LETTERS: Emotion shouldn’t fuel gun bill debate

To the editor:

Numerous letters and articles have been published concerning Michele Fiore’s proposed legislation to allow those licensed to carry concealed weapons to do so on school campuses and in other public areas ( “Fiore’s gun bill bolsters campus safety,” March 8 Review-Journal). I am a gun owner, but do not have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, nor do I plan to obtain one.

However, I respect those who obtain concealed carry permits and hope several of them are present if I am ever in an area where some nutcase starts shooting up the place.

I’m dismayed with the articles and letters I have read in the Review-Journal, because advocates on both sides of the issue have presented their views on an emotional level, rather than using facts to support their arguments. For example: How many instances have there been in the state of Nevada where a concealed carry permit holder harmed innocent people with a weapon, either intentionally or as a result of an accident? How many concealed carry licensees have been accused of brandishing a weapon inappropriately? In how many instances has a concealed carry permit holder used the weapon appropriately in a dangerous situation?

These statistics would provide some factual basis to argue the possible merits or dangers of expanding the areas where concealed carry is allowed. I encourage advocates on both sides of this issue to do some research and substitute facts for emotion in future appeals.

WAYNE BEESON

LAS VEGAS

Netanyahu, Iran and war

To the editor:

It is unsettling to see how many commentators, including Charles Krauthammer, have taken to comparing Benjamin Netanyahu with Winston Churchill, when nothing could be further from the truth (“Netanyahu outlines clear path,” March 8 Review-Journal). Apparently, all of these patriotic people missed the part where Mr. Churchill famously advised: “It’s better to jaw-jaw than to war-war.”

If Mr. Netanyahu is given a free hand and allowed to sabotage the Iranian peace talks, then there seems little doubt that war is where we are headed, and sooner rather than later. This war, in the doctrine of unintended consequences sense, could turn out to be disastrous for Israel. So I ask those who are so enamored of Mr. Netanyahu’s approach — including the members of Congress who gave Mr. Netanyahu’s strident address such thunderous applause — to inform us in advance whether they are willing to spend another trillion dollars and another 10 years fighting yet another war in the Middle East.

And I also ask: Are they willing to pay whatever price it takes to properly care for thousands more wounded warriors when they return home?

JOHN HENRY BREBBIA

HENDERSON

Super surgeon

To the editor:

The March 8 Review-Journal included a well-deserved article on Dr. Tim Tollestrup (“Henderson surgeon eager to get on patients’ nerves, the right way”). I had trouble with restless legs and feet, along with pain and lack of circulation in 2010 and 2011. The pain doctor I was seeing recommended a nerve block on my spine.

I heard about Dr. Tollestrup two weeks prior to the nerve block. After an evaluation, he recommended surgery on both legs in July 2011 to release the pressure on leg and foot nerves. It was a total success. I haven’t had any trouble in either leg or foot since. To think I would have had nerves permanently destroyed in my back (not curing the problem, just masking it) still scares me to death. I am glad to see Dr. Tollestrup get the recognition he deserves.

NANCY DICKINSON

HENDERSON

Drone strike protest

To the editor:

I was one of the dozens of Veterans for Peace activists at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs March 6 to call for an immediate halt to the operation of killer drones from the base (“Protest ends in arrests,” March 7 Review-Journal). Along with members of Code Pink and Nevada Desert Experience, activists came from all over the county to voice their firm belief that the use of killer drones only serves to make this country less safe.

Close to 200 citizens sang, danced, chanted and drummed to Air Force personnel as they came and went about their duties at this base of death and destruction. Carrying images of children from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia who have been killed by drones guided by pilots from Creech, activists decried the slaughter of innocents, paid for with our tax dollars. Thirty-four activists blocked the road at the main gate and were arrested, cited and released by a very professional Las Vegas police force.

Statistics show that for every suspected terrorist killed in a drone strike, 27 bystanders — many women and children — are also killed. The military refers to those blown to bits as “collateral damage,” as they attempt to trivialize the murder of civilians around the world. Blood is on our hands in America because of these drone strikes. Our careless disregard for human life can only serve to increase the hatred of our country by those who will seek revenge for innocent friends and relatives struck down by Predator and Reaper drones.

Please express your outrage to elected officials, to help change this dangerous and immoral policy of indiscriminate killings by U.S. drones.

DON KIMBALL

LAS VEGAS