Fewer guns, less violence
March 14 was the day school students left classes for 17 minutes of remembrance (or were prevented from doing so in Harford County schools) for shooting victims in a Florida high school. Seven thousand pairs of children’s shoes were left outside the United States Capitol to remind us that 7,000 children have been gunned down in America since the Sandy Hook tragedy five years ago (“‘We’re alive. They’re dead.’ Baltimore-area students join nationwide demonstration against gun violence,” March 14).
In addition to strengthening the background check process before a gun sale is allowed and prohibiting the sale of assault rifles, ammunition and bump stocks, we need to lower the temperature of our communications and increase the civility of our conversations with one another. The slightest disagreement and provocation should not be used as an excuse to go out and buy a weapon. A gun in the home often makes life less safe, not more.
I have been upset that Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler believes that guns are the answer. He advocates for guns, is against control and buybacks, and he shamelessly promotes gun sales and raffles when his job is to be the top law enforcement officer in the county. The sheriff should be the top peace officer. As supervisor of process serving for the courts, this is a system for settling disputes peacefully, not for promoting violence as represented by guns. Mr. Gahler's behavior is one of the reasons why I am running for sheriff to replace him in this year's election. The writer is a Democratic candidate for Harford County sheriff.
Tough sentencing is the answer
Stricter gun control is not the answer. In 2016, more than 40,000 people died in auto accidents in the United States. No march was made on Washington. No mass assemblies were held. No one ever said that we should ban or somehow restrict the automobile. It,however, was the “tool” used to cause those deaths, just as a gun was the tool the people chose to used to attack some schools (“Gun-control bills pass Maryland House of Delegates,” March 15).
Using the mindset of the anti-gun crowd we should restrict the use of motorized vehicles. For that matter, kitchen knives have also caused serious injury and deaths so we should also ban knives in kitchen use to under three inches. As silly as this sounds, this is exactly what the politicians want to do with guns.
We do not need to restrict guns. Weneed to look at the users and find out what is causing their outrageous actions. Almost daily we read about some individual arrested for some offense while carrying a gun who had previously been charged with the same offense but was turned loose by the courts. That is where the efforts should be pointed, not at the law-abiding gun owners.