Who Is to Blame for Death Over Pumpkin?

* Concerning your recent articles on the Kennedy High School teenager who was shot and killed over a pumpkin, all I have to say is: too bad.

He was stealing. I don’t care if that pumpkin cost 30 cents or $3,000. He was stealing. Plain and simple.

Who is to say that this man’s grandchildren didn’t have something to do with the decorations? Now those kids are taking away from children. And to top things off, I can’t believe that people are listening to the other kids who were in the car. They were stealing too.

All they can tell you is some lame excuse that they thought it was someone else’s house. And did they not use that same lame excuse on some poor motorist whom they had some kind of altercation with and threw something at?

Who is to say that they didn’t exchange words with this poor man? Was anyone close enough to hear everything that was said?

People are getting fed up with this kind of behavior. Why can’t you put up decorations or buy something you really want? You are in fear that it is going to be stolen.

Other countries would not put up with this in any way, and I can’t believe we do. What is the difference between petty theft and grand theft? Only the value of the property? It shouldn’t be that way. Stealing is stealing.

JODI HARRILL

Anaheim Hills

* Pete Solomona, who shot and killed Kennedy High student Brandon Ketsdever, should not spend the rest of his life in prison for his act of stupidity.

He should be given jail time, but more important, be given many hours of community service.

There is already a waiting period to buy a gun and a test to be taken. The class on firearms safety should include people who have been the cause of tragic accidents coming in to talk to people and teach them about the possible tragedies involved in owning a gun.

I feel great empathy for the loss of this family, but the bottom line is that the gun never would have been out of the house to begin with had these teenagers not been committing a crime. It doesn’t make it right, but that is the fact.

KIRK JOHNSON

Anaheim

* Statistics show that the majority of American people support the 2nd Amendment, which allows citizens to possess firearms.

Obviously, it is the will and values of the majority, in a democratic society, that set the norms and shapes the culture for that society.

I wonder if the parents of Brandon Ketsdever and the relatives of the millions of other victims of “gun availability” are part of this majority.

The man who killed Brandon Ketsdever seems to be a law-abiding citizen who legally owned a gun. He also, according to his neighbors, is a calm, gentle and loving grandfather.

He momentarily slipped out of his normal, gentle demeanor and killed a 17-year-old boy who played a prank on him. What does the National Rifle Assn. have to say about these types of incidents that claim thousands of lives every single year?

Are they going to use the same rhetoric regarding “law-abiding citizens” and gun ownership? How can any society expect that all of its citizens will act rationally in all circumstances, all the time?

How can people feel safe at a ballpark, in a restaurant, at the workplace, in a grocery store when their life is dependent on the degree of the mental stability, and civility, of the person standing next to them?

Is the joy of target practice worth giving up peace of mind? Is it worth the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people every single year? Is the 2nd Amendment really able to save us against an out-of-line head of government who would have the most powerful armed forces on the face of the planet at his disposal?

Are our handguns, even our AK47s, really going to stop the U.S. armed forces? Or is it that the NRA and its devoted members are using the 2nd Amendment to fool “the majority”? Amendments should be changed when they become obsolete. This law, which has served the country well in the past, is killing our people and has taken away our fundamental freedoms.

It is time for it to be removed from the Constitution.

MAZIAR VOJDANI

Mission Viejo

* Once again we read about another tragic example of a loaded handgun conveniently available to provide a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

I am sure if you asked Pete Solomona about his gun collection a few days ago, he would have indignantly told you they were to protect his family or shoot ducks or something perfectly normal.

Trouble is, they’re used all too frequently for other purposes--like shooting family members in an argument, or in this case, a 17-year-old boy in the heat of anger.

As a 47-year-old father--the same age as Solomona--I can recall getting caught throwing snowballs at cars when I was a 17-year-old in Minnesota. I suffered the ultimate humiliation of a scolding in front of my teenage friends--a “punishment” that fit my “crime.”

While my heart also goes out to his family--more victims of this horrible crime--make no mistake. Solomona deserves the harshest possible sentence. He is a murderer.

JOHN S. ADAMS

Monarch Beach

* “Guns don’t kill people, pumpkins do.”

Is that the NRA’s answer to the tragic slaying of the 17-year-old high school prankster by an angry 47-year-old neighbor with a .357 revolver?

DIANNE E. FARRELL

San Juan Capistrano

* No one should shed a tear for the gun-wielding Pete Solomona.

He is the reason anti-gun advocates make sense when they try to ban the sales of guns. He got what he was looking for: revenge.

His actions appear premeditated, and it would be an injustice to all children who pull pranks of any kind if he gets anything less than a murder trial.

LINDA NORCROSS DOSSEY

Dana Point

* When, if ever, do the friends of Brandon Ketsdever plan on taking responsibility for their actions on that fateful evening?

They, along with their friends and family, seem to have lost sight of the fact that it was their criminal actions that put Brandon in harm’s way.

It was their criminal actions that led Pete Solomona to retrieve his gun, which in turn led to Brandon’s death. It is the lack of parental control and responsibility such as this that has led to the dramatic rise in violence by and against our youth.

And now, to my amazement, the Orange County district attorney’s office has chosen to ignore these acts of vandalism and make these delinquents feel as if they are above the law.

Not only is law enforcement and the justice system turning a blind eye to the criminal acts of these pranksters, the district attorney’s office is now referring to them as victims.

If the district attorney’s office is looking for victims, look no further that Pete Solomona, his family and neighbors. Brandon and his pals were their victimizers, preying on the neighborhood for the fun of it.

I can only wonder if public property had been the target and a law enforcement officer the shooter, would they still be portrayed as victims.

I can not completely clear Solomona of all blame. He is guilty of bad judgment and should face some type of reprimand.

But for the district attorney to label him a murderer while canonizing those individuals who created the situation is a miscarriage of justice.

If the legal system won’t make all parties take responsibility for their misdeeds, sadly we may see a rise in vigilante justice. Somebody is going to make people take responsibility.

SEAN H. MILL

Santa Ana