Baseball’s speed, illogical mask rules and mass shootings

Take it slow

Why do some folks want to make changes to baseball? They say the “games are too long.” These critics also say that “so little happens during that time.” Tim Dahlberg made these complaints in his March 25 column, “Bigger bases? Bring them on; baseball needs more.” (6B)

He writes, “Even the most rabid fans grumble that the game is stagnant and one dimensional, sorely missing the strategies and nuances that in days past made it America’s favorite pastime.”

Who are these fans? Didn’t they see Salvador Perez’s many powerful hits down the third-base line and his long home runs, or Whit Merrifield’s race to third base after a hit to right field?

We don’t need to speed up baseball. We have fast food, fast service, fast internet. Let’s slow down.

Baseball is enjoyed by fans of all ages, male and female. Leave it alone.

- Betty Swisher, Kansas City

Mask madness

There seems to be no consistency regarding the requirements for mask-wearing in public. For example, when I go into a restaurant, I must wear a mask while waiting for a table and while being seated. Immediately after sitting at the table, I am allowed to remove my mask and do not need to put it back on until I am walking out of the restaurant.

However, while attending events at Arrowhead Stadium, the T-Mobile Center and soon at Kauffman Stadium, I will be required to wear my mask at all times, even while in my seat, unless I am actively eating or drinking.

What is the difference between being at a table in a restaurant with my own group and socially distanced from other diners and being in an arena or stadium, sometimes outdoors, also with my own group and distanced from other attendees? In my view, there is no difference.

No wonder people are confused. Hopefully, after more people are vaccinated, mask-wearing will be a personal preference, not a requirement.

- Lamoyne Michaels, Kansas City

Right to life

How many days do we have to fly the flag at half staff before we realize the right to live supersedes the right of an idiot to carry a gun?

- Joseph Gray, Kansas City

Founders’ plans

If a genie granted me three time travel opportunities, here’s what I — a retired journalist — would do:

1. Interview Jesus.

2. Interview Adolf Hitler.

3. Interview the Founding Fathers about the Second Amendment.

I don’t know what Jesus would say, but I know I’d be enthralled.

I have a general idea what Hitler would say, and I’d be appalled.

As for the Founding Fathers, I’d first have to brief them on:

▪ The nearly 40,000 gun deaths a year;

▪ The frequent mass shootings, often involving schoolchildren;

▪ The modern high-powered, rapid-firing weapons and high-capacity magazines;

▪ Our limited gun regulations.

Here’s what I know they would not say: “Yeah, that’s pretty much how we hoped that’d go.”

And yet deaths and injuries continue while the prevailing “wisdom” is that the only good gun law is a repealed gun law and that the Second Amendment was meant to prohibit any new action that might improve things.

Sadly, even if I returned with videotape of the Founders endorsing added regulation, it’d likely be a waste of time.

- Loren Stanton, Prairie Village

Words, not action

Shattered scene. Deadly rampage. Shooting spree. Mass shooting. Assault rifle. Victims. Huddled in hiding. Grieving families. Grief-stricken, Lifeless body. Slain (insert selection): children, coworkers, colleagues, family members, police officers, innocent bystanders. Our prayers go out to. Our hearts go out to. Numb. Tragedy. Anguish. Heartfelt support.

Do these words mean anything? Are we so deadened to what is happening over and over again that we are not howling in unending protest? How is it possible that people in a civilized society that views itself as God-fearing read these words over and over again as these senseless acts keep happening and yet do nothing?

After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after countless others, why are we paralyzed when it comes to enacting fierce gun legislation? Does the right to bear arms mean assault rifles? Are the viciously protected gun rights worth the loss of even one child, one mother or father, one student, one police officer, one innocent bystander, one human being?

Where is the howling? Have we just given up and willingly accept this as just another day in the United States?

Exactly what does it take for Congress to act? It takes us.

- Barbara Rodts, Leawood

Minds made up

In retrospect, Sandy Hook marked the end of the U.S. gun control debate. Once Americans decided that killing children was bearable, it was all over. States can take action, but people can always travel across state lines. Without strong federal laws (see Australia) there will be too many loopholes. But, I’m not giving up.

- Bob Clark, Prairie Village

Not our voices

In 2010, Missourians voted to regulate inhumane puppy mills, but the regulations were rolled back the following year by the Republican-led state legislature. After we overwhelmingly approved a number of good-governance election reforms (aka “Clean Missouri”) in 2018, lawmakers placed a misleadingly-worded question on the ballot in 2020 that led to overturning its most important provisions.

Now Republicans in Jefferson City want to ignore the will of the people by refusing to fund Medicaid expansion. (March 26, 10A, “Medicaid vote in Missouri rejects reason, law, voters”)

The state GOP’s efforts to suppress the vote through gerrymandering, restrictive voter ID laws and a reluctance to allow early and no-excuse absentee voting is apparently not enough. Time after time, they have decided to overtly overturn initiatives that enjoy broad popular support.

Wake up, people, and vote these undemocratic lawmakers out of office — while you still can.

- Joel Walsh, Kansas City

Deeper than skin

In response to a March 21 letter (14A) that questioned how Gene Suellentrop would have been treated after his DUI arrest had he looked like George Floyd, I think Suellentrop still would have gotten off the hook.

Skin color most likely had far less to do with it than did his being Kansas senate majority leader.

Sometimes it’s not about white privilege — it’s about privilege, period. And that’s wrong, too.

- Kathy Hinkle, Olathe