19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

ON TARGET
Sirs:
Congratulations on being the first nationally circulated magazine to present an objective article on the firearms issue in the United States today (Bang! Bang! You're Dead, March 18). Martin Kane hits the target dead center when he says that compulsory registration of all firearms only aggravates the law-abiding shooter, because persons desiring firearms for criminal purposes certainly will not register theirs. A partial solution is to make the punishment for the commission of a crime involving firearms or the theft of firearms more severe.
ROBERT J. MARONI
Upper Montclair, N.J.

Sirs:
The American public has been fired upon too long by the anti-gun faction with distorted truths, twisted facts and outright lies. It renews one's faith in national magazines to see a factual story presenting the sportsman's views on the proposed gun legislation.

I cast my vote for Martin Kane as SI's Sportsman of the Year.
JOHN AMOS
Sidney, Ohio

Sirs:
It would be hard to improve upon this fine article. Your statistics are revealing and point out many of the fallacies on which so many unnecessary, unsuccessful and politically motivated gun laws have been enacted.

The major organization to campaign against such laws, as you pointed out, is the National Rifle Association. Unfortunately, many members of the NRA, and I number myself among them, feel its editorial policies are sometimes a bit too extreme. All too often, however, the NRA is practically forced into taking these precarious stands as a reaction to the uninformed opinions circulated by various anti-gun factions. The "enlightened" journalistic fraternity is a persistent source of "let's stop crime by licensing guns." It currently seems fashionable for these well-intentioned, if misguided, individuals to be against the use of guns in any manner, be it legal or not. The results of New York's Sullivan Law and others like it dispute their logic.
BRUCE R. SHAW
San Francisco

BIRD BOWL
Sirs:
In regard to your article about Lady Bird's bowling in the White House (Deep Down in the Lanes, March 18): we understand that LBJ has started bowling with renewed energy. He's trying to figure out how to convert a Kennedy-McCarthy split.
JOHN V. LYONS
Chicago

Sirs:
Best Lady Bird stick to planting daisies.
JANET G. BURDICK
Fox Point, Wis.

Sirs:
It was a real human interest story and the action photos are outstanding, not because Mrs. Johnson has good bowling form, but because many of our Woman's International Bowling Congress members see themselves with the same sort of follow-through. Mrs. Johnson has been good for women's bowling.
CHARLES W. WESTLAKE
Columbus, Ohio

DUKEDOM
Sirs:
Hooray for Duke University (The Timid Generation, March 11)! Long may its students have such a marvelous, sane and undisturbed atmosphere in which to pursue their intellectual, social and cultural goals! May they forever be able to retain this peaceful, untouched-by-the-kooks-from-other-universities attitude toward life.
M. K. MILLER
Wheaton, Ill.

Sirs:
Concerning the Timid Generation and Abbie Dogget's lament that "kids feel they can't really influence anything themselves": for a century or so our "kids" have accepted the fact of life that their position was not one of power. Instead they have had the patience and guts to work for the right to lead and have come to positions of power as mature, wise and strong men. It is a sign of unpardonable conceit on their part if some of today's kids feel cheated because they cannot influence the policies of a nation at the age of 20.
JIM BREUNIG
(age 25)
Berkeley, Calif.