Gun control

As we, once again await yet another gun control bill to come roaring down the pike one must ask: is this really about the safety and well being of the citizens or just another bold step toward totalitarian rule?

I come from a time and place (small town America of  the 1950’s) where a 16-year-old could walk in to any sporting goods store and buy his catcher’s mitt and a shotgun from the same clerk.  Even the general store down the road would have a few shotguns and rifles for sale.  As we roamed the woods and hillsides on a pleasant autumn day there were always a few cars in the high school parking lot with shotguns lying across the back seat or a group of 12- to 15-year-olds walking down the road with their shotguns or 22 cal. rifles. Yet, we didn’t shoot each other nobody had ever heard of a mass shooting.  It was a different time, a polite society, there was a sense of right and wrong.

Today we have thousands upon thousands of gun laws, rules and regulations and new controls being proposed on a regular basis yet, we have an ever increasing rate of gun crime and violence.  According to the FBI uniform crime reports the safest states all have in common very few gun laws, yet California with the most extreme gun laws in the nation has the highest gun murder rate.

It doesn’t take an IQ more than a few points above a carrot to realize that guns are not the problem.  Would it not make more sense do the hard work of ferreting out and addressing the real problems with society or is this just another step toward controlling the people?

Richard S Cahalan

South Hadley

Boston playground

Back in the days before there was a Clifford Park, young people like myself from Lower Roxbury or maybe Dorchester loved playing baseball or softball as much over at the Eustis Street Playground better known to all of us as “the Prairie” for its huge size. Four different games could be played simultaneously.

Over the years this park was neglected by the City of Boston and it wasn’t surprising to me that it ended up being a wasteland for drug users, discarded used needles and other contraband (“Roxbury residents weigh in on ideas for playground near Mass and Cass,” Boston Herald, Dec. 2).

Now city officials and a consultant firm working with residents will redesign the whole playground area. I like new lighting and cameras, adding a sense of safety and vibrancy to this area. This playground has been neglected long enough. In my own past down there, I know it kept lots of young folk out of trouble.

It appears residents want the benign neglect to end. They seem hopeful but jaded too as they should be. I am hopeful that the area can overcome being hamstrung by Mass and Cass.

Finally, I agree with Domingos DaRosa that children should be prioritized by a rebirth of this ballfield. It’s a ballpark, not a beach and not a passive place to escape the toils of urban life. As DaRosa stated, ‘I love adults but I could care less about the drinking, the music. For the adults, there are other parks that (they) can utilize.”

Sal Giarratani

East Boston