Letters: 'Thoughts and prayers' won't solve this country's gun problem
Is anyone else embarrassed and ashamed?
Once you get past the feelings of sadness and anger that another community is again grappling with another mass shooting and again our children are the targets, embarrassment and shame should probably be the next likely feeling. If you're ok with the slaughter of innocent children because you're worried the government is coming for your guns, you should probably reconsider your priorities.
If you are truly worried you could lose your guns even though you are a responsible citizen and you owning guns doesn't make you a threat to your fellow Americans, think about joining the conversation and helping to find a solution. Show you care about life and your neighbors as much as you do your guns. The likelihood a solution emerges that everyone can live with goes way up and makes your case a little more reasonable that availability of guns to law-abiding Americans should continue.
If the suggestion that we have a problem and we need a solution offends you, grow up! If you're more worried about your guns than your neighbors' lives, should you really have guns? If you think opposing a solution makes you tough, it does not. Truly tough people face problems and find solutions whether they like it or not. To solve a problem, it takes what it takes. Thoughts and prayers don't solve problems. Be tough, be part of the solution.
Mark Ferris
Osceola
The common good
Two of too many recent mass shootings, Buffalo and Uvalde made huge impacts on our country, especially in Uvalde. So many young children died in school. How do we stop these terrible, senseless killings in our country? It’s unclear if either shooter had mental issues to be red-flagged. They had something important in common, the tool was an AR-15 rifle designed to rapidly kill many people. They worked.
In our country, where many brag we are “the best,” these incidents suggest we are in the 19th century in leadership. Why do we allow such weapons to those not active in the military? A simple answer; Republican conservatives believe guns are God-given rights. They oppose reasonable gun laws. Their solution to school shootings is make the school like a secure prison and arm teachers. Is this a way for students to learn? The day after Uvalde, many attended an NRA gathering in nearby Houston. How disturbing!
We can change this. There is midterm voting and our conservative leaders, Sen. Todd Young and Rep. Jackie Walorski, need to be replaced by progressives who will work for the common good. This needs to be done on the state level as well. How badly do we want to move into a peaceful, functional and respectful 211st century?
Tom Nowak
South Bend
A question
Since there is clear evidence that teenage brains aren't fully developed, why let anyone purchase a gun until he is at least 21?
Jill A. Boughton
South Bend
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Show you care about life, your neighbors as much as you do your guns.
