Two sides could work together on firearms
Clearly urban and rural California are two different worlds when it comes to firearms. If I walk out onto my back deck in Needles and decide to shoot 10 crows, no one will care.
If I attempt that in San Mateo, my house would be surrounded by a SWAT team in a matter of minutes. The neighbor who calls the police on me is not necessarily liberal, just someone who does not want to get shot. Strict gun laws make sense in crowded environments, not so much so in the barren desert. Is it possible, since we are one state, to accommodate different lifestyles with respect to guns? Would Sacramento tolerate flexible gun laws, and would rural towns like Needles handle that flexibility in a responsible way?
Maybe if both sides put down the political posturing and namecalling and tried to work out a reasonable compromise, then Californians of all stripes would have more faith in their elected leaders. It seems like this is a good opportunity to show that liberals and conservatives can work together to the benefit of all Californians.
Mark Allendorf, San Mateo
Appalling debate
As someone rooting for the Democrats to unify and win back the White House, I was as appalled by the second debate as I was by the first.
Watching the battlehungry moderators throw out questions designed to pit candidates against one another, I watched in horror as the respondents savaged each other over health care, education, climate change and all the issues we need to fix as a strong united force.
I’m sure the lockstep GOP troops were cheering as they gathered fighting words from our own candidates’ mouths for President Trump’s next campaign against a divided opponent.
Fran Hulse, Mill Valley
Cut fossil fuel money
Regarding “GOP faces tough vote on budget bill Trump supports” (Aug. 1): As to the recent article on the budget that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to get passed with the help of President Trump, the issue seems to be increasing the debt ceiling while trying to prevent a government shutdown. Well, here’s a perfect solution.
Cut all subsidies to fossil fuel companies now. That would free up a reported $5.2 trillion of wasted expenses that we, the public, end up paying for over and over again. It’s not going to happen, because all Congress is in the back pocket of Big Oil. Jim Boyer, San Francisco
Organized force
I’m enjoying the Democratic debates and the range of positions from Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on the economy, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on climate, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on militarism, Andrew Yang’s guaranteed income and Marianne Williamson’s appeal to our higher selves. The Democratic leadership has kept issues like impeachment and universal health care off the table and supported a war economy.
These candidates are putting a lot of ideas on the table for voters to decide what matters to us. Coming from the far left, I do not believe the Democratic Party is the answer to today’s problems, but they are the only organized force that can put a brake on President Trump’s fascist onslaught.
CNN’s Van Jones observed that we are witnessing the impact of social movements — #MeToo, for black lives, for the environment and climate. First, elect a president who begins turning things around, then keep working from the outside as well as the inside to maintain momentum for real change. That’s how Republicans became who they are, by incorporating the social movements of the extreme right for guns and white supremacy, against abortion, migrants and LGBTI rights. Grassroots matter. People do have the power, if we only use it.
Charlie Hinton, San Francisco
President’s detractors
Daily, I read the letters from President Trump haters and wonder where they get their spurious information. I am always reminded of a quote from an expresident who wisely said, “Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” While the complaints roll in, President Trump is slowly fixing all the items he said he would, and more.
He is never credited for working for Americans and their future; instead he is a “racist” because of the border disputes.
This “obstruction” by the Democrats illustrates the size of the “swamp” he wades through every day. Meanwhile, the radical left is pushing for free passes at the border, at college, health care and the voting booths. Are his detractors ready to give up their freedoms for gatecrashers in 2020?
Vernon Packer, Redding
It’s about accountability
Regarding “The tax tactic” (Editorial, Aug. 1): While I agree with your editorial on the doubtful legal merit of California requiring tax returns of primary candidates, I wish you had provided more context for your objection. We have a president refusing to follow longstanding, blackletter federal law, blocking the Internal Revenue Service from responding to a congressional oversight request for his returns. Our state would not have passed this workaround attempt if the president had followed the law.
I am glad our state is trying to hold the president accountable, since the GOP Senate and his administration’s minions are not. Pam Rolph, Pacific Grove
Still mourning the losses
Since our state has just experienced another mass shooting with fatalities that included a 6yearold boy, I find the article “Gun lovers have own sanctuary city” (Aug. 1) to be in incredibly bad taste. Do readers need to know that Needles Mayor Jeff Williams carries a 9mm Glock pistol, while they are still mourning the victims of gun violence in Gilroy?
The time for an article about this remote desert outpost’s decision to call itself a Second Amendment sanctuary, where both California gun owners and those visiting from out of state can expect lenient enforcement of state rules governing ammunition and concealedcarry permits, is certainly not now. Fiona MacPherson, San Jose
Keep on driving
Not to knock Needles, but I make a point to avoid places where residents feel comfortable only when they’re packing heat.
That won’t keep me from stopping there. My car, after all, has a very small gas tank, and it’s a very big desert.
Tom Ruppel, Dixon
Unmoved by resolution
The proud residents of Needles only seem to remember the second half of the Second Amendment, forgetting the part about “A wellregulated militia.” Some of them have even deluded themselves into thinking their gun sanctuary city resolution bothers anyone. They’ve fallen for the Teabagger fantasy that we “Libtards” will lose any sleep over this and so they proudly crow from the hilltops their flaccid fallacy while we go on with our meager lives of working, paying taxes and voting Democrat anyway. To the pointless posturing patriots of Needles, “Who cares?”