Agreement on guns, KCI’s condition and Mike Cierpiot

We actually agree

There’s a narrative being promoted that Americans can’t agree on anything, but it’s not true. When it comes to guns, we’re surprisingly united.

The New York Times recently identified more than a dozen steps to reduce gun violence that are supported by 75 to 89 percent of Americans. What else does 89 percent of us agree on?

Gun control is actually one of the least-divisive issues we have — if the politicians would stop listening to their lobbyists and start listening to us.

As a first step, Congress should immediately fund the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence as a public health issue. And second, it needs to expand the 24-hour background check so that it is universal.

No one believes that all gun violence can be stopped, but we can reduce its frequency and its lethality when it does happen. Isn’t it worth trying something? Because what we’re currently doing isn’t working.

Sara Lott

Kansas City

Keeping up

On the morning of the Kansas City International Airport vote, I had an early flight to catch. As I made my way to the gate, I saw that the men’s room had been cordoned off for cleaning.

I didn’t need to use the facilities, but it struck me as odd that this work was planned during a peak time for travelers.

As a local resident, I found this embarrassing because it was such an easily avoidable problem. A simple employee-shift adjustment or staffing modification would have prevented this.

But I wasn’t shocked. As a regular user, I’ve seen the customer services at KCI steadily worsen.

It seems that the Aviation Department, having adopted the mindset that KCI is a poor and outdated facility, decided to let services slide accordingly.

In several years, we will have a gleaming new airport. I hope the Aviation Department can up its game before it opens. Now would be a great time to start, because old habits can be hard to break.

George D. Lafferty

Fairway

Letting down

The headline on a Nov. 9 Star editorial read, “Dirty politics rewarded in Missouri race.” (14A) The editorial confirmed that Republican Mike Cierpiot ran a brutal, dirty, lying, misleading campaign against Democratic newcomer Hillary Shields, outspending her 10 to 1 with some dark money.

As a longtime subscriber, I am flabbergasted and frankly extremely disappointed that The Star did not endorse a candidate in this 8th District race.

The newspaper knew full well that the Cierpiot campaign reached down deeply into that swamp.

That means the editorial board of a major American newspaper was complicit in allowing the misinformation to stand. I find this disgusting and dangerous.

We should expect an endorsement for Hillary Shields in 2018.

Sandy Skaggs

Kansas City

And now?

Now that Kansas City has voted itself a great new airport, when are we going to hear about the convention hotel that has been in and out of the news for so many years?

George Franklin

Prairie Village

Breaking point

When will Second Amendment enthusiasts stand up and say, “Saving people’s lives, especially children’s lives, from mass gun violence and death is more important than my right to possess and own automatic and semi-automatic guns”?

Catherine Clauder

Kansas City, Kan.

Truth erosion

Truth — discerning what it is and is not — is now almost an hourly challenge. A recent posting on Facebook said Morgan Freeman had died, except that the actor was very much alive.

Whom can you trust to deliver what is true, based in fact, not on belief, gossip, conjecture or the fabricated musings of some online miscreant?

Since January, nothing coming out of the White House can be trusted as stated. When the man-child there throws out whatever assertion or uncontrolled angry reply that is his whim to tweet, he claims that any challenge of its validity through a fact check is “fake news.”

If he can’t intimidate by threatening a lawsuit, he reverts to his “You’re fired!” mode. Witness his recent threat to pull NBC’s license (which he can’t do).

We wonder how 25 million North Koreans can believe their dictator is a god, or how Nazi propaganda rationalized sending 6 million Jews to their deaths. When the mad rantings of an unhinged mind go unchallenged and become official propaganda or the basis for national rage, then the freedom, safety and sanity of a nation will suffer, as ours does now.

Charles Ford

Warrensburg, Mo.

This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss agreement on guns, KCI’s condition and Mike Cierpiot’s dirty campaign."