LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — He was present there

I have heard the statement that we have taken God out of schools, so we shouldn’t be surprised when evil knocks down the school doors.

God is in our schools, he just isn’t hanging on the walls. Laws may have taken prayer out of the morning announcements, but not out of school. A church isn’t a church because of the cross on the wall, and a school isn’t void of God because of what a law says.

Sandy Hook had God inside those bullet-ridden walls. Those bloodstains on the floors were from people who proved God was there. When a teacher hides kids in a closet and tells them she loves them in case it’s the last thing they hear, God is there. When a child says he will take care of everyone because he knows karate, God was speaking. It was a building full of people willing to die for one another that stopped a horrendous event from being even worse. With hearts broken, dreams smashed, God was there giving hugs. As the most basic human need is touch, strangers were hugging strangers. When evil tried to ruin a community, it drew people of different faiths together.

When a child smiles at you, laughs with you, or hugs you, it is a reminder that children are just on loan to us. They are God’s gift to us. Those gifts have wings now. The next time you feel a warm breeze on a cool day, or peace in time of trouble, it may be because one of God’s angels is on your shoulder. God may not be on the roll call, but he answers “here” every day in the classroom.

GARY GARNER

Benton

Thank yous deserved

A great big thank you to those men who have spent the last few days out in this bitter cold making repairs so the rest of us could be warm.

We complain easily when things aren’t working just right, but we should also say thank you when extraordinary efforts are made by those who provide us with these services. My prayers have been with these people, asking for their safety, and my thanks to each of them for doing their jobs well.

MARILYNN HOFFMAN

Avilla

Where is the outrage?

Twenty children die because sin reigns in America and we are outraged. And we should be.

That same fateful day, more than 3,000 babies’ lives also ended at the hands of medical people sworn to protect life. And no one was outraged except the creator God of all life.

For these truly innocent, there were no memorials, no eulogies, no teddy bears, no one to care. Can you say hypocrisy?

The oxymoron “Planned Parenthood” ends a child’s life every 95 seconds in America. And, God forgive us, it’s legal.

Once a woman has made the choice to submit her body to fornication, the resulting conception is no longer about her body. It’s about a baby’s body. She is just the incubator.

Because of these abominations, it is very likely that God has called the dark world of Islam to chastise America. And Muslims kill fornicating women. Repent, America, or get ready for a holocaust of judgment.

BOB L. WARNER

Hot Springs Village

What needs to occur

Two things need to happen in America: gun control and early recognition and intervention of mental illness.

There is no reason to own a semiautomatic weapon. The NRA likes to say, “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.” That statement is illogical. Just substitute something else for “gun,” and you will see the sophistry. For example, “tanks don’t kill people. . .” Using NRA logic, then, citizens should be able to own anything from tanks to nuclear weapons.

I wish those pragmatic men who wrote our Constitution could have had some notion of today. Had that been the case, I am certain they would have written a Second Amendment similar to what I optimistically see Congress creating. Any reasonable interpretation of the Second Amendment would have the average citizen owning only hunting weapons with minimal cartridge storage. Police work would be left to the well-trained, regulated militia.

As a teacher, I had to endure what I knew to be “ticking time bombs” in my classroom because there was no avenue for assistance. I believe that with the proper help, these “time bombs” might not commit a crime. Giving the right help would be much cheaper than prosecuting the eventual criminal. Most importantly, there would be no pain, suffering and death caused by those troublemakers.

RICHARD EMMEL

Little Rock

No quick fix available

Clip size? Really? Gun control of any kind? Seriously?

I think there are a lot of people looking for the “quick fix.” People, all our hearts are broken, but there just ain’t no quick fix.

My GrandPaw always told me: “Son, locks are made for honest people; they ain’t gonna mean nothin’ to an outlaw.” I know a man that made a 100-shot drum clip for his rifle—made it. We already have laws against owning “fully automatic” rifles without a federal license, but I know people who have them.

You cannot legislate evil from our society—it’s here and it’s here to stay. In the long term, the only way to fix it is through education. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young said “Teach your children well.”

We have taken God out of the public schools, so he ain’t there when we need him. It’s up to the parents to teach the next generation well, to respect life and love God.

Parents, teach your children well.

BILL BARHAM

Cale

Freedom is in danger

I have listened to and read these socialist idiots who would use the Sandy Hook tragedy to prey on our Second Amendment rights. I would ask all free people to read the Bill of Rights. The words “if” and “unless” are nowhere to be found in the Second Amendment; the words “shall not” are. And for those who would demonize the NRA, using such phrases as “blood on their hands,” remember this: The NRA is not a faceless organization. I am the NRA.

Gun owners and freedom lovers, wake up! The wolves are once again at the door.

SEAN CLARK

Emmet