thank you, Brian, for opening my eyes.

LAWRENCE PUSATERI
Bethel Park

---

Beauty, harmony

The memory of our late Mayor Bob O'Connor was honored in a perfect way last weekend when the neighborhoods of Homewood and Squirrel Hill came together to "Redd Up."

Hundreds of volunteers donned vests and gloves and picked up several truckloads of litter along streets and in alleys, from yards and in parks. The weekend-long event not only beautified Homewood and Squirrel Hill, it also created new and lasting friendships between the two neighborhoods.

And none of this would have been possible without the help of the city Department of Public Works, whose managers and employees went above and beyond the call of public service to make the Redd Up weekend an unqualified success.

As the co-chairs of the Homewood Squirrel Hill Redd Up Coalition, we thank everyone involved for honoring Mayor O'Connor and spreading beauty and harmony in our city.

BORIS WEINSTEIN
Environmental Committee Member
United Jewish Federation
Oakland
BERNADETTE TURNER
Project Director
East Side Community Collaborative
Homewood

---

Despicable approach

Tony Norman hit a new all-time low in his Sept. 15 column "Santorum Has Got to Be Kidding." The malicious nicknames he bestowed on Sen. Santorum's children were nothing less than hateful and nasty.

Mr. Norman's point about Sen. Santorum using his children for political gain in one of his TV ads was coming across quite clearly and meaningfully until he attacked the children. While I agree with Mr. Norman's comments on the use of the children in the ad, I am appalled at the way he chose to be so vindictive.

If you have something to say about Sen. Santorum, then by all means go all-out and speak your mind. But Mr. Norman did the same lowdown thing as Sen. Santorum -- he used the children as the focal point of adult issues.

Grow up, Mr. Norman; address the adult issues to the adults and don't stoop to victimizing the children. It's not their fault, and it's not fair to so rudely criticize them. You give new meaning to the word "bully."

DONNA DOWD
North Huntingdon

---

Teach basics? A lot of waste to arrive at the obvious

Regarding the article "New Report Urges Return to Basics in Teaching Math": Does anybody else see a pattern here? Take something that works (math fundamentals), allow "councils" and uber-educrats (read: dimwits) to "fix" it, spend paskillions of tax dollars for this revision, see that it's not working and then recognize that -- eureka! -- the original way did and does work.

God bless America (only He can).

KAREN KNAPP
Collier

The writer is a teacher at Abundant Life Academy, Imperial.

---