TNT letters: Guns, mass shootings and America
The ‘good guy with a gun’ doesn’t exist
The thought of children bleeding out on the floor of their classroom, dying in what is supposed to be a safe space while the police officers that were outside the building stood around doing nothing — ignoring the pleas of anguished parents to go inside and intervene — is utterly obscene.
Anyone with a shred of empathy ought to be enraged at this news reporting. It’s proof the “good guy with a gun” story is a myth. It’s a failure of Uvalde law enforcement.
And it will be a failure of legislators if more nothing is the result of the mass shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo and elsewhere.
I urge my elected officials to force meetings with Republicans to get legislation passed. Pressure Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to suspend all breaks in schedule — weekends, vacations, all of it — until something is done to prevent the next school or grocery store from becoming a kill zone filled with dead bodies.
No child deserves this. No parent deserves it. No family should have to go through this ever again.
Tony Leonhardt, Tacoma
Ban assault rifles
Background checks are not enough to curb mass shootings in the United States. They really don’t guarantee that the buyer of the weapon will not kill someone. The military assault weapon is designed to destroy human beings. It is not meant for civilian use.
These weapons can kill hundreds in minutes. The threat is widespread; no public place is safe. We have a gun infatuation problem that we must address in order to save our children and our democracy.
Get rid of assault weapons in the hands of civilians. Allow the children to be safe at school.
John Carter, Puyallup
Second Amendment doesn’t protect this
Can anyone really believe that any of the Founding Fathers would agree that the Second Amendment prevents government regulation to stop the sickening slaughter of mass shootings?
Can anyone really believe that there is no difference in the effect of an assault rifle with 30-round canisters and a deer rifle?
Does anyone believe we should let every citizen drive an 18-wheeler on their 16th birthday?
Robert Saunders, Steilacoom
Prayers aren’t enough
It is too easy for a coward with a broken brain to get access to weapons that make it possible for them to kill many people and inflict immeasurable pain to countless others. Mass shootings are not even surprising anymore. We are told that a “good guy with a gun” could prevent such atrocities. Where is he? Always late at the scene, it seems. If he happens to be around, he is likely to get mistaken for the bad guy and end up dead like the rest of the innocent victims.
I am heartbroken by the news of another mass shooting in a school. In Texas, this time, where next? Should we wait and see when something like this happens in our community, or do something to prevent it?
Politicians offering prayers and nothing else should consider a career in the clergy instead.
Ariane Chenard, Tacoma