LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Kids’ rights trampled

I think that our founding fathers would roll over in their graves if they were here today. They did not imagine how the Second Amendment would be misinterpreted and abused by an absolutist gun organization to deprive American children of their rights. In my opinion, by refusing to help eliminate weapons of war from the retail market, a gun organization and some gun owners are culpable.

So many 6- and 7-year-olds were deprived of their right to the pursuit of life and happiness when they were killed by weapons of war in their school. Weapons of war must be eliminated from the retail market so that other American citizens are not deprived of their right to the pursuit of life and happiness. The Second Amendment must not be used by one interest group to eliminate the rights of other Americans, especially innocent children.

It is the combination of guns and people that kills.

PORFIRIO GUTIERREZ

Bella Vista

Next: Book control?

I have read of mass murders, war, pain, human depredations, rape, plunder, torture, cruelties, hatred, human suffering, human sacrifices, racism and many other forms of the lowest common denominator of mankind’s development.

Do the actions of a few, no matter how atrocious, condemn the rest to responsibility for their behavior? That’s a burden I wouldn’t place on any person, group or entity. Let’s say I suddenly lost my once-tenacious grasp on reality and decided to kill as many people as possible. What, then, would be to blame for my sudden irrational actions?

I don’t play violent video games, though I do own three guns. OK, the rifle has a 10-round clip, but does this not place me well within the acceptable mental parameters of safe gun ownership? Wait-my only mental flaw (my family might dispute this point) is that I am a reader of books. Unlike guns, I have thousands of books, and yes, some of them are “high-capacity” multi-volume sets. Don’t scoff at this concept, for it was in the near past that people believed that certain books could force the mentally fragile into acts of sin and violence. Just ask Hemingway, London, Twain, Steinbeck, Salinger, Bradbury, Mitchell, Fitzgerald, etc.

So if I lose it, please don’t punish the good readers for my actions. It is too big a burden for me to bear. Just remember that we were unable to stop illegal liquor, drugs, crime and gangs. So, on what basis of past success should I believe that we can control guns by making them illegal?

PHILLIP A. RAMBIN

Bigelow

The ceiling vanished

I don’t know how to describe it. As a nurse, I’ve been performing routine patient assessments for 15 years now, but since Barack Obama took office, even the most confused, elderly black patients light up when you ask them who the president of the United States is.

It clearly comes from somewhere very deep within. It’s that same look I saw in black children’s eyes the day they learned that a black man had attained the highest office in the land. It’s as though a light comes on, a fire ignites. Suddenly the sky is the limit for an entire people . . . the ceiling is gone. In a world where inequalities remain palpable, hope emerges and inspires minorities everywhere to aim high.

I suspect that had I been around for Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, I would have seen that same widespread wave of awakening come over a nation waiting for guidance in moving forward. King changed our world during a dangerously pivotal time. His effort helped shift the entire paradigm, the social thought of that era. I thank him for courageously stepping forward to offer leadership during a period when it was needed most. We will remember him always.

GINA HOWES BOSHEARS

Hot Springs

Just wasting our cash

What Bradley “Glitz” fails to mention is that presidents can ask for legislation or funding, but all spending is actually done by Congress. The debt ceiling that is now being fought over is for past expenditures that Congress voted to fund, not for new spending. Is Congress going to hold military pay and Social Security hostage for something they voted to spend? Will their own paychecks stop when they refuse to pay the bills they have racked up?

I am very tired of this game both parties are playing. I believe the automatic, 10 percent across-the-board cuts will happen shortly, so holding the debt ceiling hostage for spending cuts is just a waste of time and money (our money).

CHRISTINE SEAMAN

Lakeview

If it was Arkansas . . .

Re Paul Greenberg’s column in which he praised U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton for voting against the appropriation of funds for Hurricane Sandy victims: Greenberg praises Cotton for voting against this appropriation because it was not to be paid for with spending cuts.

I have to wonder if Rep. Cotton would have voted the same way if a significant percentage of Arkansas’ population had been affected by a natural disaster, instead of the northeastern part of our country. I tend to think he would not have voted the same way. I also think that Paul Greenberg would not have written in support of Cotton’s vote if he had voted to withhold funds for Arkansans suffering from a natural disaster.

It’s always easier to show your mettle and make tough choices if those choices aren’t going to affect your own family, friends, neighbors, constituents or readers.

GEORGE DALTON

Little Rock

Just hurts Americans

Paul Greenberg praises Rep. Tom Cotton and the other representatives who voted with him for their principled stance on budget deficits by denying emergency help to other Americans in need without offsetting spending cuts. Where was all this indignation over deficits when we went to war with Iraq without any appropriation or dollar-for-dollar reductions? (Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.) I hope we in Arkansas never have need of flood or tornado relief in the future.

We need deficit reduction in a smart and measured way, not on the backs of Americans who are hurting.

ED PARKS

Rogers

What would happen?

A typical morning at most schools, contained within my duties as a substitute teacher: Introduced to an administrator or the school secretary who instructs me in procedure: For a disruptive child, call the office and we will send security.

I shudder to think when an NRA sanctioned armed guard, proudly displaying his assault weapon and 30-round clip, is sent to my classroom of third-graders to address the child who refuses to stay seated. Suppose the child throws something. What will the guard do, defend himself? God forbid.

TRACEY TELL

Jacksonville