Scrap violent culture

This last, most tragic mass shooting has brought to the forefront what I believe is the single most important issue threatening our country today: the permeating culture of violence. The U.S. came about through war and has engaged in one war after another since. In recent decades, we appear to have taken it upon ourselves to become the policemen of the world, engaging in violence on behalf of other countries, too. If we are to survive, we must overcome the violence.

We must make it illegal to manufacture, buy, sell or possess automatic or semiautomatic weapons, excluding military and police. As for the statement that if you make guns illegal, only criminals will have them, lately it’s young people, often with no criminal backgrounds, who are the killers.

We must instill the values that preclude accepting violence as a way of life through expanding the impact of schools. We shouldn’t consider arming school personnel, as some have proposed. Adding violence to an already violent situation is a sure prescription for even greater tragedy. Who among our teachers would want to be faced with shooting one of their students?

The violence that has filled the void in young lives gets handed down from one generation to the next. The people who caused the problem through inaction and ineffectiveness have proven to be unable to solve it, so the government must step in. We need to take action now while we still have a country to salvage. KATHI PURNELL

Horseshoe Bend