To the Editors:

What we need is tough federal laws making a prison sentence mandatory for anyone who points a gun at the President [Oct. 6] whether it is loaded or not. Also no bail, no pardons.

Bea Ivey Anaheim, Calif.

President Calvin Coolidge said: "Any well-dressed man can kill the President if he is willing to give up his own life."

Mrs. Daniel H. Cook Albany, N. Y

The 1968 Gun Control Act that I authored was not as you characterize it, "an ineffective ban of some imports." It completely banned the sale of imports and of interstate mail-order guns. It also required registration of all future sales of firearms. In the first 28 months of its life, the cases made under the act increased 234.3%; the number of arrests increased 409.9%, including a number of "Presidential security risks" as identified by the U.S. Secret Service.

This was only the first half of an overall national gun policy. The second half of the overall plan was shelved by the Republican Administration, led by then Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury G. Gordon Liddy, who told an N.R.A. session in 1971 that the Administration opposed registration and licensing of guns.

This second half, which died under Mr. Liddy's White House leadership, I have just introduced. It does not, as you state, simply "register all gun owners and their weapons." It requires a federal certificate, complete with a waiting period and a Federal Crime Information Center data search in order to buy, own or transfer any weapon or ammunition. Most important, the law would apply to individual transactions. It would exclude felons, addicts, illegal aliens, fugitives, mental incompetents and others from obtaining such a certificate.

John M. Murphy, U.S. Representative 17th District, New York Washington, D.C.

I am afraid there is only one solution to the handgun problem: total elimination other than for police use. Just because a gun is registered, the victim is no less dead.

Lynn Marie Hoopingarner Holt, Mich.

This week my uncle was murdered, needlessly, senselessly and brutally, trying to protect his wife and his possessions. It is my honest belief that he was murdered by a gun because he had a gun. I do not blame him for wanting to protect himself, although I am opposed to all ownership of handguns. I do blame his killer for doing what he did. And I blame the Congress for permitting a glut of handguns to create the conditions that forced my uncle to purchase a gun. Must we all arm ourselves in an attempt to deal with each other?

Sandy McGinnis Chicago

If Squeaky Fromme or Sally Moore had tried to run the President down with an automobile, would the people who are so vehemently determined to ban all private ownership of guns be equally insistent on elimination of privately owned automobiles?

Long live the National Rifle Association. It will be a sad day for America when the brownshirts are able to knock down my door because I am the suspected owner of a firearm.

William E. Pings Clear, Alaska

America is "the land of the free," but public office is turning into "the home of the brave."

Ben L. Harrison Denver

Why don't you give up blaming small steel objects and focus on the real killers and how to protect innocent citizens from them? In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy the shooting sports and oppose those cheap shots by half-thinkers.

John Schofield Houston

To Gain Notoriety

If would-be assassins are plotting in order to gain notoriety, perhaps they should reconsider their tactics.

Less than three weeks after the first attempt to kill the President, students in my University of Florida "Power and Violence" course conducted a telephone survey of 125 randomly selected residents of Gainesville, a college town with a higher than average educational level. The results indicated that only 57.6% of the people interviewed could identify Sara Jane Moore. While 73.6% of the sample knew who "Squeaky" Fromme is, a mere 26.4% had heard of or could recall the cause Fromme claimed to be exposing.

The majority of the people we contacted thought that Fromme tried to kill Ford in an attempt to free Patty Hearst. Perhaps the greatest power of the press is not to propagandize, but rather merely to confuse.

Sanford B. Weinberg, Professor Department of Behavioral Studies University of Florida Gainesville, Fla.

In the controversy about the publicity given to the threats to President Ford, TIME seems to equate criticism of faulty news judgment with an attack on the freedom of the press. Instead of drawing its wagons in a circle, TIME should realize that public and journalistic responsibilities are not isolated from each other.

Mike Tulumello Tempe, Ariz.

Please don't ever stop. Sometimes it feels as though you are the only truth we have left.

Susanne Mageras Alameda, Calif.

She-Tiger into Kitten

Patricia Hearst defies the System that raised her by trying to destroy it; and then, when the System captures her and demands justice, this she-tiger becomes a helpless kitten in the jaws of society. If she gets off and does go free, she will have achieved her goal, the destruction of democracy.

Amy Pelak South Bend, Ind.

If Patty Hearst is acquitted on the grounds that she has been "brainwashed" (i.e., subjected to torture and mental anguish to alter her beliefs), then the thousands who have lived in the hellholes of city slums should be acquitted on the grounds of having experienced more pain than Patty ever will.

John R. Ellis Princeton, N.J.

Death in Spain

In your article on the executions in Spain [Oct. 6], you should have described the five executed men not as terrorists but alleged terrorists.

The five men were tried under a new antiterrorism law which provides for execution very soon after the pronouncement of the death penalty, with no right of appeal. The cases had been shifted from civilian courts to military courts, which gave little consideration to the defense. Additionally, I think there is a high probability that torture was used in these cases. In an atmosphere of police vengeance, with legal safeguards absent, it is wrong to presume the guilt of the five executed men.

Michael Zischke New York City

I am sad about Spain, but I'm sadder about the U.S. because President Ford said nothing about the executions. The Western European countries said and did something, but the U.S. said and did virtually nothing. Good night, "free" U.S.

Bernd Ehm Marl, West Germany

Five Spanish terrorists kill five Spanish policemen, and the Spanish government decides to execute them for their trouble. What in the world are all of the European governments and the citizens of those countries complaining about?

Frederic N. Howe Virginia Beach, Va.

No Messiah

Because any complicated idea seems to be inexorably reduced by your staff to a simple inaccuracy, I am not going to try to state what my play The Orphan [Sept. 15] is about. I will merely tell you in as simple a way as I can that never in my life have I written a word to portray Charles Manson as a "misunderstood victim," an "oracle," or a "messiah."

David Rabe Drexel Hill, Pa.

Obscene Call

Retired Bishop William Moody's remarks concerning the ordination of women priests in the Episcopal Church [Oct. 6] should be equated with an obscene phone call to Everywoman.

If such rigid stupidity is representative of the mentality running that church, then God help it.

Marguerite T. Tozer Palatine, III

Retired Bishop William Moody said that "if any more women receive illegal ordinations, he would seek permission to bestow holy orders on Secretariat."

I'm looking forward to the next ordination of a woman with a great deal of anticipation.

Lola Nelson Auburn, Ind.

I wouldn't be surprised if Secretariat made a better bishop than Bishop Moody.

(Mrs.) Bernice Schimel Des Plaines, III.

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