Letters: Some rights are given up because we value civilization

To talk about people's rights, you have to consider the state of things before we had rights; that is the state of nature. The strong may or may not have survived as it was the successful adaptations to life's demands that determined the winner; think evolution. We gave up some rights to form civilization, and the giving up of rights must always be considered when we talk about the rights we keep.

Why is my right to keep a king cobra, a grizzly bear, or a pound of fentanyl restricted or at least, regulated? It is because we value a civilization that helps protect us and allows us to live a prosperous, continuing and meaningful life; think evolution. We keep the right to talk about things, or so we say we do, and we need to talk about a lot of things.

Maybe our government would like to hear what we think about things? It is easy to contact your representative or senator. Just remember, our governors have rights, too, and the right to do what they want legislatively is only restricted by the entitlement we give them.

Ron Thornbury, Morrow

Maybe Supreme Court will rectify another  'mistake'

If the current Supreme Court is going to rectify the "mistake" of Roe v. Wade, maybe there is also some hope for the Supreme Court to correct the mistake that gave the right to bear any and all arms desired to the individual citizen instead of a well-regulated militia.

George Dettenwanger, Fairfield

Absent fathers are the biggest problem in unwanted pregnancies

Men are a large part of the abortion discussion, at least they should be. For every right and freedom come responsibilities. Men are half of the conjugal bliss and baby-making process. Before any roll in the hay, both participants are obligated to decide whether it is for just pleasure, or is it an attempt at becoming parents. If the pair are not interested in producing a child, that needs to be decided, and precautions taken.

Using a prophylactic is easy for the man. But if that is an impediment to pleasure then, the burden falls on the woman. This usually takes a well-planned program beforehand.

But the biggest problem in unwanted pregnancies is the absence of the father. Outside of a committed marriage, men typically don’t think her pregnancy is his problem. He doesn’t stick around to help the mother during gestation. He doesn’t support her, much less the support the child after its birth. She’s on her own, which most often means she can’t support or raise the child by herself. Her only out is to abort the child.

Men, stick around if there is a pregnancy. Your right to have consensual sex, comes with the responsibility to support mother and child if that happens. Get with the program. Right now, you are most of the problem when an abandoned mother has to choose to abort.  Shame.

Charles Brandt, Monfort Heights

Vote out Republicans blocking commonsense gun control

In Ohio, the Republican legislative supermajority has only supported legislative initiatives that are pro-gun. Democrats have had no luck getting the anti-gun bills they have introduced to the floor.

A country with more guns than people, resulting in a death rate that is twice as high as the next worldwide contender (Yemen), is lacking a moral core. A country, where the leading cause of death for children is from gun violence, is not pro-life. A country whose politicians from one of the two major political parties is determined to continue to make it easier to get a gun than a driver's license or any other license, needs to do some soul searching about what it really values.

Citizens of this country have an obligation to their community, their children and grandchildren to turn their angst into action. Vote the Republicans out who are holding us hostage to the propaganda and lies of the gun lobby!

Sue Mangan, Hyde Park

Create a law that punishes those who aid and abet mass shooters

The state of Texas has a law that says anyone who abets a person requesting an abortion may be subject to legal censure or arrest. Perhaps they would like to create a law that criminalizes the people who aided and abetted the school shooter in Uvalde, Texas. This would include shutting down the store where the gun was purchased, the factory that made it, and the lawmakers who have made it possible for the USA to be flooded with weapons of mass destruction that can be operated by one person.

"Complete evil" is not expressed by a single 18-year-old. It is an expression of the society that made him and continues to make them at the behest of the NRA. If we cannot convince these lawmakers that they are ruining us, then we must vote the root of the evil out of office.

Suellyn Shupe, East Price Hill

Only humans are hunted and killed with automatic weapons

In August of 2019, I wrote a letter to editor entitled "And the killings continue." That letter was prompted by multiple mass shootings that month. Some members of Congress placed the blame on the mental health of the shooter, not on easy access to guns. But I have yet to see the same members of Congress take any action to address the mental health crisis in our country.

The mass killings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas has prompted this letter. But it is not just about these horrific mass shootings. Hundreds of people are killed every day with handguns, including police officers and security guards.

Here’s what continues to puzzle me. Why aren’t people who "Back the Blue" and police departments across the country demanding Congress pass gun safety measures to prevent the deaths of so many police officers?

With so many guns out there, officers, justifiably so, are afraid to approach a vehicle or a suspect fearing they will get shot. In some cases, this fear has resulted in the unjustified deaths of people whose offense, if any, did not deserve death.

As has been said so often, no regular citizen needs to have or should be permitted to have an automatic weapon. Who goes deer hunting with an automatic weapon? Nobody. Only humans are hunted down and murdered with automatic weapons.

Janet Hackman, Highland Heights

Maybe hire Marines to be school resource officers

We saw it at Columbine, the cops crouched outside for hours while victims bled

to death; at Parkland, where the "school resource officer" crouched behind a

tree outside while 17 were shot inside; now at Uvalde, where cops ran outside

as soon as shots were heard and crouched behind their vehicles for an hour.

I know several former Marines, and all agree that they were trained to run towards the sound of gunfire, not away from it. The obvious answer to protect our schools is to recruit and assign former Marines as school resource officers. That would at least be a start.

Verale Phillips, Sharonville

Ted Cruz has some nerve trying to look sympathetic

I was appalled to see a photo of Ted Cruz trying to console a Texas sheriff who had just witnessed the slaughter of 19 children and two teachers appear in the May 27 paper, page 6B, on the same day this elected official still planned to speak at the NRA convention. How dare he try to look sympathetic.

Deanna Hurtubise, Anderson Twp.

Republicans care more about the unborn than the born

The profound hypocrisy of the Republican Party has been amply displayed in the wake of the Texas school shootings. GOP legislators have warped laws in many states to protect the lives of unborn children, in clear violation of settled SCOTUS precedent. Yet they have nothing to say about protecting children after they are born, most especially if innocent lives are cut short by gun violence.

Once they're breathing, those children are abandoned by the GOP to face the hazards of a gun-obsessed nation, as they, like the rest of us, take our lives in our hands to go to schools, groceries, banks, religious houses, theaters, concerts, nightclubs, or even nail salons. Welcome to the real world, babies. Hope you live long enough to vote.

Catherine Skintik, Clifton

Younger generation offers hope of a more perfect union

I was very moved reading about Turpin High School’s Diversity Day tradition ("Turpin student addresses Congress," May 20), an event clearly meant to demonstrate care, inclusiveness and support for the well-being of all the members of the school community. An event that would have been especially welcome in the current climate of manufactured, politically driven, hateful rhetoric, which apparently is creating an environment in which students are taking their own lives.

Seeing such caring and belief in supporting their school and their neighborhood community made me hopeful that the coming generation will continue our work towards a "more perfect Union."

Marta Lehman, College Hill

District leaders set the agenda for schools not the students

With all the problems the U.S. government is currently experiencing (extremely high inflation, the war in Ukraine, possible new members admitted to the U.N., etc.), Congress held a hearing concerning Diversity Day. A senior form Turpin High School spoke before the congressional hearing about the school's postponement and eventual cancellation of the school's Diversity Day. The hearing was a total waste of the government's time. These students need to learn that the school system sets the agenda for the school not the students.

If the public does not like the school system's agenda, there is a way to correct this situation – voting. I would like to follow these students when they enter the real world. Let's say these students are up for promotion in their business profession. If they are skipped over, will they appear before Congress and cry? If these students apply to a bank for a loan and are not approved, will they appear before Congress and cry? Back in my day, I can only guess what my high school would have done if the students walked out.

Dennis Daly, Cold Spring

Pit bulls have a reputation that should not be ignored

In reference to the May 20 op-ed written by Andy Gibson, I have to disagree with his premise that "a dog's breed doesn't predict it's propensity to bite." Todays pit bull is a descendant of the original English bull-baiting dog. A dog that was bred to bite and hold bulls and other large animals around the face and head. Maybe that's why pit bulls will bite anything above the shoulders of a person.

Pit bulls don't just bite, they intend to kill their prey. That's why they are considered dangerous and vicious animals. The history of pit bull attacks around this country, and right here in the Tristate is well known. I'm surprised Mr. Gibson was not aware.

Accusing the public of being ignorant about pit bull behavior is the wrong message because these dogs have a reputation that should not be ignored. The type of physical harm and scars left by pit bull encounters is the right type of education for the public. Minimizing these outcomes is just not smart.

Benjamin Crews, Springdale

Wokeness is destroying America

The more you watch America being destroyed by "wokeness," open borders and globalist policies that undermine our sovereignty as a nation, the more you realize that all our enemies will need to eventually defeat and destroy us is patience. Democrats and RINOs, abetted by a naive media, apparently don't get it, and by the time they do, it will be too late.

We're on the road to verifying why few democracies have held together beyond 200 years. They destroy themselves from within.

Franklin Nelson, Mason

Compromise synonymous with weakness and betrayal

Reasonable compromise is obviously the best way to avoid our impending abortion civil war, but both the "from the moment of conception" zealots and the "partial birth abortion" extremists, as well as the politicians who use them for votes and fundraising, just refuse to even consider compromise. So, instead, our streets this summer will be filled with conflict, our churches wracked with virtual schism, and our entire society plunged further into discord and division, all in the name of lofty ideals like "choice" and "life."

Compromise has become a synonym for weakness and betrayal, when in reality our democratic republic has no other choice or it will lose its very life.

Gerard Ahrens, Westwood 

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Letters: Some rights are given up because we value civilization