Why guns work

In his otherwise excellent article, David A. Kulczyk poses the question: "Should queers be shooting people in the streets, fearing they could be bashers?" ["Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed," 6/4/03]. I do hope he's joking.

The Pink Pistols doesn't advocate shooting anyone, no matter how homophobic, just because they "could" be bashers. We believe that the best use of firearms is the deterrent effect they have. In cities where gun control has virtually eliminated the access of law-abiding citizens to weapons for self-defense, instances of murder, rape, muggings, queer-bashing, and other violent crimes are on the rise. In contrast, cities without these restrictive laws tend to have fewer such crimes.

While estimates may vary, it is believed that up to two million crimes of interpersonal violence, from mugging to murder, from robbery to rape, are prevented each year in the United States simply by the victim being armed. In most of these cases, merely displaying a gun is enough to cause the perpetrators to cease and desist.

It is not necessary for all queers to pack heat, just enough to make those who would do us violence change their minds.

Jen Grace

Boston, Mass.

Guns aren't the answer

I was saddened and disturbed by David A. Kulczyk's article on the Pink Pistols. It is disheartening to me to think that one would feel so threatened in any location, especially the liberal haven of San Francisco, that s/he would feel it necessary to arm her/himself with a gun. Firearms don't solve anything. They just continue the horrific cycle of violence ensconcing our society.

As a queer woman, I have dealt with my share of violence. I have been verbally debased and physically assaulted on the basis of my gender and sexual orientation. In the past, I have been scared into staying home rather than braving the threat of the streets alone. After my second assault, I began to carry pepper spray, and sometimes a knife. Thankfully, I never had to use either of them.

Rather than making me feel safer and more able to repel potential attackers, these two items of self-defense made me feel even more threatened and unsafe. That I was carrying them all the time meant that I felt threatened all the time!

If you are afraid of attack, learn to talk and fight. Carry a whistle. Take some Krav Maga. Learn self-defense, but learn from within yourself, not from a firearm. Firearms are tools of the cycle of violence we are so desperately fighting against.

Harvey

San Francisco

Saving S.F.'s trees

The Natural Areas Program would have community support if it responded to community concerns [Opinion, 6/4/03].

In a similar situation in the Chicago Wilderness area, Susan C. Barro, a research social scientist with the USDA Forest Service, found that, "while a large majority of Cook County residents (90 percent) thought that restoring natural areas in the Chicago area was a good idea, most (75 percent) felt it should not be done if it required cutting down mature trees, losing some existing wildlife habitat, or using herbicides" (Barro and Bright, 1998). The study also provided concrete evidence that such feelings were widespread among metropolitan residents, not just localized to those living near the forest preserves.

In November 2002, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors responded to broad-based and overwhelming public opposition to the Recreation and Park Department's plan to cut, girdle, poison, and otherwise allow our urban forests to die by voting unanimously to create a Natural Areas Program Citizens Advisory Committee. The board has ordered this committee to create a new plan that will protect nature while respecting urban public access, recreational and cultural needs.

Carolyn Blair

Executive director

San Francisco Tree Council

The eucalyptus invasion

David Looman [Letters, 6/11/03] is just plain wrong when he suggests that there's "biodiversity" in the untended Australian eucalyptus tree plantations in our city parks. I'm sorry, but English ivy and a few scraggly poison oaks, as you'll find in the eucalyptus on Mt. Sutro and Mt. Davidson, does not equal "biodiversity." San Francisco has over 500 species of indigenous California plants, only one of which – poison oak – can survive in thick eucalyptus.

The Rec and Park's Natural Areas Program thinned a dense eucalyptus thicket on Bayview Hill, making it more accessible to people and helping save the city's last remaining grove of indigenous Islay cherry trees, a fruit eaten by the Ohlone Indians on the San Francisco peninsula for thousands of years. These sun-loving fruit trees, along with more than a dozen other native species, including the rare Franciscan Collinsia flower, were being invaded and replaced by the fast-growing eucalyptus saplings, which had sprouted from seeds dropped by the larger, planted eucalyptus trees.

But there are plenty of eucalyptus trees still there, plainly visible to everyone coming into the city on the 101 freeway every day. Or take a closer look – walk to the top of Bayview Hill – it's a beautiful park with plenty of trees.

David Schmidt