Give background checks to all gun buyers
Awhopping 80 percent of New Mexico residents support the idea of expanding background checks to cover every gun sale in the state. Yet the bills to close the background check loopholes for gun show and online sales have been hotly contested (“NRA tops lobbyist spending with $44K online ad,” Feb. 18).
Why do we penalize brick-and-mortar gun shop owners when literally any stranger off the street can sell a firearm to a Craigslist or Armslist customer evading the checks? Why allow any sales with no questions asked when New Mexico leads the country in domestic violence homicides and police officer deaths?
I grew up in Corrales with guns in our home. But I have every right to live and raise my family in a community that stands for public safety and responsible ownership. This commonsense measure has passed in 19 states, and in every case dramatically reduced gun violence — 46 percent fewer women shot to death by their partners, 48 percent fewer law enforcement officers killed by handguns and mass shootings cut by more than half. New Mexico is on many unfavorable lists. In this case, we can legislate our way off two of them. Emilie De Angelis
Albuquerque
Horses deserve better
The Conservation Committee substitute for Senate Bill 126 before our Legislature opens the door to more abuse of wild horses. Horses will come under the oversight of the Livestock Board, representing an industry competing with wild horses for rangeland. Under the bill’s new wild horse definition, the board will determine if an unclaimed horse has been born on public land, or comes from a herd born on public land. Birthplaces for unclaimed horses can rarely be confirmed. Horses not confirmed as wild may be classified as strays and sold — likely to buyers who truck them to slaughter. A healthy wild horse winding up on private land can be euthanized since the bill ignores existing fence-out laws.
Our Legislature needs to create an equine board to oversee horses with the contraception Porcine Zona Pellucida, set road safety standards and help manage horse ranges. Rita Gentry
Santa Fe
Truthfully informed
Most news in The New Mexican that is not locally generated comes from three sources: The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press. Lately, the meme of “fake news” has been directed at news/opinion sources that aren’t part of the sacrosanct mainstream media. Let’s take a look. The New York Times was a cheerleader of the fake news that Saddam Hussein, then-president of Iraq, had weapons of mass destruction. A couple of months ago, the CIA-friendly Washington Post ran the fake news story from some shadowy outfit, PropOrNot, that slammed, with no proof, many credible and reliable alternative sources as propaganda. This story was fake news. This past week, The Associated Press shrieked Donald Trump was going to send the National Guard to round up immigrants. That has been denied. The mainstream media, print and televised, is running scared as readership drops, advertising revenue dries up and people no longer trust it to do its job — keeping us truthfully informed. Patricia Victour
Santa Fe
Elegance and policy
I wish to thank the veteran Republican officials who formed the Climate Leadership Council and took their proposals to the White House (“An elegant climate policy,” Another View, Feb. 11). They remind me that the GOP once acted on the behalf of the American people and reached across the aisle to get things done. The current GOP has lost its dignity in pandering to President Donald Trump and his inability to form any kind of coherent governing. The Climate Leadership Council proposes that a $40 per ton fee on carbon emissions with a quarterly dividend to American citizens would be revenue neutral and would reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels and slow the warming of the planet. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson supported such an idea as an Exxon Mobil executive and hopefully he will continue to do so. Patricia A. Murphy, Ph.D. Santa Fe
Taxed out
I oppose the soda tax and believe it would be an unfair tax to the people of Santa Fe (“City committee OKs soda tax proposal on 3-1 vote,” Feb. 21). I regularly buy sodas but only when they are on sale. If this 2-cents-an-ounce tax is approved, I will no longer buy sodas. My belief is that all the supporters of this tax don’t buy sodas now, but if this tax goes through, they better start. Those of us who regularly buy sodas now will no longer be able to afford them. This tax will negatively affect the economy in Santa Fe. People from Pecos and Northern New Mexico are already telling me they will not buy sodas in Santa Fe if this goes through. It’s nice to make improvements for the people of Santa Fe, but they cost money. Many of us working Santa Feans believe we are getting taxed out of our own town. Patricia Martinez Santa Fe
History repeats
One question: What if all the refugees and others who Donald Trump seeks to expel or refuse to admit to the U.S. were Jews? History repeats itself. Haven’t we learned anything? Ellen J. Shabshai Fox, LISW Santa Fe