Letters: Democrats have power to make this 'land of the free, brave and gunless.'

Letters to the Editor
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These weapons are among 1,500 guns Columbus police had seized or recovered during the first half of 2022, according to Chief Elaine Bryant.
These weapons are among 1,500 guns Columbus police had seized or recovered during the first half of 2022, according to Chief Elaine Bryant.

Land of the free, brave and gunless

The Democratic Party controls the presidency and Congress during this lame duck session.

If they truly believe in gun control or confiscation now is the time to stand up and take immediate executive and legislative to make America the land of the free, brave, and gunless citizenry.

Michael Oser, Columbus

Mail carrier Tony Sobony, 43, loads his delivery truck with mail and packages on the loading dock behind the South Columbus branch of the United States Postal Service on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. Sobony, whose route covers the Alum Creek Drive stretch of South Side, has been a mail carrier for 21 years.
Mail carrier Tony Sobony, 43, loads his delivery truck with mail and packages on the loading dock behind the South Columbus branch of the United States Postal Service on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. Sobony, whose route covers the Alum Creek Drive stretch of South Side, has been a mail carrier for 21 years.

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Old MacDonald’s gun

Niki Hird, of Clintonville, holds a sign encouraging gun safety laws during the March For Our Lives rally against gun violence Saturday, June 11, 2022, at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. Hundreds gathered outside the Statehouse to protest recent mass shootings and encourage lawmakers to pass gun control legislation.
Niki Hird, of Clintonville, holds a sign encouraging gun safety laws during the March For Our Lives rally against gun violence Saturday, June 11, 2022, at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. Hundreds gathered outside the Statehouse to protest recent mass shootings and encourage lawmakers to pass gun control legislation.

Remember that nursery school song, Old MacDonald Had a Farm, ee-i-ee-i-o?

Well, all I can think of is a new verse, “here a gun, there a gun, everywhere a gun, gun.”

Why?  And you know why, because people are dying, families are suffering and traumatized-and all of us are scared about who will be next.

More:Our view: 'Everyone has a gun.' State stymying Columbus' fight to protect people from guns

Republican lawmakers are telling us the answer is better mental health services (of course needed), but their lips are sealed on the all-important missing puzzle piece — common sense gun control measures. You know, the ones that any rational person knows could make a difference.

How long and how many more of us will be sacrificed?

Old MacDonald’s farm was a safe space, but not the insanity we have now.

Susan B. West, Athens

'Act like you value people over guns'

More mass shootings in recent days in Chesapeake, Va., and Colorado Springs, Colo.

Oh well, ho hum. Nero fiddles while Rome burns is the new normal. This time it is called the Republicans fiddle while our country burns. C'mon Republicans, act like you value people over guns. Oh well, ho hum.

More:'Am I safe being in public?' For many, mass shootings make a sense of danger inescapable

William Fullarton, Dublin

Don't blame mental illness

Sadly, the American headline on many days now reads nearly the same: " (choose a number) killed in mass shooting by a male gunmen at a (school/church/night club/store) in (choose a town)."

Clearly, while mental illness is involved, mental illness is not the outlying cause of the ongoing slaughter. All countries have mental health issues.

The United States has a more readily identifiable cause: guns.

More:Here's where homicides have occurred in Columbus

Cities, full of guns flowing from areas with no gun control, face murders on a near daily basis.

When we look exclusively at high-income countries and territories with populations of 10 million or more, the U.S. ranks first in gun deaths per capita, not coincidentally eight times lower than Canada.

Unstable and easily influenced by the hate and fear of immigrants, people of different colors, religions and gender identification that is spouted by the GOP, "religious" ultra-conservatives and their powerful social media, shooters, many with their violent histories ignored, walk among us.

Common sense gun safety legislation, supported by three fourths of Americans, goes ignored, replaced by "thoughts and prayers" while gun and ammo manufacturers fill the campaign coffers of conservative politicians.

More:From Australia to the UK, here's how other countries have responded to mass shootings

Other more civilized countries like Australia have these mass killing disasters once or twice, then their politicians, acting fort their people, actually pass legislation to stop the killings. Not our politicians.

They have no consciences. Vote them out, every one of them.

Greg Ward, Dublin

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Some neighborhoods matter more than others

The Columbus Dispatch reported on Thanksgiving Day that because of the holiday, there would be no regular mail delivery.

In the King-Lincoln area, we celebrate any day that we actually have mail delivered to our homes as a special day.

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Our mail comes two or three times a week, even though our mail notifications tell us that we will be receiving mail nearly every day. Our dedicated mail delivery people must certainly be working double shifts, for when it is delivered, it is usually around 7 p.m.

I checked with friends in wealthier neighborhoods and discovered they are not having these issues. The United States Postal Service has clearly made a decision that some neighborhoods matter more than others. It comes as no surprise that it's not the mixed-income, mixed-race area that matters.

Letter:Recent performance shows postal service needs help

Julie Carpenter-Hubin, Columbus

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Letters: What should be done about gun violence in America?