To the editor:

I don’t know what led to the vicious attack on Rep. Giffords and the indiscriminate wounding and killing of many of her fellow citizens. A common thread for people who plan or attempt such acts is a sense of worthlessness, failure and powerlessness. The would-be attackers perceive the resulting notoriety as a validation that they are, however pathologically, competent.

American culture does not exactly sanction acts of violence, at least against individuals, but we do glorify violence in films and television. We accept the use of violence in war for purposes of national or at least governmental policy, and we ignore or accept some of the violent effects of our decisions.

The deaths of Christina-Taylor Green and that of a 9-year-old Afghan child killed by our bombs are equally tragic. Guns purchased in the United States are facilitating the narco wars in Mexico that killed some 30,000 people last year. We continue to allow the killing of people convicted of capital crimes despite the demonstrated inaccuracy of juries’ decisions, not to mention the incredible financial cost of the trials and appeals.

Further, we as a nation maintain that citizens have an unalienable right to own and carry guns whose purpose is to kill large numbers of people: semi-automatic weapons with large ammunition clips capable of spraying bullets as did the killer in Tucson.

Thus we make available the means and a perverted justification for acts of violence. It is time to take a hard look — at ourselves.