What Tucson Teaches Us

Thank you for your issue on the Tucson shootings [Jan. 24]. The articles and their well-executed interconnectedness helped me clarify my own chaotic thoughts. For those National Rifle Association members who didn't notice one salient fact: the ordinary Americans who subdued Jared Loughner had no guns, just guts.
Sue Boulais, LADY LAKE, FLA., U.S.

Your accurate, unbiased, uncontrived lead article on the shootings here made me smile and cry. This tragedy has left Tucson residents asking for answers and praying for one another. Thanks for getting it right.
Rhonda Wilkie, TUCSON, ARIZ., U.S.

As humans we try to make sense of senseless events, and in this case the sensible response should be a re-evaluation of gun control. Why should the Second Amendment allow someone to carry a concealed gun with a 33-round magazine?
Ben O'Connell, NEWCASTLE, ENGLAND

Every so often, you come across insight dressed as news that changes your whole way of looking at things. David Von Drehle's masterly "One Madman and a Gun," which exposes the destructive forces of extremism on both the right and the left as being more at war with "normal" than with each other, is such a piece.
Robert A. Idol, CARY, N.C., U.S.

"Go ahead and cry." Four incredibly powerful words. Von Drehle's account of the shooting in Tucson was sad and tragic yet uplifting. It is a source of pride that the average, normal American inevitably steps up when needed. I wonder, however, what will push normal Americans to fight back against the left- and right-wing ideologues who are tearing our country apart. Normal Americans want to get along. We don't need to point fingers after a tragedy. We want to be strong. We want to be better.
Shawn Fernance, BRISTOL, CONN., U.S.

Your cover showing Jared Loughner is just one more reason I turn away from the media after tragedies like the one in Tucson. Loughner is so obviously mentally ill; your exploiting him in such a way makes me wonder if TIME has lost its footing. If you really wanted to make your point, a photo of the Tucson gun show that took place soon after the shootings would have been a better illustration of what went so horribly wrong.
Paula Palmer, PENSACOLA, FLA., U.S.

Joe Klein's "Arms and the Unbalanced" demeans those suffering from mental illness. People can recover from even the most serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, major depression and bipolar disorder, but forced treatment a substitute for poor public funding isn't the answer. Given access to appropriate treatments, individuals recovering from mental illnesses are able to successfully live and work, enjoy active social lives, attend school and maintain healthy lifestyles while managing their conditions.
Marcie Granahan, CEO, U.S. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association,   LINTHICUM, MD., U.S.

I congratulate you on highlighting the issue of mental illness. Mental-health-related problems affect millions, yet families seek treatment only when they can no longer deny a problem's existence. Many individuals are referred to a doctor very late, and they are often abandoned after diagnosis. Stories like TIME's create awareness among the masses. Keep it up.
Anita Khokhar, M.D., NEW DELHI

In "Fire Away," you claim that a "gun-rights vision of well-armed citizens shooting down an outlaw" is disproved because "less than 1% of all gun deaths involve self-defense." Killing people, even outlaws, is not part of any gun-rights vision I am aware of. I've twice had to draw a gun in self-defense, and in both cases, the perpetrators were arrested shortly thereafter with no loss of life. Simply being armed is often enough to deter criminals.
Patrick Rodgers, PHILADELPHIA