Blade, not NRA, the real bully
1/26/2013You have article after article demonizing the National Rifle Association and referring to it as a bully (“Fight to win,” editorial, Jan. 19). The only bully in this issue is you.
You attempt to get people to buy into your liberal propaganda. Tell me of one more gun law that would have prevented any of the recent mass shootings.
The NRA has been at the forefront of teaching gun safety. It deplores shootings by lunatics as much as the rest of the country does.
The Obama Administration and its liberal allies in the media and Democratic Party were lying in the weeds, waiting until the election was over to get at their real goal of more anti-gun legislation. This will have a negative effect on the law-abiding people in this country.
GEORGE SAILER
Temperance
Disturbed people planning attacks
There are millions of guns in the possession of millions of citizens in this country. I’m convinced that most of those weapons are held by decent, law-abiding people, but there likely is a percentage of gun owners who are mentally disturbed.
There will be many options for a deranged person where there are no armed guards. No matter how many gun restrictions became law, they will not prevent another bloodbath.
There is no answer to preventing these mass murders as long as depraved individuals are hiding in our society.
GERARD JACOBS
Fairhaven Drive
When’s next local gun buy-back?
Gun buy-backs provide a no-questions-asked way to off-load modern or antique, operable or not, legally obtained or stolen firearms, including those used in violent crimes (“L.A. gun buy-back collects more than 2,000 weapons,” Dec. 28).
Some studies have shown that gun buy-backs have no measurable effect on violent crime rates, because criminals who are most likely to commit crimes with guns don’t turn in their weapons.
However, buy-backs may prevent an occasional accidental shooting by a minor who finds an unsecured gun, some suicides, and crimes of passion.
I’d be willing to trade an old 22-caliber semiautomatic rifle that spent too many trapping seasons in my wet car trunk for the prevailing long-gun price of $100.
When’s the next scheduled gun buy-back here?
JOHN HAGEMAN
Weston, Ohio
Absence of prayer in schools is sad
In response to the Jan. 15 Readers’ Forum letter “Turning to God would help society”: I agree that taking prayer out of schools was a poor decision. Possibly some students have no other chance to hear about God.
Religious beliefs are important in raising children to become kind and loving people. These are God’s wishes for us.
PHYLLIS GRAVES
Birchtree Drive