Letters: A polio memory, guns and violence, a shout-out to a Red Robin customer

Unexplained violence

What is the difference between the loss of life as the result of a suicide bomber in the Middle East and the almost daily accounts of some man killing himself after shooting his family, or his co-workers, or people in a crowd? Each is a terrorist in his own way.

We have some understanding of the former because of religious or political reasons, however, over and over again we hear a neighbor or law official, concerning the latter, say, “I guess we will never know why.”

This type of tragedy happened often among early settlers on the Great Plains and was attributed to solitude and the wind. What in our society today is creating the anger and despair that leads some of our neighbors to such fanatical acts?

John Nelles

Shawnee

Vaccines’ importance

Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, question whether child vaccinations should be mandatory. Both of these men are age 52.

They are fortunate to have been born into a world where the threat of crippling and sometimes deadly poliomyelitis was mostly eradicated by the advent of the Salk vaccine. My earliest memory was the morning my mother wept at my baby sister’s crib, believing she had contracted polio.

Those were times that gripped every parent’s heart with terror that their children would fall prey to this cruel disease. As a kindergartener, I witnessed what polio did to one of my best friends.

Then the Salk vaccine began clinical trials in 1954. I and my sister were among 1.8 million children at 215 sites throughout America to become known as Polio Pioneers.

Some of us received the vaccine, some received a placebo and others served as controls and had neither. Each child received a Polio Pioneer card testifying to the participation in the clinical trials.

I still have this card some 60 years later because my parents treasured it as a symbol of what one vaccine could do to spare their children from lifelong, debilitating disease.

Ron Fugate

Overland Park

Kansas gun overload

My subject should be “Guns rule in Kansas.” So now legislators don’t want to require training for concealed carry (2-1, A1, “Kansas on the hunt for makers of firearms”).

Why stop there? Let’s waive driver’s training for new drivers.

Let’s not require medical school for doctors. Just think how many doctors would move to Kansas if they didn’t need to be trained.

As long as money is coming into the state, it doesn’t matter how it gets here and it doesn’t matter who dies because of it. I am Kansas weary.

Shirley Lewis

Overland Park

Campaign financing

There you go again. The Star continues to publish more negative stories on the Koch brothers. It is true they have tons of money and have deployed some of it to fund their party’s election campaigns.

I only wish the newspaper would publish the rest of the story. Campaign funding for the liberal side far outweighs that of the Koch brothers, but it doesn’t just come from one source.

In the past I have offered The Star evidence of spending by the likes of the Democratic National Party, the Trial Lawyers Association, various trade unions, Democratic governor associations and a few well-heeled celebrities. Not once has The Star elected to provide its readership the fact that obscene campaign funding occurs on both sides.

Isn’t it about time you find a way to balance reporting?

Joseph Levin

Fairway

Guns show safety

It’s frustrating when people spout off about things for which they have no first-hand knowledge but rather repeat what they’ve heard without investigating for themselves. An example involves people who think gun shows offer buyers a loophole.

The gun show loophole is yet another erroneous meme that is as real as pink unicorns and flying pigs. Go to any gun show and try to purchase a firearm.

You’ll find that you end up going through the very same federal background check as if you had gone to your local gun shop or a major sporting goods store. Regardless of the location, gun dealers are required to run people through a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) process before they can sell to you.

The only exception to this is if you buy a gun from Joe Citizen and that could be anywhere whether at a gun show, a private residence or a dark alley. On top of that, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report titled “Firearm Violence, 1993-2011” published in May 2013, you’ll find that less than 1 percent of prison inmates obtained their guns from gun shows.

Dale Willer

Shawnee

Farmers’ welfare

How quaint! According to The Star on Feb. 3, “Budget ax aimed at crop subsidies,” American farmers will be cut around $1.5 billion a year in crop insurance subsidies, and our two Kansas senators are complaining.

Crop insurance subsidy is the pinnacle of government welfare assistance, given to the well-to-do. How dare these folks call poor welfare recipients, cheats.

A rose by any another name is still a welfare rose.

Ascension Hernandez

Shawnee

Stranger’s kindness

I would like to sincerely thank the anonymous person who paid for our party of six at Red Robin on Sunday last month. When all you seem to hear is the negative, it is so refreshing to be able to write about a wonderful act someone showed toward strangers.

My grandchildren were very impressed. So just another big thank you and “God bless” to someone who brightened our day.

Pat Flynn

Overland Park

This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 8:52 PM with the headline "Letters: A polio memory, guns and violence, a shout-out to a Red Robin customer."