Time to allow concealed weapons on campus
To the editor:
While some states work to make it more difficult for their citizens to defend themselves, Carson City has a few ideas to enhance Nevadans’ right to do just that (“Gun control debate reaches Nevada,” April 3 editorial).
Assembly Bill 143 would allow concealed carry on Nevada college campuses. If we can trust students and staff to carry firearms outside of school, what changes when they step on a campus? Believing that banning guns will stop crime from happening is to reason at an infant level. Limiting magazine size, taxing bullets or other gimmick laws like the ones the more “progressive” states are enacting won’t save lives. Instead, they make it more difficult for citizens to defend themselves.
The goal of colleges should be to prepare young people to lead self-sufficient lives. Teaching them to trust a sign to protect them from danger is the opposite of that. Instead of promoting critical thinking or self-reliance, “gun-free zones” divorce the individual from responsibility and train people to trust their safety to the supposedly omnipresent government that put up the sign. Such thinking doesn’t produce capable adults.
Some will maintain that the above argument is too theoretical (i.e., holding to the “Guns are still bad!” argument). The fact remains that the laws designed to protect Newtown failed. Regardless of what weapon the killer was carrying, he was on a mission to kill, and only force could stop him. Sometimes violence must be met with violence.
As scary as that sounds, it’s better than letting violence run rampant.
KYLE WOLFSON
LAS VEGAS
Illegal is an adjective
To the editor:
In response to Michelle Booth’s Saturday letter, “Style says ‘illegal immigrants’ are no more”:
The term illegal is not an act — it is an adjective, a descriptive word used on nouns. When used to describe aliens, noncitizens of a country who have purposely avoided the proper immigration procedures, far from being offensive, it is entirely accurate and proper.
The Associated Press stylebook notwithstanding, using any other term besides “illegal immigrants” is both denying the truth and deceiving readers.
DAN SANCHEZ
LAS VEGAS
Good news, bad news
To the editor:
Good news: Sequestration didn’t stop both the president and vice president from taking vacations. Bad news: No White House tours, military cutbacks and Border Patrol agents having to take days off. Good news: The president toured the Middle East. Bad news: He gave out another $200 million. That’s not counting the billion he’s giving Egypt.
Good news: The president is back in America. Bad news: He gave out another $100 million. Good news: All the president has to worry about is gay marriage, amnesty for illegal aliens and gun control. Bad news: Unemployment is still 8 percent, gas prices are higher, food prices are higher, energy prices are higher and economic growth is well below 2 percent.
Wow, even our governor is getting in the good news act. He wants to spend more money on English classes.
There’s so much good news, I just want to get up and dance.
FORREST A. HENRY
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Marijuana poison
To the editor:
It’s astounding to me that our legislators are considering legalizing marijuana (“Bill to legalize marijuana draws spirited debate in Assembly panel,” April 5 Review-Journal).
When I was a health educator with the U.S. Job Corps, I was privy to clinical photo slides of people using the weed. They showed a deep black crust on every user’s brain. In addition, the drug contains more than 500 poisons. Some, if used consistently, are deadly.
The argument in favor of legalization is that Nevada could make a quick buck. How is it that we could get the legalization approved this year, yet to get a lottery approved it takes at least two years?
It’s time for all of us who value the body that God has given us to speak up. The legalization of medical marijuana is where it should remain.
JIM GUYNUP
LAS VEGAS
The tax man
To the editor:
Soon, the ObamaCare tax will be upon those of us who have a job where the employer pays for part of the medical insurance. Good-paying jobs will decline, and so will the number of employers who provide insurance. Typically the employer pays between half and two-thirds of the cost.
Despite government debt and the sequester, they have earmarked $295 billion for those who won’t have to pay ObamaCare premiums. Another welfare program out of control paid by the diminishing middle class. Now having a good job makes you fair game to take money away from you. I put myself through a good four-year college by working, and without one student loan. My education, skills, hard work and sacrifice make my employer money, and in return, I am fairly compensated. The government hasn’t helped me succeed and is not my partner in life. Yet it’s first in line to take from me what I earned, and it spends on those things I strongly object to.
Continually giving to those who are undeserving only invites more government intrusion and control. Yet now a majority of Americans believe that’s acceptable and expected. It’s shameful that retired people and the younger generation increasingly look to the government for their next handout at the expense of us who have to make an honest day’s pay. Someday the money will run out, and who will be there to blame?
It will probably be me — because I didn’t hand over everything to the tax man.
EDWARD R. MEIGS
LAS VEGAS
