Time for action

Re: Tarnished Symbols, June 25. Twenty-seven people, mostly children, massacred in Sandy Hook, Conn. — and we can’t even have a meaningful conversation about restrictions on assault weapons and the mental stability of those who seek to purchase them. Nine massacred in Charleston, S.C., and no time is spared unrigging a flag. Symbols matter, but shouldn’t deeds matter more? With Charlton Heston long since dead, it is time we got on with finishing his business.

Adam Cole, Toronto.