Once again we hear the cries for our government leaders to do something to quell the gun violence in this country. Most will focus on efforts to keep the guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, terrorists, etc. These cries will be heard in spite of the fact that psychological research tells us that mental health professionals, or police officials, are not very good at predicting who will commit either one-on-one or mass gun violence.
Mostly we ignore the one element that is common in all gun violence: the gun. No gun, no violence.
My guess is that most Americans either all ready believe or, with very little persuasion, would come to understand that there is no justifiable reason for a citizen to own a gun designed solely to kill lots of people quickly and efficiently. Legislation designed to actually limit the purchase and ownership of such weapons is quickly labeled as an attack on our Second Amendment rights. In reality, it would seem that the “support for the Second Amendment” argument has been exploited by the National Rifle Association, in collusion with the gun manufacturers, as a way of keeping the manufacturers profitable without any real regard for personal safety.
All human behavior is the result of choices — choices between competing needs and values within us. Psychological research also tells us that a person’s true values are revealed not in what they say, but what they choose to do. Therefore, when legislators fail to act or, at a minimum, pass some watered down and weak legislation, they are telling us that their financial and other support from the NRA is more important to them than protecting the lives of future victims of gun violence.
Cries of “support for the Second Amendment” is only a whitewash to cover up their true values and loyalty.
AL PALMER
Lamberville, Mich.
Editor’s note: Mr. Palmer is a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Toledo
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Finish what’s been started
On Feb. 18, The Blade ran an ad for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) open house to discuss creating an I-475 interchange at US 20A (Illinois Avenue). I don’t know if I can make it to the Thursday night event, but if I could, I would say this: Finish what you’ve started before you start something new.
Finish what you started with the expansion to three lanes on I-475 between Airport Highway (Exit 8) and Central Avenue (Exit 13). Some areas were resurfaced in 2017, but no further expansion occurred. Yet nearly every day, traffic is backed up in this area either during the morning rush hour, the evening rush hour, or both.
Finish the work you started from I-475 at Promedica Drive all the way to I-75 at the I-280 split. How much longer will Toledoans have to endure tricky merges and construction-narrowed driving lanes?
And if ODOT wants to build a new interchange, why not at either Dorr Street or Bancroft Street? The University of Toledo has expressed support for an interchange in this 5-mile stretch of highway between the Airport Highway and Central Avenue interchanges. A new interchange at Illinois Avenue would be a mere mile from the existing US 24 and Salisbury Road interchanges. What’s the business case for adding an interchange there?
ODOT doesn’t know how to finish what they start. We must stop them from creating an interchange to nowhere that doesn’t serve Toledo drivers.
RICHARD A. KUJAWSKI
Maumee
Library director salary is a shock
When I read The Blade’s article that Clyde Scoles, the director of the Lucas County Public Library, got a raise that paid him almost $90,000 more than the mayor of Toledo, I was incensed (Dec. 17, 2016, “Library chief Ohio’s second-highest paid”). What was particularly galling was that the taxpayers had just generously voted in a tax hike in support of the library.
The Blade recently ran an op-ed letter by Mr. Scoles where he stated what a fine library it is, impliedly patting himself on the back for doing a good job (Feb. 3, “Library remains dedicated to learning”). For $213,000 a year plus benefits, I would hope so.
J. FRANCES GALL
Densmore Drive
Toss them out of office
The Florida school shooting was, just like all those before it, heart-wrenching. This senseless violence must stop now.
The students expressing their anger are wasting energy pressuring politicians who only respond to money. It is money, after all, that helps these politicians get elected and stay elected.
The National Rifle Association funds many politicians who are, in turn, afraid to pursue meaningful gun reform for fear of crossing them.
The best thing these young people can go is register to vote and then exercise their right to throw these politicians out of office.
RONALD KLOCINSKI
Monclova
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First Published February 24, 2018, 10:00 p.m.
