Kentucky political leaders, it is up to you to pass good gun laws and stop this death | Opinion
Politicians to blame
What is the matter with us? We keep allowing killers to kill. We can of course blame the shooters but in reality it is us too. We condone it.
Yes, we can blame our politicians. They accept lobbyist monies. They don’t want to anger gun owners. They are cowards. Like us. So are the rest of you for allowing it to happen.
Kentucky political leaders, it is up to you to be effective politicians by passing good effective gun laws to stop these unnecessary deaths.
In fact, It is time for us all to do something. Remember, our kids are watching and waiting.
Don Rapske, Lexington
Moral solution
I read: “Live updates: 6 dead, more hospitalized after shooting in Louisville. Shooter, victims identified (April 10)“ with great sadness and trepidation. As a society, we are losing our moral foundation which us holds us together, and are resolving our differences with violence instead of with love and tolerance. Though the ease of obtaining high powered guns, particularly for disturbed individuals with mental problems, is problematic and must be addressed, it is not sole cause of this crisis as guns are instruments used by criminals to commit violent actions.
As we live in an age of isolation and self-centeredness, we must collectively work to overcome the barriers that encourage anti-social behavior by reaching out to our neighbors and refer and treat those who need professional help. The alternative is just too terrifying to imagine.
I proffer my deepest sympathies and prayers to the families of the victims and wish the surviving victims a speedy recovery.
Dr. Michael Pravica, Henderson, Nevada
Gun laws
Dear Kentuckians, aren’t you proud that we’re 100 days into the year and we’ve accomplished the 143rd mass shooting of the year?! We can thank Republican Kentucky lawmakers for passing a bill last month that makes the state a Second Amendment Sanctuary State where ANYONE can carry without a permit and PROHIBITS local law enforcement from enforcing federal firearm bans, which all became law WITHOUT the Governor’s Signature.
Among other Kentucky gun laws, these are just plain RIDICULOUS:
Visitors are permitted to carry guns into our CAPITOL building, though other potential weapons (such as sticks) are prohibited
Open carry is legal in Kentucky without a license for anyone at least 18 years of age that is not prohibited from possessing a firearm
Kentucky is a permit-less carry state, so concealed-carry is legal for anyone 21 years old who can legally possess a firearm without a license/permit
Background checks are not required for private sale
Does not support Red Flag legislation
There have been mass shootings in every state with the exceptions of Hawaii, Idaho, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Wyoming. Don’t you think it’s time to wake up and keep the people of this state safe?
Yes, I am “WOKE”!
Gaynia P Battista, Lexington
Assault weapon ban
I saw a video clip of a Tennessee legislator asking the question “What gun would you be comfortable being shot with?” as he sarcastically suggested that AR-15s are no big deal; in his view they are equivalent to a pistol, shotgun, or hunting rifle. Anyone who needs proof that that statement is nowhere near correct need only look at the video of the Tennessee-mass-killer shooting out the security glass doors keeping the evildoer out of the building. It took hundreds of rapid succession shots but the tremendous firepower is there for all to see.
You don’t have to read about 9-year-old girls being decapitated by these guns. No need for you to see the carnage that the AR-15 creates, when its bullets tear through human flesh, to understand that that weapon should have no place outside of a war zone. Just watch what the gun (operating in machine gun mode) does to the thick glass of those doors, allowing the murderer to enter.
It seems to me unlikely that any person could view that video and still be in favor of assault rifles being possessed by citizens. I was about to send this letter off when news came of the Louisville AR-15 massacre. Well, no reason for Kentucky to be exempt from carnage—especially with the “Christian” Thomas Massie representing us in Congress. Maybe the shooter was inspired by Massie’s holiday card on the occasion of the anniversary of the birth of the Prince of Peace?
Michael Kennedy, Lexington
Listen up!
State legislators want control over schools to “save our children” from sexual deviance and hate of America. Such nonsense from pettifoggers who probably wouldn’t know a syllabus from a platypus, is cruelly insulting to teachers who would. One rationale for studying history and literature is alerting citizens to past grievous episodes lest such be repeated. Where’s the evidence that awareness leads to hatred of current government and institutions?
Meanwhile, we are blind to the alternate education systems of social media, advertising, television and religion. PBS offers some moral guidance, and the churches could do the same by calling out all who’ve forgotten the Commandments - particularly the First! But the positives are overwhelmed by violence and inanity like ‘Friday Night Smackdown,’ ’The Masked Singer,’ and so much more that numbs and dumbs our culture and produces insatiable consumers and competent, but uncritical, workers.
Worse yet, poisoning lessons come from persuasive voices saying, “lies repeated work... never accept accountability, blame others... turn misdeeds upon your enemies, e.g. investigating a crime is itself the greater crime... always seek the advantage, no matter the harm to others... cheating helps... ignore reason and facts... only your own ‘truths’ matter... vows mean nothing... empathy is weakness.”
Class dismissed!
Ernest Henninger, Harrodsburg
Riley attacked
UK All American swimmer, Riley Gaines, was assaulted in San Francisco last week but you wouldn’t know it by the silence of local media. Lord knows if it was a male UK basketball or football player, it would have received tons of attention. Is the Herald-Leader being sexist or is there some other issue at work here?
Doug Reed, Lexington
Derailment prevention
Anyone else notice how the trains rumbling through south Lexington have seemed louder and more frequent? Ever since the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, I’m much more aware of how our safety is jeopardized hourly by the proximity of the freight trains and their toxic cargo. Fred Pope’s recent opinion piece, accurately portrays the chaos and damage we would experience should a derailment happen here.
It may have been the same Mr. Pope who wrote an opinion piece a few years ago about the advantages of re-routing the trains outside of Lexington and re-using the track line for a fast-transit option from Jessamine County to area hospitals and the entire University of Kentucky campus. I thought it a brilliant suggestion. It would relieve much of the Nicholasville Road traffic. At the time, I felt it would never come to pass due to all the power held by rail companies.
I encourage Mayor Gorton and the councilmembers to start hearings on the HAZMAT danger of a derailment in Lexington. We need to learn more about what toxins might be released in a derailment here. We need to begin discussions with rail companies and seek federal assistance in relocating the trains.
Janet Piechowski, Lexington
Climate threshold
According to the “Intergovernmental Panel Report on Climate Change,” the Earth is likely to cross a critical threshold for global warming within the next decade, and nations will need to make an immediate and drastic shift away from fossil fuels to prevent the planet from dangerous overheating. A temperature increase of 1.5 degrees C is already in the pipeline and, at our current level of greenhouse gas production, we will see 3 degrees of warming this century. This means meters of sea level rise, the death of coral reefs, and portions of the earth becoming uninhabitable.
So what was the reaction of Kentucky’s state legislature to these facts? Unbelievably, it was Senate Bill 3, which made it difficult for utilities in Kentucky to retire coal burning power plants. The bill passed into law without Gov. Andy Beshear’s signature on March 29.
It is telling that utilities in Kentucky were NOT in favor of this bill because they want to retire old, inefficient, polluting coal burning power plants and replace them with gas-fired and renewable energy production. This attempt to protect coal production at a time when climate change is at a tipping point was both ill-conceived and reckless.
Jim Porter, Danville
Homebuyer information
A homebuyer’s informational workshop from NACA (the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America) will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on April 23 at the EastSide Public Library, 3000 Blake James Drive in Lexington. NACA is a nationwide non-profit organization fighting for economic justice through affordable homeownership and community action. Please come out to find out more information, ask questions, and learn how to get registered with the program!
Andrea Granville, Lexington
Factory farming
Factory farming impoverishes farmers, sickens our communities, poisons our resources, and causes extreme suffering to animals. It caters to power-hungry meatpacking companies and removes opportunities from family farmers within our own community. Because federal subsidies favor corn and soybeans, farmers are essentially forced to grow these crops to survive. This has led to a market flooded with grains, which are used as cheap feed for industrial livestock and poultry on factory farms.
As a result, government subsidies that should be supporting independent farmers flow indirectly to big meatpackers, supporting and incentivizing a model of industrial agriculture that harms animals, farmers, and communities across the country. Eighty-two percent of rural communities have been harmed by industrial agriculture. It is fiscally irresponsible that our hard-earned tax dollars are being used in a way that supports expansive corporations instead of independent farmers in our own backyards.
America currently has an opportunity to make a change and show support for farmers who treat animals, our environment, and communities with respect. We must urge our lawmakers to pass a Farm Bill that moves us away from the harmful factory farm model and toward a more sustainable, equitable, and ethical future for farming in America.
Shannon Murphy, Lexington
Republican “givers”
If you’re a citizen in a Republican-dominated state, you don’t have to do anything as a voter with your GOP federal and state representatives except pay their salaries and fringe benefits, donate to their campaigns.
Your GOP representatives are your everything, everywhere, all at once: your uterus; doctor; pharmacist; lawyer/lawmaker/judge; teacher; parent; sexuality ruler; kid, teenager and senior guardians; gerrymanderer/redistricter; etc.
Of course, they view you as a “taker.” You may have to be working two or three jobs while trying to afford housing, food, and childcare. If you’re a “giver,” even in a poor state supported by other state taxes (like Kentucky), you just get in your own or provided jet, and go off to mansions/resorts to get away from the drab.
If you happen to be in a Democratic state, you’re going to have to work as a citizen voter: participate with knowledge and active involvement about and in decisions voters make in all electoral processes, protests, petitions, rallies, and candidate support so that your votes and their provided salaries/benefits actually produce authentic, involved representatives and representation in state legislatures and Congress and, if not, you have to work to remove them.
Choices, choices, what’s a person to do?
Ramona Rush, Lexington
Compiled by Liz Carey
