It takes action, not legislation

Scourge of society

Regarding “Domestic violence deaths in Houston, Harris County doubled from 2019 to 2022, UH report says,” (Feb. 9): The move to allow permitless carry is a factor in domestic violence deaths? Seriously?

I spent 31 years with the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office, three of those in the Sheriff ’s Mobile Advocacy Response Team — SMART. This program was the sheriff ’s iteration of Austin’s Domestic Abuse Response Team. SMART started with two teams whose mission was to provide assistance to patrol, but more importantly, to assist victims of domestic violence immediately. Only one team currently exists and the program is underutilized and in danger of being disbanded. Programs such as SMART and DART need to be expanded and utilized.

According to Crime Stoppers Houston victims advocate Andy Kahan, by the end of 2021, there had been over 150 people murdered by suspects out on multiple felony bonds in Harris

County over the past few years, including suspects arrested on capital murder charges. When I started my career, we were in the process of building jails and prisons, staffing them and filling them with criminals. We had programs like Project Exile that prosecuted criminals caught with guns and put them away for their entire sentence.

I don’t know Elizabeth Gregory, but I have worked with Amy Smith and Michelle Sacks, who are frequently interviewed on domestic violence matters and absolutely dedicated to helping survivors of this societal scourge.

Instead of pushing the tired political agenda of gun control, we need to arrest, punish and incarcerate those who commit these crimes in a more expeditious manner.

We also need to change the culture of lawlessness that has infected this country in the last few years. Until politicians own up to the fact that we cannot legislate our way out of this (after all, we have laws against murder, assault, illegally carrying firearms, and so on), nothing will change and more innocents will be victimized.

John Mook, Houston

You discuss domestic violence deaths as if they just happen, like rainy weather. Why do you not identify who is committing these murders?

You sort of allude to this late in the piece, when you say that “Black women were also especially at risk of becoming victims …” but left unsaid is the sad reality that it is mainly men who are murdering mainly women. How are we going to reduce these domestic violence deaths if we cannot even be direct about who is responsible for them? You do a bit better regarding the use of guns, noting that “guns (are) listed as responsible for 73 percent of intimate partner deaths.” I’d like to know if our state government’s crusade to make guns easier to get and easier to carry has resulted in more intimate partner deaths. Please dig deeper!

Jacqueline Clark, Houston