WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES FEBRUARY 22, 2018 13
HOLD POLS
ACCOUNTABLE FOR
GUN VIOLENCE
There are no words to express the
horror and shock over the killings
and injuries sustained by those at the
Parkland, FL, high school on Valentine’s
Day. Wonderful people, most of
them children, were victims of this act
of terror.
This is not the fi rst time that such
carnage has taken place. There seems
to be no end in sight. Many school
districts are now conducting student
drills of what to do and where to
go should a shooter invade school
grounds. Students and parents live in
fear. This is America?
Aft er a tragedy, there follows a loud
public outcry for steps to be taken to
stop these heinous acts. Unfortunately,
the powerful gun lobby in our country,
who contributes large amounts
of money to certain candidates for
elected offi ce, manages to derail any
proposed commonsense gun safety
measures. Many politicians fear for
their jobs because of the power and
money represented by the gun lobby.
In the 2016 election cycle, the
National Rifle Association (NRA)
contributed $54 million to candidates
for public offi ce that supported their
views, including over $30 million to
President Trump. Do you think that
these particular offi cials are going to
buck the NRA in any meaningful way?
In the 2018 election cycle, the issue
of how to prevent future episodes of
gun violence will be a crucial issue
for Americans to consider. The media
must continue to keep this issue front
and center and not allow it to fade until
another tragedy occurs.
Our elected offi cials, as well as new
candidates for offi ce, must be held
accountable. It is time to vote against
those politicians who are dragging
their feet and not supporting commonsense
solutions to this most serious
national problem.Henry Euler, Bayside
A PERFECT STORM
OF GOVERNMENT
FAILURE
Aft er still another senseless tragedy
at a public school, this time in Parkland,
Florida, we have to start thinking
of these calamities as a perfect storm
of a legislative failure to act, the Supreme
Court getting it wrong and a
reluctance of the two political parties
to go against a very eff ective
lobbying eff ort by the NRA. There
is multiple blame.
First off , the U.S. Supreme Court has
interpreted the Second Amendment to
the Constitution
as being an individual’s right to bear
arms, not a response to the British’s
confi scation of weapons, prior to the
War for Independence. The Supreme
Court has ruled that individual states
can regulate “reasonable” gun control,
leaving it up to each state to decide
what is reasonable.
Second, this is not a lack of will, for
gun control or reasonable background
checks, on simply the current party
in power, but of both parties. Lest we
forget, from 2009-2010, the Democratic
Party had their candidate in the White
House as well as controlled both houses
of Congress. No
gun control initiatives were started
then, nor was there any legislation to
strengthen the background check system,
nor was there a reauthorization of
the Assault Weapon Ban.
While this spate of multiple-person
shootings have gone on, there is still
no consensus, in either party, as to
what to do to stop them.
Frankly, we need a leader and I don’t
care which party produces it: a person
to take the initiative and call to task
both parties for their lack of dealing
with this deadly problem.
S.M. Sobelsohn, Kew Gardens
THE ‘GUN-SHINE’
STATE & DEFUNDING
GUN MAKERS
It’s no coincidence that the latest
school shooting occurred in Florida,
a firearms-friendly NRA fiefdom
sometimes called the “Gun-Shine State.”
Where else could a troubled, gun-obsessed
teenager, expelled from high
school for attacking another student,
buy an AR-15 assault rifl e as easily as
he could buy a six-pack of beer?
The AR-15 is a killing machine. It’s
a civilian version of the military’s
M-16 rifl e that I fi red while serving in
the Air Force (1964-68). It’s a combat
weapon that should not be owned by
civilians, but is thanks to the NRA (Not
Reasonable Anytime). Adam Lanza
slaughtered 26 people at Newtown,
CT, in 2012 with an AR-15 Bushmaster.
The maker of that weapon, Remington
Outdoors, recently fi led for
bankruptcy. You can help put other
merchants of mass murder on the
same path by demanding that pension
funds, college endowments and other
institutional investors sell their stocks
in fi rearms manufacturers. Don’t turn
dollars into death.
No one should profi t from blood
money.Richard Reif, Kew Gardens Hills
Editor’s note: It’s been reported that
while an 18-year-old can purchase a
fi rearm in Florida, one must be 21
years of age or older to buy an alcoholic
beverage there.
Editor’s note: Laws are not warnings.
They are rules designed to regulate
behavior and establish order out
of chaos. For thousands of years,
civilizations have created laws as
codes of conduct — and for thousands
of years, people in every civilization
have broken laws. That, of course, has
not stopped civilizations from creating
and enforcing laws through the ages.
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publication. The views expressed in all
letters and comments are not necessarily
those of this publication or its staff .
Help Parkland
MARCH FOR
OUR LIVES
NEXT MONTH
The March for Our Lives takes
place nationwide on Saturday,
March 24. Children and families
will take to the streets to call on the
federal government to act new gun
regulations that will prevent mass
shootings and save lives.
Visit marchforourlives.com to
fi nd more information about local
events, or to donate to the eff ort.
One hundred percent of all donations
will go toward fund-raising
activities.
WRITE THE PRESIDENT
Along with writing your local
Member of Congress and New
York’s senators, we encourage you
to also contact the President of the
United States (and not through
Twitter, either). We must inform
him that we care about our nation’s
safety and want him to support
tougher gun laws to prevent future
massacres in America.
Send a letter to the president, ℅
The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., Washington, DC 20500.
You can also leave a message at
whitehouse.gov/contact or call the
switchboard at 202-456-1111.
LETTERS AND COMMENTS