Letters to the editor: After Uvalde, will we do anything at all?
God and guns
As a follower of Jesus, I find it unconscionable when our political leaders, proclaiming to be Christian, announce, “I’m Pro-God and Pro-Gun.” Really? I can’t imagine the disciples of Jesus, after His resurrection and ascension, making their way through the streets of Jerusalem shouting, “We are Pro-Jesus and Pro-Sword.” Today, “Christian” politicians who define themselves as Pro-God and Pro-Gun proudly promote the American gun culture, failing to take heed of the Lord’s words, “Those who live by the sword, shall die by the sword.” The idolatry of gun worship has made the United States the most gun violent nation in the world. Yesterday, the words from a friend cut deep, “Something is wrong when a child has to take a bullet to defend the right to have an assault weapon.”
Mark VanSkiver, Boise
Do anything
In light of yet another mass shooting of children in school, I implore Sen. Crapo, Sen. Risch and Rep. Simpson to vote in favor of any gun regulation.
Since I was in high school our nation has been plagued by more senseless murders simply because congress refuses to enact a single piece of legislation that would make it slightly more difficult to obtain and purchase firearms. In the decade since Sandy Hook, not a single real step has been taken to protect school children.
My elected officials waste Idaho tax dollars on anti-abortion bills in the name of “protecting future children” yet they continue to sit by and do nothing for the children here and now.
If Sen. Crapo, Sen. Risch and Rep. Simpson spent a fraction of their time and effort to reduce gun violence as they do on reducing abortion or protecting children from CRT concerns, maybe those families wouldn’t have to bury their babies today.
They should be ashamed of the lack of effort they have made in reducing gun violence in this country. Passing common-sense gun regulation is the next step.
As a teacher and mother I beg them — act now.
Melissa Cortes, Boise
Stunning hypocrisy
Roe v. Wade and Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, murders — what do these have in common? A stunning, horrendous unbelievable level of hypocrisy. Our legislators, congressmen, senators and most on the political right carry on about the sanctity of life but turn a blind eye to mass shootings. As they don’t care about the rights and well-being of women in need of abortion care, they, by their silence — and no, “hearts and prayers” don’t count — are expressing a malignant uncaring for the victims and families of these awful crimes.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 213 mass shootings in 2022, that’s more than one a day. As a gun owner, I understand that the large majority of gun owners do not represent a danger to others. We are responsible and abide by the law. But there comes a time when it is necessary to stand up and speak out for common human decency and rationality. If we have to accept some limitations to protect our fellow citizens, so be it. All rights have responsibilities and no right is absolute. Your loved ones could be next.
Tim Teater, Boise
Ditch rating
I am devastated by the two recent shootings in the news. People in this country should be able to go shopping, and kids should be able to attend school, without fear of being shot. I am sick of hearing our Idaho Congressmen state their A+ ratings with the NRA, and express how they support the right to life. I would be impressed if they received an A+ rating from groups like Everytown USA, Mom’s Demand Action, and other organizations trying to pass sensible gun laws in our nation. We need background checks and education for every gun owner. We need to enforce red flag laws, nationwide, to keep guns out of the hands of individuals with a history of violence, or severe mental illness. We need to make sure that safe storage is in place. There are too many accidental shootings and suicides in our nation, due to easy access to guns. I am not pushing to take guns away from responsible, educated citizens. Obviously, the way things are now isn’t working. I cherish life past the fetal stage. We need to elect lawmakers who feel the same way.
Michal Voloshen, Boise
Reform ideas
Legislators, congressmen, Gov. Little:
The murder of these beautiful children in Uvalde Texas is an abomination. We politicians can dodge and weave all day long on the root causes of young men committing evil acts whether it’s social media, broken families etc. Bottom line, parents are terrified of dropping their kids at school. Consider:
- Keep people in mental crisis away from deadly weapons with red flag laws, often there are warning signs before these events
- Set a minimum age at 21 to purchase firearms (like alcohol)
- Permits and universal background checks
- Bar gun purchases for domestic violence and stalking
All of these require action by you. It’s not something cities can or should tackle. Bottom line for me as a mom and elected official, if you, our congress, and our state legislature can’t do anything to keep kids safe, I want a cop in every school and hardened physical security. By the way, our school district can’t afford to pay for it.
We are Idahoans, independent thinkers promoting personal responsibility. 2A is important but not unlimited, or I’d be able to drive a tank down Main Street and use a rocket launcher to burn my yard clippings.
Liz Strader, Meridian
Fulcher’s callousness
Yesterday, not long after news of the horrific shooting in Uvalde broke, I turned on the car radio. There was Russ Fulcher, commenting. His words, not verbatim, but to this effect, were, “Those same people who are now advocating for more gun laws are the same people who just recently were screaming for placing more guns in the hands of the Ukrainians!” I was not sure how to react to that comment. How do you equate the Uvalde massacre of 10-year-olds with a war? Is he saying we shouldn’t provide weapons of war to a people involved in an actual war to save their very country from an aggressor, but we should make weapons of war available to a deranged 18-year-old to murder babies? Is that the argument Fulcher is trying to make? Enough is enough! When are we going to quit electing people like this to Congress? Please, Idaho, we can do better. Let’s turn these do-nothing Republicans out of office so we can do something to stop this carnage.
Walter Gammill, Boise
Right to life
Children have the right to life too. Talk to your senator about responsible AR-15 ownership. Or if he doesn’t listen and respond, vote Democratic. Mental breakdowns are not controllable, but guns are.
Mike Winter, Boise
Easy solution
It appears the Republican response to the shootings is more police at the schools. It is that or they answer it’s mental health. Wait a minute, we have had shootings at malls, grocery stores, churches and entertainment events. Are you saying we have to raise taxes to cover all the police that will have to become security guards at all these places? Now, if the answer is mental health, then shouldn’t there be some type of answer to that? I am sure if you asked a few psychologists they could come up with a variety of answers.
It would seem a lot cheaper to just outlaw weapons of war. You might have shooting ranges that will rent the rifles and sell the ammunition if you just have to go shoot.
If we’re going to look at the cheapest way to protect society, this seems like the logical answer. It would seem to me that it is logical that you want to keep guns out of the hands of felons, wife-beaters, people with road rage involving a gun, and people that have abused animals. Are these the people republicans want to allow to have guns?
Jerry Johnson, Payette
Simpson’s response
An open letter to Congressman Mike Simpson in response to his May 27 mailing to constituents concerning the killings in Uvalde, Texas. He writes, “... elected leaders must set an example by coming together to find meaningful solutions that address the clear mental health crisis in this country.” My response: Your response to the killings in Texas is not adequate. This is not a mental health issue. It is about guns. Will you support mandatory background checks for all gun purchases? Why should an 18-year-old be allowed to purchase a weapon of war? I do not oppose gun ownership, but will you listen to and support Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America? They have common-sense proposals for curbing gun violence in this country.
Jim Grunow, Boise
Contact Crapo
In the days following his 18th birthday, Salvador Rolando Ramos legally purchased an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle at a local gun store in Texas along with 375 rounds of ammunition. The bullets from an AR-15 are especially lethal. They shred bodily organs.
Those nineteen school children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas weren’t just shot. They were massacred. Some children could be identified only by matching their DNA with that of their parents waiting outside in agony.
This isn’t something new. AR-15-style rifles have been the weapons of choice in eleven mass shootings in the past ten years.
Republican senators have repeatedly blocked legislation that would make access to these rifles illegal. It’s not surprising, given that the National Rifle Association has spent more than $100 million helping Republicans get elected, including Idaho’s own Republican Senator Mike Crapo.
Senator Crapo is running for a fifth term this November.
For all of us who are outraged by these monstrous attacks on children and grandchildren, now is the time to act. Senator Crapo needs to hear from us, repeatedly, by email or by phone at 202-224-6142.
Please don’t be silent. Our kids need our help.
Dody Dozier, Moscow
Second Amendment
The Second Amendment’s original intent has been bastardized. Colonial states feared an oppressive National government. It says “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. The militia means the police and state National Guard. Individuals are neither well regulated nor are they the State Militia. The Fifth Amendment separates persons from the Militia (all persons … except the Militia) proving they are not the same.
The killings must stop and lawmakers should be voted out who don’t have the courage to do what Australia did. Australians still own guns but they are “well regulated.” American gun owners are not well regulated as the Second Amendment mandates.
The Harvard study of the 1996 Australian Gun reform found that the murder rate by guns dropped by 42 percent. Regulation like this can be done lawfully within the Second Amendment. American citizens have a bigger right to life than the ongoing uncontrolled violence by guns. We must stop the cowardly insane hypocritical politicians who claim to be pro-life but allow gun violence to be the number one killer of young Americans.
Ed Wardwell, Boise
Deafening silence
Idaho’s Republican congressional delegation has largely been silent on suggesting solutions to the problem of mass murders in this country, following the recent senseless massacre of elementary school children in Texas. Sen. Risch hasn’t even mustered a public thought or prayer. Actually, this is a fitting non-reaction to the decade of inaction by Republicans since the 2012 mass murder of school children in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Pathetic.
Rep. Fulcher sees the problem as our culture, but not our gun laws. Waiting only on culture change is like treating a disease with the slowest-acting medication possible. If our culture desensitizes children to violence, why would we continue to make it easy for those same children to buy an assault rifle on their 18th birthday?
We cannot tolerate compromise, but we tolerate instead the mass murder of school children, shoppers, worshippers and concert-goers? That’s the mental illness.
We’ve seen where doing nothing leads. Enough. Elect politicians who will try to solve this problem. There isn’t one Republican currently representing us who is doing that, so don’t re-elect them.
Russ Comstock, Boise
Do something
Open letter to Sens. Crapo and Risch: I am writing to you today to implore you to initiate and/or support some reasonable level of gun regulation in this country. Thoughts are prayers are clearly not sufficient to protect innocent citizens from mass gun violence — the most recent victims being elementary school children in Texas. Children. While 19 armed police officers huddled outside their classrooms. Clearly, the “good guy with a gun” solution is not the answer. There have been 110 school shootings in the United States. At what point are we going to say enough?
We have plenty of regulations for individuals driving cars in the United States; why are there not similar regulations for owning and using guns? Uniform licensing and registration of all guns; requirement to take and pass a test prior to getting a license; requirement to carry liability and property damage insurance related to gun use; loss of the gun for misuse or misconduct. And, since mental health is clearly a concern in cases of gun violence, meaningful red flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of at least some individuals who intend to do harm. Please. Do something.
Valerie Ruxton, Eagle
Responsibility
The AR-15 and most semi-automatic weapons are designed to kill people. Their ammunition is designed to “tumble” as it enters the human body. Once within the body it tumbles, shreds, and mutilates the body before leaving a large exit wound. There are no words to describe the horror of the crime scene in Texas and the people that witnessed it will be scared for the rest of their lives. Our Republicans in Congress will never see these photographs, never need counseling, and will never have one of their children exterminated. They will ignore this massacre because they only care about retaining power. There is absolutely no reason why any of these murder weapons should be sold to anyone. The Second Amendment does not guarantee the freedom to conduct mass murder. Most Americans have no idea why the Second Amendment was written in the Constitution. The right to “bear arms” intent was to have ready state militias to defend the nation. We have those militias well established, our state National Guards. They have plenty of killing machines. Our Republicans in Congress are cold-blooded murderers and the American people that support them and unrestricted access to mass murder weapons are cowards.
Kurt Smith, Boise
Follow Scalia
Sen. Crapo’s website flatly states that: “I will not support any legislation that requires a waiting period for the purchase of a firearm, bans the ownership of firearms…”
Mr. Crapo relies upon the Second Amendment and Justice Scalia’s lengthy majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller. The Senator even includes the entire case’s 167 pages as justification for his position.
Unfortunately, he conveniently ignores the most relevant portion of Scalia’s majority opinion. The Constitutional right to limit AR-15s exists: “We also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms. Miller said, as we have explained, that the sorts of weapons protected were those ‘in common use at the time.’ We think that limitation is fairly supported by the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of “dangerous and unusual weapons,” wrote Scalia.
Ralph Sims, Boise