Young people demand action

Dear editor: There are old sayings, “He who pays the piper calls the tune!” and “Follow the money!” They were never more true than they are today in the American political system.

The weapons industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying at national and state levels. Donald Trump alone got over $20-million for his election campaign. Little wonder that he is now a mouthpiece for the NRA.

After the recent murders in Florida, there was the usual anemic response from national and state leaders — “Our thoughts and prayers are with you.” However, this time, the young people didn’t accept this as an adequate response to the problem. They are looking for action from the state and national political leaders.

The head of the NRA said, “The only way to deal with a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun.” Now, we have Trump advocating arming of teachers. What does that mean? Sales of more weapons, of course. That kind of logic is kind of like the old wild west that was portrayed in western movies. You could always tell the good guys from the bad guys – they were better looking, better dressed and generally portrayed a better image. In real life, these differences are not that evident and sometimes the nicest looking guy is the bad guy. No. This is absolute nonsense. They must have much stronger gun laws and the only way they are going to do that is to get the big money out of politics. Polls indicate that the majority of U.S. citizens want to see stronger gun laws, but it will never happen as long as big money is controlling the system.

Chris Hansen Westbank