Winston-Salem Journal LTE SU 12/30/12

Gun restrictions

I have a challenge for the Winston-Salem City Council members who want to keep guns out of city parks.

Name one shooting that happened in a park where people with gun permits were allowed to carry guns. Name one college or k-12 school that has had a shooting on campus that was not designated a “gun free” campus. Name one shooting that was carried out by a person that had a legal gun-carry permit that was not used in self-defense of that person or others in the area. Name one shooter who was not mentally unstable or was not taking mind-altering drugs such as Ritalin when the shooting took place.

Simply put: Restrictions on where guns can be carried has created more problems than the restrictions solved.

B. FRANK EVERHART

Advance

Gun logic

So, we need armed guards as well as armed teachers in our schools. More people need to carry concealed firearms. Or so say the people who claim that if more people were armed then they could shoot people who are armed before they shoot people thereby reducing the number of people who are shot. And this passes for logic?

As tragic as the recent school shooting in Newtown, Conn., was, it pales in comparison to the daily average of about 85 shooting deaths in the U.S. that armed school personnel could do nothing about.

I don’t think the possibility of confronting armed opposition would be much of a deterrent to people who are bent on destruction and death including their own. (Who has heard the phrase “suicide by cop”?)

Comprehensive gun control would not stop all violence, but it would be a huge step in reducing it. For those who seem to think that our Constitution consists solely of the Second Amendment and then ask me if I support our Constitution, I can only respond by saying, “absolutely, including Article V, which allows for the modifying of our Constitution if conditions warrant.” After all, the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th.

PAUL D. WHITSON

Advance

Resorting to violence

I must confess that I am confused now as to the criteria for determining the “Correspondent of the Week.” Apparently it is not necessarily content that matters, but how linguistically well-crafted the premise, however inadequate and misleading. The Dec. 23 letter “Pursuing deeper solutions” ought to have been titled, “Pursuing any solution other than limiting the ‘right’ to own weapons of mass destruction.”

Certainly it is high time we addressed the disgraceful shortage of compassionate and capable care for the mentally ill. And yes, there is a great deal of violence to be found in films and video games. However, when it comes to “spiritual and traditional values,” this phrase is often just a euphemism for prejudice. We live in a multi-cultural society where others may or may not share our spiritual beliefs or practice our traditions, but that doesn’t mean they are more likely than we are to resort to violence.

So, while some of the letter writer’s points have merit, the best way to ensure that a deranged young man cannot easily get his hands on guns capable of mowing down 20 children in a matter of seconds is to make it much harder for him or anyone else to do so. The Founding Fathers couldn’t have imagined their words being used to defend the “right” to own semi-automatic weapons.

Do we really want to live in a nation where it’s necessary for us all, even first-grade teachers, to be armed to the teeth?

TERRI KIRBY ERICKSON

Lewisville

Sum It Up

Do you think North Carolina is positioned well for success in 2013?

Correspondent of the week: Protecting our children

I wish to submit a thought about how to protect our children at the schools. I think the following would have to be accomplished in stages.

As I understand it: At the Newtown, Conn., school, the intercommunication system alerted others of danger. Hiring only one officer to protect the school is only one step, for he could not be everywhere. However, he could be alerted to someone breaking into the school. At this point, the settings of the intercom would alert the entire school that there has been a break-in.

The next step should be taught to the entire school. Everyone in the classrooms would automatically go to the clothes closet. If schools are built like they were when I went to school, the clothes closet has two entrances. All the students would go there and close and lock themselves in. The doors to the closet should be bullet-resistant.

All of the students and their teachers would be protected. That should be rehearsed weekly, then monthly until the students knew exactly what to do.

It is sickening to think that we need teach our children how to protect themselves in the classrooms.

Furthermore, the news media need to stress to people when they are at the movies, or anywhere that a shooting is taking place, to fall to the floor. People should not be turning around to see what is happening. Instead, they should get down.

CATHERINE W. PITTS

Winston-Salem