Readers weigh in on Missouri’s veto session, payday loans and Steve Rose column
State veto session
In regard to Missouri Senate Bill 656, can we have a well-regulated militia (as specified in the Second Amendment) when this bill advocates so little regulation — openly arming anyone 19 years or older, negating the need for adequate safety training, plus opening the door to Florida-style “stand your ground” confusion and tragedy?
Might this vetoed bill, if overridden this week, lead to constitutionally based lawsuits? After all, you cannot have a “well-regulated militia” with this kind of anything-goes legislation. The governor’s veto should stand.
Bill Hankins
Platte City
Voter ID laws
Missouri is among states all over the country grappling with voting requirements. Republicans in Missouri and elsewhere argue that voter ID laws are needed to prevent ballot-box fraud, despite such activity being nearly non-existent.
Meanwhile, the photo ID laws in place in 15 states (down from 17 thanks to judges’ rulings) have been shown to suppress turnout among black and younger voters, so much that they could decide the outcome of some elections.
Nationally, reports suggest as many as 11 percent of voting-age citizens lack government-issued photo IDs. In such states as Wisconsin and Virginia, the thousands of people who fall into that category could easily tip the scales this November.
Scott Tubbesing
Independence
Hollow slogan
My 401(k) has tripled, terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is dead, gasoline is about $2 a gallon and the unemployment rate is low. All in all, I think this is still a great country.
What is the slogan “Make America great again” all about anyway?
Susan Claerhout
Belton
Payday loans
I have a couple of questions for the critics of the payday loan business: Would you personally loan money to those customers, and if so how much interest would you charge?
Don Merker
Raytown
Steve Rose column
Steve Rose misrepresents the facts in his Sept. 11 column, “Kansas voters should keep these conservatives in the Legislature.”
Rose does admit that my opponent, Republican Sen. Jim Denning, voted for the “outrageous” tax cuts that have done so much damage to our schools and the Kansas economy. If Denning is such an “independent thinker,” why did he wilt under “extraordinary pressure from the governor and conservative action organizations”?
He will continue to put the interests of outside groups that contribute to his campaigns ahead of the interests of Johnson County residents, including our schoolchildren.
Denning has a consistent track record of voting in the Kansas Senate against schools: to be specific, HB 2117, the tax-policy change that has led to the budget shortfalls that have been directly responsible for the state to be unable to adequately fund schools and other services.
He has also voted for block grants that freeze school funding at 2014 levels. He has voted for vouchers for private schools, which take money out of public schools.
Don McGuire
Democratic candidate
Kansas Senate District 8
Overland Park
Election results
Election officials have expended time, money and effort to ensure that voters are properly registered and clearly identified. Now they should turn their attention to the voting procedure itself.
Voters have, over the years, marked paper ballots, pulled levers, punched cards, shaded circles and used various combinations thereof. None of these systems has proved completely satisfactory. Ballots are misinterpreted, counts are inaccurate and official election results are issued much too late.
Officials should develop a reliable voting system that will ensure that all votes are properly recorded and accurately counted and that election results are issued in a precise and timely fashion.
Kenneth Lee
Raytown
Chiefs patriots
The Kansas City Chiefs’ Marcus Peters’ raised-fist protest on opening day at Arrowhead Stadium is receiving significant criticism from conservatives who say it was disrespectful of the national anthem (9-12, B4, “Peters raised first, Chiefs link arms”).
Where have all these patriots been over the years when 80,000 changed the final line of “The Star-Spangled Banner” to “land of the free and the home of the Chiefs”?
Joe Cebula
Lee’s Summit
This story was originally published September 13, 2016 at 4:54 PM with the headline "Readers weigh in on Missouri’s veto session, payday loans and Steve Rose column."