YOUR VIEWS
Time for Congress to act
Anyone reading this has observed the news from Florida and the feeling of wanting to do something, anything, that will make the helpless feeling go away. Can we do anything to keep this from occurring again? The death of 17 individuals should be enough to get the attention of anyone. Perhaps the question that a student who survived the attack asked on a national news station could start the conversation: “What will Congress do about this?” He said they were students and as adults, it was Congress’ responsibility to act. There are many suggestions and possible solutions, but Congress must find the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the powers that exist and take action.
Wallace Glasscock, Edmond
Tax them out of existence
It’s more than just a mental illness problem. It’s a safety problem. If unsafe automobiles, such as the Corvair, can be taken off the road, then so can killer weapons. Assault weapons are killer weapons. If a game hunter needs a 30-clip semi-automatic weapon to kill game, he needs to find another sport.
Fishermen are not allowed to use dynamite. Gun manufacturing restriction is not gun denial. We must demand more from our representatives.
Tax these weapons and their ammunition out of existence.
Only one solution
Dub Whalen, Oklahoma City
The Florida school shooting was tragic, heartbreaking, appalling and absolutely preventable. After so many school shootings in our country, still no armed security guards posted in each school? I can’t get in the county courthouse with even a pen knife in my pocket.
Is this venue, and others like it, more precious than our children? It’s time for a
“reality check.”
Trying to get more gun legislation is one thing, dealing with the actual problem at hand is another.
Like it or not, the only sure thing to stop a bad man with a gun ... is a good man with a gun.
John D. Wyckoff, Oklahoma City
Even the field
The concept of an unarmed military officer at a recruiting post is insane.
On- and off-duty officers should carry the same lethal protection as a combatant would have on his person. Regardless of the code under which the military has worked for a hundred years, the times have radically changed where each officer needs to be instantly able to protect himself, and us.
I also propose that it become legal for parents and grandparents who have a concealed carry license and training to carry inside every school. Further, the “gun free zone” must be eliminated. With a sign indicating there are no guns on the premises it becomes a “fish in a barrel” shooting spree scenario for the armed intruder.
Until we realize that no one can be safe in America without these constructive measures enacted, we remain in the sights of an armed intruder. I’d like to even that playing field, especially when children and the unarmed, vulnerable, are involved.
Alston Ingram Jr., Guthrie
Shameful, tragic
Along with a majority of my fellow Americans, I demand common-sense gun regulations be put in place immediately. Congress has the power to curb the epidemic of violence in this country and so far has done nothing. I demand universal background checks and for the “gun show” loopholes to be closed. Allow the Centers for Disease Control to research gun violence by ending the Dickey Rider. Enact another assault weapons ban. This is a shameful, tragic, American issue that can be curbed if Congress will do something about it. Perhaps the funding they have received from the NRA is more important than the lives of American children — if so, it will be my pleasure to vote against them in the upcoming elections and remove them from office.
Arielle Green, Oklahoma City