Following Sandy Hook, Kelly Ayotte voted against background checks: Letters

Following Sandy Hook school shooting, Kelly Ayotte voted against background checks

Dec. 15 — To the Editor:

Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting when 20 children ages 6 and 7 and 6 staff were slaughtered. The 20-year-old killer used an AR-15 assault-style weapon to fire many rounds of ammunition to quickly perform his carnage. As a result of this massacre, over 90% of Americans supported expanded background checks on gun purchases. Unfortunately the U.S. Senate killed that legislation. One of the votes against the legislation was cast by New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte. The same Kelly Ayotte who is currently running to replace Gov. Chris Sununu in November.

I am sure that Ms. Ayotte would like us to forget that horrible vote 11 years ago. Unfortunately for the families of the Sandy Hook massacre victims and for all the families of victims of all the mass shootings involving AR-15s since then, they will never forget or be free of the pain and suffering they have endured. For those of us who were not directly impacted by this senseless epidemic of gun violence, especially those of us in New Hampshire, we should never forget how then-Sen. Ayotte put the interests of the gun lobby ahead of the will of the people and the safety of our children. We need to hold Kelly Ayotte accountable for her actions. She should not be nominated as the Republicans' candidate for governor, but if she is, she should not be allowed to become our next governor.

Hon. Rich DiPentima

Portsmouth

Biden and his team have been just right on the economy

Dec. 15 — To the Editor:

The Goldilocks Zone. Falling inflation, falling gas prices, record low unemployment, record high stock market, robust growth in the economy without a recession. A good trick that the president and his administration have executed. Despite a do-nothing GOP Congress held hostage by a handful of extremists whose only goal is to obstruct at every turn. Let’s hope common sense prevails in a month and they do not shut down the government.

Jonathan Caldwell

Stratham

US must join other nations calling for ceasefire in Gaza

Dec. 18 — To the Editor:

Well-intentioned people have taken public positions blaming either Israel or Hamas for the bloodshed in Palestine. The same people, whether Jews or Palestinians, are likely to express fears for their own safety in the United States. They are correct. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) each document that more than 2,000 incidents targeting Jews or Muslims in the United States have occurred since Oct. 7, the date of the Hamas attack on Israel. Synagogues and mosques have been vandalized and individuals of both faiths have been the victim of ugly confrontations. In the most shocking incident to date, three Palestinian students were shot in Burlington, Vermont.

These attempts to assess responsibility are lost in a flood of competing voices. Pro-Palestinian groups at Harvard University famously asserted that Israel alone was responsible for the attack in which 1,200 Israeli citizens were murdered.The Holocaust scholar Raz Segal, a professor at Stockton College, argued that Israel’s war policy amounts to genocide. Student advocates for Palestinians have recited ambiguous slogans, such as “Intifadah Now,” which may merely call for an uprising but which may also evoke violence. Rep. Rashida Tlaib called for justice “between the river and the sea,” a slogan seen by some as calling for the destruction of Israel.

The pro-Israel groups have a louder voice. President Biden pledged “100 percent” support for Israel and Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan followed suit, declaring that Israel has the right to defend itself. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant went further, characterizing the Palestinian war victims as “human animals.” Hillary Clinton said that ultimate blame lay with the Palestinians for failing to capitalize on the Camp David accords to achieve a state of their own. Spokesmen for the Israeli government insisted that Hamas terrorists were lurking behind human shields in the general population or hiding in command centers under hospitals.

So the war of words rages. In the real war, Gaza struggles under an avalanche of destruction. At least 18,000 Palestinians have lost their lives, most of them women and children, and hundreds more are being killed every day. Some 60 to 70 percent of the housing has been destroyed. About 1.8 million people have been driven from their homes. Schools and hospitals have been bombed out of existence. The population has been cut off from water, fuel, and medicines. Children have suffered blast injuries, burns through the bone from white phosphorous, and the guillotine cuts of cluster bombs. The suffering of individuals remains unspeakable.

“Is this what we’ve come to?” one Gaza resident asked the Guardian newspaper, “Praying that we die in one piece?”

In the midst of all this suffering, let us leave it to the polemicists to fix blame – to argue whether Hamas or Israel must take the ultimate responsibility. That is for the judgment of history. In the meantime, we all have a more serious responsibility. We cannot allow President Biden and Senators Shaheen and Hassan to hide behind a façade of slogans in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe. The United States must stop pouring arms into this conflict and join the other nations of the UN Security Council in demanding an immediate ceasefire.

William Castle

Portsmouth

Trump is not a hero. He's a loser.

I take exception to the headline on Trump (Can Trump reach young voters on the economy? He makes the case in New Hampshire.). Why not start with the ending about his four indictments instead of making the loser that he is sound like a hero. What a disgrace!

Joanne Therrien

Portsmouth

When it comes to electric vehicles, Maine is not California

Dec. 17 — To the Editor:

An AP article (12/15) threatens that 47% of Maine vehicles will have to have zero emissions by 2027, and 82% by 2032, to  “be like California.”

Consider:  

(1) Maine is NOT California.  We don’t have smog and, because of our topography and ruralness, have very clean air.

(2) A multi-car accident on the Maine Turnpike, especially during tourist season, could see thousands of electric vehicles draining out their batteries by running their A/Cs in summer (or heaters in winter).  How many days would it take to tow all these cars (and later recharge them!)?  And how many vacationers would ever return to Maine?

(3) The electricity to power/charge these vehicles is (at this time) primarily created by burning fossil fuels.

(4) Gas station close-downs and tank removal costs.

(5) Maine is a mostly-rural state, and would have to install “tens of thousands of additional charging ports” (regardless if the government subsidizes them with your tax dollars and interest-incurring bonds sold to China) throughout the largest state in New England.  It kinda reminds one of Dick Curless/Danny Fulkerson’s  Haynesville Woods song, “A Tombstone Every Mile.”

(5) Historically, Mainers are thrifty and independent-thinking people, and reluctant to be forced into something that’s more expensive than has normally been prudent.

We only have until Dec. 21 to tell the Department of Environmental Protection that we don’t want this to happen.  If approved here, recall how our state Legislature voted with lobbyists, against the overwhelming will of the people (remember LD 1619).

Bruce Young

York, Maine

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: After Sandy Hook, Kelly Ayotte voted down background checks: Letters