Get real, Senator: Uvalde killer couldn’t commit mass murder with hands, baseball bat

Bat, hands aren’t as deadly

I am appalled at disingenuous comments by state Sen. Bob Hall. (June 23, 1A, “Gun debate is side note in hearings on Uvalde shooting”) Had the assailant used “his hands, or a baseball bat,” he would never have been able to kill so easily, and his victims would surely still be alive today. It was access to a military-style assault weapon that resulted in that day’s carnage.

Until unfettered access to guns is curbed, nothing will change.

- Sandra Sparks, Hurst

That ‘well regulated’ part

I thank Mark Davis for his convincing argument that red flag laws are inherently flawed because they reverse presumption of innocence. (June 19, 5C, “Conservatives can live with Senate gun deal — except for this one awful provision”) Embracing that flaw leads to the conclusion that if we can’t regulate the wrong people from bearing arms because people have rights, we can regulate armaments instead.

Arms for warfare reasonably fall under the concept of a “well regulated militia” defending a free state. Neither a militia nor a state is a person, nor is any private group of persons a state or a militia. So arms for waging war are appropriate candidates for regulation by both federal and state governments.

- Bill Lanford, Haltom City

Guns are simply tools

Where would we be today if in 1776 there was “gun control”? Would there be 13 separate states? Would the Southwest and California be in Mexico? Would there be a separate slave-holding nation, with no Civil War and no Emancipation Proclamation?

Yes, there is a violence problem. Guns are a tool, and all tools can be misused. The use of violence is a symptom that will not go away until the cause is corrected.

- Richard Johnson, Burleson

Long line of water leadership

In their June 19 guest commentary, “Under new management: Tarrant water district seeing gains in transparency, efficiency,” (4C) former Fort Worth mayors Ken Barr and Mike Moncrief praised the Tarrant Regional Water District for significant accomplishments. Among them were the partnership with the city of Dallas on the Integrated Pipeline Project, the Central City Flood Control Project (Panther Island) and outstanding minority contracting.

It’s important to recognize that former board members George Shannon, Vic Henderson, Hal Sparks and Jack Stevens, along with current board members Jim Lane and Marty Leonard, deserve credit for the leadership and vision that created and implemented these important projects.

Additionally, the district has been “highly regarded as an industry leader in its field,” as they wrote, for decades. To ascribe these successes solely to the current board and management is short-sighted and, quite frankly, incorrect.

- James Oliver, Fort Worth

Editor’s note: The writer is the former longtime general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Lithium disposal is a problem

The emphasis on electric vehicles claims that they lead to a cleaner environment. In the short term, this may be true. However, like earlier experiments with nuclear power, no one thought what to do with the waste. What happens to spent lithium batteries from electric vehicles?

Lithium is extremely toxic. It can cause serious neurological and kidney problems. It can’t go into landfills because of potential contamination of the water table. Where do you dispose of tons of lithium? We need answers before it becomes a problem.

- Charles Andrews, Fort Worth

Sorry, but Pence was no hero

Eugene Robinson says Jan. 6, 2021, was Mike Pence’s best day because he refused to disrupt the election results. (June 21, 7A, “Jan. 6 was Pence’s proudest day, and he should own it”) Pence did what he was required to do. But he needs Donald Trump’s voters to run for president. He will not break with Trump, although Pence knows that Trump was indifferent to whether a mob attacked Pence.

I’ve reluctantly accepted the fact that roughly half of American citizens no longer care for democracy, as long as their political interests are served.

- Mike Lee Estes, Fort Worth

Trump still free as a bird

If a foreign leader attempted to shred our democracy, as Donald Trump has done, we would go to war over it. But Trump is allowed to travel throughout America with his continual lies.

- Jim Sanderson, Fort Worth