Letters on the Perry shooting: Our instinct to protect children has dissipated

Common-sense laws can mean fewer gun tragedies like this one

Don't believe anyone who says gun violence is an unsolvable problem, or that our leaders can't do anything to prevent it.

Can't we all agree that children shouldn't be shot for getting breakfast? Can't we all agree that no one should be afraid to go to school?

As a mom, I know that Iowa's children and families deserve better.

NRA-backed lawmakers: You may flinch, mourn, and send heartfelt thoughts and wishes. You say it is no time to get political. Well, this is a political issue. You prove that by voting against gun safety measures. You remind us of the potential when you squander it. You stonewall common common-sense laws and are golly-gee surprised when gun prevalence leads to gun violence. You tell yourself, and your voters, there isn't anything you can do to make it stop.

Stuff and nonsense.

Gun safety laws save lives. Background checks save lives. Common-sense laws save lives.

In a few days the Iowa Legislature will go back to work. Republicans, it's up to you. What are you going to do to help keep Iowa safe?

Kate Gibson Overby, Des Moines

More: Perry principal was trying to talk down school shooter before he was shot, daughter says

We need to let schools choose to arm staff

All Iowans, and especially any would be active shooters, should take this opportunity to thank those insurers who refuse to provide insurance to any school district that wishes to arm its teachers, administrators or other staff.  Thank you for effectively denying the staff of every one of those school districts in Iowa even the possibility of defending themselves or their students from an active shooter.

There are hundreds of school districts in the United States that do have armed staff.  None of them have experienced any intentional shootings, let alone active or mass shootings, from staff, students, parents, or strangers.  Thank you for ignoring that fact.

Of those school districts, there has been a grand total of one minor accidental firearms injury.  Thank you for ignoring that fact when determining, apparently, that providing such coverage was just too risky.

Thank you for ignoring the videotapes, diaries, and statements of active shooters showing that they prefer gun free zones which increase their chances of inflicting mass casualties. Ninety-two percent of mass public shootings are in gun free zones.

Thank you for refusing to tell the schools the reasons for your refusal.  Your “public be damned” attitude toward school boards, who are the elected representatives of the people, should be admired by all who display a callous denial of or disregard for the proposition that corporations owe any duty to the public.

Thank you, thank you and thank you!

Donald W. Bohlken, Indianola

Red flag laws can save lives

The motto for Iowa, “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain,” was adopted in 1847, a year after Iowa was granted statehood. It is a proud component of our state seal and flag.

Freedom is not free; our Iowa rights must be constantly maintained. Speech is not a freedom when we allow someone to maliciously shout “fire” in a crowded theater. Firearm ownership is not a freedom when we Iowans knowingly allow disturbed individuals access to guns.

The “Perry Shooting” is now permanently added to the long list of US mass shootings. Most of these tragedies were preventable. Had we implemented effective public safety means to remove access of guns from those at risk for violence, we could have saved lives. Most of these episodes are ritualized suicide, and do not “just happen,” but are preceded by readily observed warning signs.

Iowa remains within the national group of 31 states that will not adopt a red flag law, otherwise known as an “armed and angry” law. With these violence prevention laws, family, friends, school teachers or neighbors who observe high-risk behavior can then notify public safety officers to make a home visit and determine violence risk. If deemed present, then firearm access can then be temporarily quarantined, and guns returned typically after a 60-day “cooling off” period. Hopefully, we can all agree that angry teens never have firearm access.

Before the sting of the Perry shooting fades, we Iowans must urge our elected government to pass legislation that can give our public safety officers the tools to temporarily keep guns out of the hands of the disturbed. This is but a small price we can all pay to maintain our right of firearm ownership.

Dr. James Conroy, Sigourney

Our instinct to protect children has dissipated, and that’s scary

It’s not going to be easy to solve school shootings. The note from the Johnston Community School District on Thursday that my child’s school had no threats did nothing to settle my fears and belief that until we’re all safe, none of us are. I’m not satisfied with anger, blame, or the politically manufactured argument that there are only two mutually exclusive options (ban all guns, or give everyone guns).

I am heart-stricken that adults in our community — parents, leaders, legislators — have conceded that gun violence is an issue too big to solve, and we are willing to risk our kids’ lives while we point political fingers and shout from pedestals of constitutional righteousness. Should our children not live, what good would any ideal of governance or supreme law do?

Our handling of years of gun violence is pathetic, and subhuman. Where has our humanity gone? Have we lost our most basic instincts to live and protect our children? Thankfully not everything has lost its protective drive. Binx, a housecat in Oklahoma, recently risked its life to save the family dog that was attacked by two coyotes in the yard. It ran toward danger instantly — no hemming or hawing, no testing of political winds. It protected its own.

Are we no more courageous than a housecat? Because while Binx cannot write gun laws, or create more integrated mental health systems, Binx knew acting to stop the death of its family wasn’t complicated. It was simply right. Apparently, we have neither that clarity nor resolve. If the story of Binx seems like a preposterous example, then ask yourself if it would be less absurd after the Perry community’s heartbreak, to do NOTHING to prevent this from happening again. The right thing is not complicated when our humanity is at the helm.

Miyoko Hikiji, Urbandale

Bring back weapon-carrying permits

As I understand it, Iowans can carry a gun without a permit.

This can be done anywhere, even a restaurant.

Seems to me we need to reflect on that law.

Perhaps it needs to be changed.

Perhaps it needs to be filled with a legal permit to carry.

Patricia Schafer, Ankeny

Thoughts and prayers from Republicans are insufficient

Once again after a school shooting, all the Republicans offer is their thoughts and prayers. This time it was here in Iowa. Well, I am angry! It is Gov. Kim Reynolds and her colleagues who have loosened Iowa's gun laws to the point that just about anyone who wants a gun or multiple guns can have them and even carry one in a concealed fashion without a permit or training.

The Republicans’ dismantling of reasonable gun laws has led to a proliferation of guns in our society, and with this addition to guns in our society, what else did they expect to happen than kids getting access to guns and doing really violent things?

So why have they done this? The National Rifle Association makes significant financial contributions to Reynolds and the Republican Party to assure that no reasonable gun laws can ever be passed in Iowa and the nation.

My thoughts and prayers are that we can somehow move forward with reasonable gun laws and prevent these tragedies from ever happening in the first place.  Wouldn't it be great if Reynolds’ next photo opportunity would be her returning the NRA money and not cashing their checks and then doing the right and decent thing and helping to pass these reasonable gun laws!

Duane Mortensen, Ankeny

The real danger

Thank you, Republicans! I am just so relieved that those kids in Perry will be protected from “The Catcher in the Rye” when they return to the school that has been shot up!

Thomas K Morin, Grimes

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Perry shooting letters: Our instinct to protect kids has dissipated