Letters to the editor: Gun rights, access in wake of another school shooting

Why aren’t pro-lifers anti-gun?

In 1966, the comedian George Carlin said of conservatives’ opposition to abortion, “They will do anything for the unborn, but once you’re born, you’re on your own.” The National Right to Life's mission statement states, "To protect and defend the most fundamental right of humankind, the right to life of every innocent human being from the beginning of life to natural death." As of May 15, America has seen 198 mass shootings. And yet pro-lifers are mute when it comes to gun control and Americans dying at the hands of people having easy access to guns. When was the last time you saw any right-to-life group take a firm, total and permanent public stand against easy access to guns? Or march and protest for the lives lost in mass shootings? Carlin had it exactly right.

Anthony M. Huck, Eugene

The antidote to despair

Another school shooting. This time 19 elementary-age children have been killed. If you are like me, you are heartbroken and sad beyond words. What can you do? Lift Every Voice Oregon (LEVO) is an interfaith effort seeking to put an initiative on the November ballot that strengthens criminal background checks and bans large capacity magazines that allow a shooter to fire multiple rounds.

School shootings are on the rise: More kids are dying from gunfire outside of school, too

“The antidote to despair is action,” according to Edward Abbey. Do something! Go to Lift Every Voice Oregon, print out the petition and send it in. Or better yet, contact LEVO and volunteer to collect 10, 20 or more signatures from friends and neighbors; 112,000 signatures of registered Oregon voters are needed by early July to get this initiative on our November ballot. Please act now.

Valerie Close, Eugene

Nothing will change

Well, it's never ending, more school-shooting deaths, and it will continue on until all schools have armed security and must scan each student into school. A bunch of kids dead and a couple of adults dead. Our so-called leader, Mr. Joe, comes on national TV and states the same political mumble jumble. Quote, unquote, "We have to act now."

This is said after every school shooting, however, nothing gets done. Typical political behavior.

John Zacharias, Eugene

Pro-life?

How many Republican senators are pro-life? How many Republican senators are pro-NRA?

Rick Herson, Eugene

What’s our common vision?

We need tangible actions beginning with passing legislation addressing easy access to guns in a country with more guns than people.

We need to argue over what “freedom” means with reference to the Second Amendment.

We need to recognize we’re not a democratic republic based on “freedom” and decency but an imperial oligarchy with more than 600 military bases around the world and innumerable nuclear weapons and iron fences around elementary schools in an America that has become a national security state, not a city on a hill.

We need to recognize we’re a pseudo-democracy with campaign finance and the power of the gun lobby as Exhibit A.

The decline of citizen efficacy translates into growing inequality. The more people feel they don’t have any real power in relation to elites the more they feel discouraged about their ability to influence the conditions that shape their lives — and the less they vote. That in turn increases the power of money and special interests and degenerations of democracy.

But such considerations should follow from more basic questions such as what are we trying to accomplish together? Do we, as citizens, share a vision of the common good?

Sam Porter, Eugene

Eye to eye

With the reporting on the Texas school massacre, I was puzzled as to why the aftermath process included gathering DNA samples. Then I learned how destructive is the caliber of the assault rifle bullets. Maybe the children are not identifiable except by their own DNA!

Plan: Gather joyful, pre-massacre, pictures of the murdered kids. Require the two Texas senators and all the Texas representatives to rush to the murder scene. Give a set of the pictures to each politician and ask them to identify each child where they lay. Will it then occur to them the cost of avoiding dramatic legislative changes toward gun safety?

There may be another train approaching the station. If so, repeat the above.

Larry W. Hirons, Eugene

God’s plan?

I was listening to a radio reporter this morning, interviewing a minister in Texas about the murders of children and their teachers. The reporter asked, “What do you tell people when they ask why or how this could have happened?”

The minister struggled to respond, but eventually said something like, “We can never know the reasons behind God’s plans for us.”

I doubt if God’s plans had anything to do with this senseless, brutal slaughter. This happened because we are the only country in the world that gives people unlimited access to guns, regardless of whether or not they are qualified or competent or totally crazy. Until we and our “leaders” come to grips with that fact, and take steps to change it, these appalling assaults will continue.

Lydia Lord, Eugene

When is enough enough?

Enough is enough.

We have heard these words ad nauseum. But when is enough actually enough? When your neighbor is shot dead? Your sister? Your spouse? Your child? Enough will be enough when gun owners and NRA members care more for safeguarding human life than they care for safeguarding the right to own a gun.

Responsible gun owners know that reasonable and sensible laws are necessary to protect all of us from the mayhem that weapons of war can cause when they are in the wrong hands. Red flag Laws, thorough background checks and prohibitions on semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity ammo clips, these laws work when they are applied. The children and teachers in Texas and the neighbors in Buffalo all had the right to life.

Please support survivors of gun violence July 3-5 by wearing orange. Wear Orange Day was created by the friends of Hadiya Pendleton in response to the drive-by shooting that took her life. Write to your representatives at the state and federal level. Ask them to advocate for gun safety measures, and tell them that you will vote for gun-sense candidates in November.

Bobbie Cirel, Eugene

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Letters to the editor about school shootings and gun safety.