Reading Edward Bettencourt's letter ("DeVos' safety commission must look at guns," June 8), it appears access to guns to be the sole reason we have so many school shootings. Americans who went to school in the 1960s, '70s and even the '80s were not subject to the rash of school shootings that occur today. In fact, they were very rare.

Yet handguns, shotguns, rifles and even the boogeyman AR-15 were available back then. The gun laws at the federal, state and local level were also much less restrictive compared to today. So I'm confused. It appears access to guns was a lot easier in the past compared to today, but there were less school shootings. To pin the epidemic of school shootings on guns alone is ridiculous.

-- Martin J. Claxton, Southwest Portland