Empty talk won’t stop shootings
There was one anti-gun letter and one anti-NRA letter in Tuesday’s Dispatch. An editorial cartoon in the Feb. 26 Dispatch equated the National Rifle Association with evil tobacco. Give me a break.
How many Simple Simons can there be in the world? Anytime someone uses a gun to kill, people say the issue is the gun. Get rid of the gun, and that ends all horrendous killings. Does anyone actually believe that? The antagonists of 9/11 used airliners to kill. A fellow used a rented truck to kill people near the World Trade Center in New York City. A fellow used a car to try to kill people on Ohio State University’s campus. Another fellow used a machete to try to kill people at a Columbus restaurant because its name alluded to a place in Israel.
So, what in the world makes anyone think that banning a gun will prevent killing? Talk and talk all you want about all these things, the school shootings, the hotel shooting in Las Vegas and none of the talk or ideas or letters to the editor will bring back any of the people killed in those incidents.
There cannot be one solution; there must be many. Make schools safer by installing metal detectors just like there are at airports. Remind individuals to be more aware of their surroundings and the evil that might lurk in them.
With all those things and many more, however, people who want to kill will still find ways to kill. People need to get away from the tunnel vision of looking at elimination of a gun and the NRA as the solution.
John Meekins Columbus support the Second Amendment. I think it is a shame that so many of my peers want to take those rights away.
All of the walk-out “protests” they’re doing accomplish nothing besides wasting education time. All of the school shootings lately are proof that gun-free zones are ineffective.
I believe we need to train and arm our teachers in addition to hiring armed military veterans to stand outside our schools. It’s time to start effectively protecting and defending students instead of letting us be targets!
William L. Phillis Executive director The Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding Columbus