Raising count the

The Orlando club shooting raises familiar questions about assault weapon availability and our ability to stem gun violence

Too easy to get a gun

MY HEART AND prayers go out to the victims and families of the Orlando shooting. However, it is ironic and sad. Last week was my birthday, and I received an email from Cinnabon offering me a free coffee smoothie. Since I don’t care for coffee, I gave the email to my daughter. When she presented the email to the Cinnabon cashier, they asked her for identification, but it didn’t match the email, so they wouldn’t give her the drink because I wasn’t present.

However, last week, the perpetrator of this shooting was able to purchase a militarystyle assault weapon with no trouble. While I support the Second Amendment of the Constitution in the ability to bear arms, something is wrong when someone can go into any gun store and purchase a military-style weapon with no issues while being on FBI’s radar. There is something really wrong with this picture. FRANCIS P. PAGE Albuquerque

Guns valued over lives

AND HERE we are again. Forty-nine dead in an assault rifle attack in Orlando. Another sad day in American history.

Next will come the conservative arguments that this act of terrorism is simply God’s way of smiting “deviants” who live an alternate lifestyle.

We’ll have deafening silence from some politicians who fear that expressing condolence over the deaths of 49 gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and transgendered Americans would anger their supporters.

Other cowardly politicians will weep and moan for the victims but will fail to take action to prevent further attacks by banning assault weapons out of concern that angering the National Rifle Association will jeopardize their re-election chances.

So we’ll continue to have a society in which weapons designed solely to kill large numbers of people are widely available. We’ll continue to have mass shootings like those in Orlando, Sandy Hook, Aurora and so many others. And families and friends of victims will continue to weep and be forgotten.

That’s just the way things work in gun-loving America. WAYNE ROLLINS Placitas

Fight guns with guns

THE MEDIA SAYS the SWAT team needed “three hours” to find and kill this guy after he shot up the nightclub in Orlando. If only one person inside the nightclub had a concealed carry permit and knew how to use it, he/she could have stopped this slaughter. This incident is a nod for concealed carry, and definitely not for another “gun-free zone.” ROBERT LESLIE Albuquerque

Radical Islam is enemy

STATE RADIO of ISIL has called Omar Mateen a soldier of the caliphate in America, and that is enough to settle the argument of whether or not he was radicalized. I purposely did not capitalize the title because, as far as I am concerned, before I let this become reality hell will freeze over and I will have been murdered fighting to keep it from happening.

I am tired of political correctness and of a president who refuses to identify radical Islam as an enemy of the American way of life. He is a disgrace to the concept of American exceptionalism. His solution to the problem is to disarm the law-abiding populace and leave them at the mercy of people who have committed some of their worst atrocities using knives and tall buildings. Will he also ban tall buildings and military knives? He is the worst excuse for a president ever to hold the office and should be impeached and removed from office as soon as possible. Following that, the current administration should be purged of every individual who supports his ideals. Followers of Islam in America are going to have to step up and purge their own ranks of anyone and everyone they suspect of harboring agreement with the ideology of radical Islam. However, they face a grave challenge if they do this because any Muslim who disclosed the identity of a radical faces the real prospect that they and their children and their children’s children will be murdered.

If Muslims are going to live in America they must accept American Constitutional law and not secretly practice or even promote the acceptance of Sharia. We all must accept that there are practices accepted within the framework of American law with which each of our religions disagree, but you have to accept it and trust that Almighty God will sort it out in the end. DALE SHAMBLIN Albuquerque

No wonder it’s so hot

MR. BUSH and Mr. Cheney, the gates of hell are still open! DENNIS D. ELLIOTT Albuquerque

Shootings contagious

FROM THE experience of mass shootings in Australia, the latest mass shooting in Orlando is merely one of several more mass shootings that will occur in the United States. Here is what was said about Australian mass shootings.

From 1984 to 1996, multiple killings aroused public concern. The 1984 Milperra massacre was a major incident in a series of conflicts between various “outlaw motorcycle gangs.” In 1987, the Hoddle Street massacre and the Queen Street massacre took place in Melbourne. In response, several states required the registration of all guns and restricted the availability of self-loading rifles and shotguns. In the Strathfield massacre in New South Wales, 1991, two were killed with a knife, and five more with a firearm. Tasmania passed a law in 1991 for firearm purchasers to obtain a licence, though enforcement was light. Firearm laws in Tasmania and Queensland remained relatively relaxed for longarms.

Shooting massacres in Australia and other English-speaking countries often occurred close together in time. Forensic psychiatrists attribute this to copycat behavior, which is in many cases triggered by sensational media treatment. Mass murderers study media reports and imitate the actions and equipment that are sensationalized in them.

As long as the U.S. Congress takes no action to restrict sales of AR-15 assault rifles and like weapons, mass killings in the U.S. will continue, and given what one person can do in a crowded nightclub, future such events are only limited by the education and imagination of the deranged person(s) who will commit such acts. Keep in mind that the job of the NRA is to sell firearms. GEORGE RICHMOND Albuquerque

Don’t judge gun owners

WE ARE TOLD over and over to not judge all Muslims by the actions of a few so why we are told to judge all gun owners for the actions of a very few criminals/ murderers who use the guns illegally? PAUL GRUNWALD Albuquerque

Hate is the real problem

HORRIBLE PEOPLE do horrible things. Hate is taught and hate is carried out by evil people. Not everyone who hates has the ability to murder 49 people. But anyone who murders 49 people is very, very disturbed.

Yes, this is about homophobia/ radical Islamic extremism, which are directly related, so stop trying to separate the two. This is about easy access to guns and using them to hurt others. But there is a common denominator with all of these motives and the term is “mentally deranged.” People like this have no respect for human life. We can blame the Second Amendment, we can blame politicians, and we can blame each other, but what about the murderer?

Homicidal people will always find a way to carry out their hate. They will hijack planes and fly them into buildings. They will build a bomb and blow up a marathon. They will walk into classroom(s) and kill children. They will kill a woman after her concert. They will walk into a gay club and kill 49 people and hurt more than 50 others. They hate Americans for being American, they hate you for being gay, they hate me for being Catholic. They hate children for being happy.

We all have access to the weapons mentioned above. But we are not using them to hurt others because we don’t have access to the hate that has been instilled into their brains since birth.

Guns are scary. Evil people with guns are scarier. What is even scarier is the amount of people with the mental capacity to kill another human being. I have heard people spew hate my whole life, and it is not something that you can buy on the street. It is something that comes from learning as a child.

I agree that we need strict background checks for gun ownership and I agree that not everyone has the right to own a gun. But I am not going to sit here and blame easy gun access in this country for the mass murders that have been committed recently.

Ideologies are what have killed people. Let’s stop pussyfooting around people’s feelings and blaming everything on circumstance. Focus on the real issue here which is the rampant brainwashing of intolerance that radical Islamic extremists and other hate groups are spreading. It is their ideologies that are killing us. WILL SALAZAR Albuquerque

How many have to die?

OK. HOW MANY more Americans need to be massacred by assault weapons before we do something about the gun situation? Is it another 50 at a time, maybe 150? Probably a lot more. 1,000, 5,000 at a time? That’s doable for (AR-15-style assault rifles).

When will we notice that guns are taking out our citizens? Our sons and daughters, our families? For the gun lovers maybe we should approach it a different way — not how many human beings will die, because that hasn’t changed any minds so far, but economically, when the dearth of people in the U.S .who are slaughtered start(s) affecting the economy? Dead people don’t buy things or pay taxes. At some point everyone might be disturbed enough to get rid of guns and defy the NRA when they see their taxes rising. Money talks.

Or, perhaps our senators and representatives will do something about the gun problem. Don’t hold your breath. JOAN SAPON Albuquerque

Jumping to judgment

RE: JUNE 13, above the fold “Orlando gunman pledged allegiance to Islamic State”

My husband has a favorite phrase. Instead of cross the bridge he uses jump off the bridge. As in don’t jump off the bridge yet.

You guys must be really wet. You really couldn’t wait for more information.

The guy who killed 49 people was a lunatic. Maybe you could have said that, or is that not PC?

The day you endorse (Donald) Trump is the last day I receive your paper. I like your paper most of the time, so don’t make me leave. KAREN SHORE Albuquerque

Trump makes no sense

AFTER LISTENING to Donald Trump and his assertion of what and why the mass murders in Orlando, Fla., happened, I believe that we as a society of commonsense citizens are bound to rally around anyone but Trump. This individual has no shame! And evidently while many of us volunteered to defend this country during Vietnam ... he used four deferments to stay home and learn nothing (which) is quite evident on how he explains issues! While we pay for his bankruptcies — banks raise rates to everyone else — he is free to put us all down! JAMES PADILLA San Antonio, N.M.

Prayers at Ramadan

I AM WRITING to convey my sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the Orlando, Fla., nightclub terror attacks this past Sunday morning. It is very distressing to read that the hateful perpetrator of such cowardly attacks apparently pledged allegiance to ISIS before beginning the massacre, a massacre that was committed in Ramadan, a month designated for fasting, prayers, self-reformation and, most pertinently, peaceful relations with one’s neighbors.

As a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, I condemn in the strongest terms the taking of so many innocent lives in that nightclub, and reaffirm that both the Holy Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad categorically prohibit(ed) the senseless murder of innocent civilians, no matter their diverse background or lifestyle. I pray that during this Ramadan, all religious communities around our nation make extra effort to unite against bigotry and intolerance — love for all, hatred for none. IMRAN TAHIR McKinney, Texas

Many worse massacres

SHAME ON the ABQ Journal! While the Orlando massacre was horrific, it was not the “Worst Mass Shooting in US History” (June 13), nor the “Deadliest Mass Shooting in the U.S.” It wasn’t even close to worst or deadliest!

Since 1776, there have been dozens of massacres of Native Americans where more than 49 were killed — some massacres in the several 100s, several in New Mexico. See: https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Indian_massacre

On Sept. 11, 1857, John D. Lee massacred 140 Christian men, women and children at Mountain Meadows, Utah. America’s first 9/11. While Lee blamed the massacre on Paiutes — Paiutes (were) forensically exonerated in 2000 — Lee was the only person ever charged, pursued by the U.S. Army, captured, tried, convicted and executed for these horrific crimes.

Countless massacres of African Americans throughout U.S. history.

Dozens of civilian and POW massacres during the Civil War.

Which is it? Either the ABQ Journal honchos are extremely ignorant about American history, or they know American history well but view the murder of a homosexual man or woman to be far more horrific than the murder of a Native American child or an African American child.

The latter is the most reasonable conclusion. JOHN J. WILLIAMS Albuquerque