Protect our rights, but ban assault weapons
To the editor:
I believe in the Constitution. I also believe in rational thought processes. I have been brought to tears over the recent tragedy in Connecticut.
I have family members who have hunted. I have a registered weapon for my protection. My family members who hunted have always been true sportsmen. It was them against the hunted, one shot against one. It was never a case of an assault weapon against a deer or bear. The hunting playing field was at least somewhat balanced.
Should an intruder enter my home and threaten me or my family, a handgun should be a sufficient deterrent. An assault weapon would be overkill.
Let’s keep Americans free to bear arms. Lets’s just make sure that the arms they are allowed to get their hands on are those intended for protection and not those meant for human destruction. I would hope our elected officials will be strong enough to review this issue with an open, unlobbied mind. Let’s be reasonable folks. Just how much firepower does the average American need? If the response means an assault weapon, then we are all probably lost.
BARBARA NELSON
LAS VEGAS
Live with it
To the editor:
Don’t waste your breath calling for gun control based on the terrible tragedy in Connecticut. Most Democrats, including President Barack Obama and our Sen. Harry Reid, support our Second Amendment rights. So citizens will continue to buy weapons.
The challenge is to prevent felons and people with mental problems from acquiring weapons. And that’s an impossible task. Consider that it was the mother of Adam Lanza who purchased the weapons her son used to kill her and all those people.
Crying out for gun control actually has a negative effect on the situation, because the National Rifle Association uses those demands to raise funds from its members. It’s just a terrible situation that we’ll have to live with.
RICHARD J. MUNDY
LAS VEGAS
Tea Party fruitcakes
To the editor:
I don’t know if I should feel amused or saddened at the delusion of Tim Anders for claiming "The Tea Party is the new center" (Dec. 10 letter to the editor). The Tea Party was destroyed in the past two election cycles.
If Republicans had picked sane candidates instead of Tea Party candidates, they’d easily have control of the U.S. Senate now. Even in super-conservative Indiana, more and more candidates refuse to take the Tea Party label because of their ridiculous beliefs. If they are not affiliated with Sarah Palin, thank God, they need to come up with a new name.
It is all about branding. When people hear "Tea Party," they think of the fruitcakes who hijacked a worthy cause and cared more about banning porn and outlawing abortion for rape victims than actual economic issues.
There are two ways I’ll take them seriously. First, don’t include "Party" in your name and then say, "We aren’t a political party, we’re a movement." Second, demand that we have a tax to pay for the wars. I refuse to listen to anyone about "not passing costs onto our grandkids" and "personal responsibility" and, even more, "patriotism" when they demand tax cuts during war.
I never took tea partiers seriously from the start because I never heard a single one of them say, "For the first time in the history of our great country, we got a tax cut during war time instead of sacrificing like every generation before us. It’s a disgrace. We should have a special tax – now – to pay for the wars. And it is not something to be bargained with on other issues. It needs to happen. Now. Period."
Only then will I listen to anything else they say when they start bragging about fiscal issues and how "responsible" they are. Otherwise, they are just as phony as Sarah Palin.
TIM WEAVER
HENDERSON
Class warfare
To the editor:
I saw that the California Federation of Teachers has created an Internet cartoon narrated by actor Ed Asner in which the wealthy are demonized as despicable, heartless and oppressive.
Frankly, from what I saw, the video is blatant class warfare that borders on hate language, and it is reminiscent of the propaganda once used by Nazi educators to make German children hate Jews. Only in this instance it’s about hating the rich.
A viable democracy requires an enlightened electorate taught how to think, not what to think. Did any teachers show it in their classrooms? Political propaganda – either left or right – should have no place in tax-supported classrooms. We do not permit religious viewpoints being hammered into the heads of our children by public teachers, nor should we permit political viewpoints.
I recall after Barack Obama was first inaugurated president, a teacher back east had her children canonize the president in song. They made me think of Chinese children who used to canonize Mao Tse-Tung during the Marxist dark ages in China. Welcome to 1984!
Apparently we need federal legislation to ban political proselytizing in our classrooms, just as we now ban religious indoctrination. Or shall we become like North Korea?
GLEN B. DUNNING
LAS VEGAS
Cushy job
To the editor:
So David Lamfrom tells us that the National Parks Conservation Association stands behind funding for the preservation of the Devil’s Hole pupfish (Wednesday letter). Of course they do – the taxpayer foots the bill and they get cushy jobs to boot.
Enough already.
ROB BOWEN
LAS VEGAS
