In his April 25 op-ed addressing the massive gatherings of young people that resulted in two shootings and other acts of violence and disorder, state Rep. Kam Buckner takes issue with the city’s previous removal of certain Park District basketball rims and the city’s youth-focused restrictions on access to public spaces (“It takes a village to help our teens in Chicago”).

Accompanying the op-ed is a 2010 photograph of a locked basketball rim at Nat King Cole Park in Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood. Considering the monumental public safety challenge facing Chicago, it’s important to give context to that photograph.

While the caption indicates that the Cole Park rims were locked after two nearby shootings in the area, in fact, during the spring of 2010, there were at least three shootings. The first two occurred on the Cole Park basketball courts. The third occurred on the street adjacent to the courts and resulted in the murder of my brother, Thomas E. Wortham IV — Tommy.

Prior to these shootings, recognizing the increasing crime in Chatham and around Cole Park, we residents expressed our concerns to our alderman and our police commander. In fact, about a week before his murder, Tommy, who served as president of the Cole Park Advisory Council, stood on those same Cole Park basketball courts and gave an interview to the Tribune addressing resident concerns and our determination to fight the rising violence in our community.

It was only after Tommy was shot, run over and left for dead that we temporarily received locks on the Cole Park rims to prevent the crime and disorder that was occurring at the park, particularly on the basketball courts.

Eventually, the locks went away, and for the nearly 13 years that have followed, the Cole Park basketball courts have continued to be a conduit for crime. As we work to address public safety in Chicago, it would be instructive to learn the context surrounding the removal or repurposing of basketball rims in city parks.

I agree that our youths deserve spaces and opportunities for recreation. Still, those spaces and opportunities must be curated in furtherance of what should be our ultimate goal — fostering safe and prosperous communities for all Chicagoans. To do so, we will have to dig far below the surface conversations we’ve engaged in for decades and get painfully honest about what got us here and what we need to do to fix it.

— Sandra J. Wortham, Chicago

The first anniversary, May 24, of the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre is near for the families of the 19 kids and two teachers who were killed. Gallons of blood were spilled during that mass shooting.

The Second Amendment states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. It does not state that the people have the right to shoot arms at will.

One drop of blood is too much, let alone gallons of it.

— Kathleen Whalen FitzGerald, Lake Villa

Upon reading about the fatal shooting of a man in Antioch allegedly by his neighbor over the use of a leaf blower, I was reminded of a line from Homer’s “Odyssey,” popularized by a novel by Joe Abercrombie: “The blade itself incites to violence.”

Over and over again, simple irritations and unfortunate interactions — a leaf blower! — escalate to injury and death because of the “gun itself,” the very presence of which incites to violence. Time and again, if a gun had not been available, violence, if it occurred at all, would have been limited in scope and damage.

In a culture saturated with 400 million-plus firearms, how can we still be surprised by the carnage, with so many “incitements to violence”? “The blade itself” is the problem — indeed, it has always been since the time of Homer.

— Bryan Cones, Chicago

I am aware that the CTA strives to provide the highest possible standard of service given the paltry budget left over after executive salaries have been paid. Therefore, I have two suggestions, both of which can be implemented cost-free.

First, restore smoking cars. At least that way, there would be the possibility of nonsmoking cars. As things stand now, all cars are smoking cars. Of course, the CTA could always install smoke detectors similar to those in airplane lavatories, but I did promise my suggestions would be cost-free.

Second, whenever the CTA’s poorly maintained trains have inevitable service problems such as the April 27 fiasco on the Forest Park branch of the Blue Line in which evening rush-hour train service was completely halted, don’t say that there will be shuttle bus service. Change your standard announcement to: “There is no service from this point on. You are on your own, and we do not apologize for anything.” At least that would be honest.

Just trying to help,

— Dienne Anum, Cicero

Regarding the letter “Joe Biden’s running mate” (April 30): I am always fascinated by the unsolicited help that liberals give to conservatives in anointing their political opponents. Regarding the letter writer’s suggestion that “Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney would be excellent” for Joe Biden’s running mate, could it be that these two lean left of center and have been shunned by conservatives, or is that just a coincidence?

Maybe the Democratic National Convention could be used to elect both sets of nominees and save time.

— Joe Juszak, Sugar Grove

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