Readers react to gun control, a story of hope and the Iran deal
Gun control need
I stand with Andy Parker, Allison Parker’s father, who has called for action on gun control (9-1, Commentary, “Strengthen laws to halt gun violence”).
All lives matter. We all are God’s children, and he told us not to kill. It’s a sin and hurts everyone.
Christians, please stand up and speak out against our country’s total lack of gun control.
When the Second Amendment was written, we had flintlock rifles and cannons. I don’t believe our forefathers, who by the way were Christian, meant for anyone to get an automatic killing machine gun for protection.
Freida Wiley
Cowgill, Mo.
KCK tale of hope
I enjoyed Matt Campbell’s Sept. 1 article, “KCK man creating harmony from history, struggles, hope,” about Kansas City, Kan., trumpeter America Patton, who rehearses his original music in the historic Quindaro ruins.
That area is significant because it was an escape route on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves to reach freedom in Kansas. Patton’s mission is to be a voice of hope to inspire people to come together.
It was nice to read such a positive message in the newspaper filled with way too much bad news. I found America Patton’s passion inspiring.
Bonny Cooper-Hull
Fairway
Reducing war risk
I am horrified by the news of the refugees pouring over borders to escape the violence and intolerable conditions in their home countries. We Americans must recognize our part of the responsibility.
Regime change via war has unleashed the dogs of war, and once unleashed we cannot say where they will go. The most absurd examples were the predictions that we would be welcomed as liberators in Iraq and that the war would pay for itself. Remember?
For those hawks who tell the public that war is preferable to making an agreement with Iran, I remind them of the continuing devastation wrought by the war in Iraq because President George W. Bush would not listen when the world pleaded for diplomacy.
Isolating and threatening Iran is not the answer. And, isolating and threatening Russia is equally self-defeating.
We must engage and have all hands on deck to restore some sense of order that is good for all people. Russia can help but will not if it feels besieged.
Let Congress know that we support President Barack Obama’s efforts to reduce the risk of war. Enough uprooted refugees.
Fred Slough
Kansas City
Iran nuclear deal
As a registered independent voter, I support the Iran nuclear agreement. Here are my reasons:
▪ This deal is with all the members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany and the European Union. In these partner European countries there is no domestic controversy, rather relief as I personally witnessed when I was in the United Kingdom this summer.
If Congress walks away from this Iran agreement it would be like Congress walking away from the League of Nations after World War I. That helped lead to World War II. I hope this Congress is much more responsible in its vote later this month.
▪ This deal has the support of 29 of the nation’s top scientists, who wrote a letter to President Barack Obama. They call the Iran deal innovative and stringent.
▪ People of faith support this deal, including more than 300 rabbis, the Catholic Church and the National Council of Churches with 37 denominations and 30 million members.
I am glad Sen. Claire McCaskill has come out in support of this deal. I hope Sen. Roy Blunt and Congressmen Sam Graves and Emanuel Cleaver will also support it.
Andrew Bolton
Independence
Trump, Vietnam
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he avoided military service because he opposed the Vietnam War. Actually, that was a good reason for serving.
If the young Trump had suffered so much as a scratch in basic training, surely the outcry across the country would have been so great that our leaders would have been compelled to get us out of the war.
Robert O’Rourke
Leavenworth
Capital punishment
There are a variety of reasons I support ending the death penalty. As a deterrent it doesn’t work. If an angry, vengeful or mentally ill person has a means available, he will kill. Some zealots consider being a martyr a holy mission.
Economically, it is terribly expensive. The trials go on forever. The prison accommodations are costly. We pay for both prosecution and defense.
Capital punishment is irreversible. If a mistake is made it cannot be taken back.
It is cruel and unusual punishment — for the victim’s family. Case in point is Ann Harrison’s family having to face and relive her horrendous murder for 26 years.
Finally, there is the moral, yes, Christian issue. Unless I am ill-informed, the Ten Commandments say “Thou shalt not kill” not “Thou shalt not kill unless ...”
Karen Booth
Roeland Park
Middle East woes
Love begets love. Distrust, suspicion, blaming, name-calling and outright lying breed hatred and warfare.
Our president was set up for failure when he took office. Do you remember?
We’ll spend the next four years trying to deny him a second term, some Republicans said. Indeed, do you remember?
Doesn’t President Barack Obama deserve any credit for brokering an international deal with Iran when Congress cannot even pass a budget and continues to threaten to shut down the government?
Millions have fed at the trough of conspiracy theories and hatred of the government. Arm yourselves because they want to confiscate your rifles, some Second Amendment advocates have contended.
Our military presence in the Middle East is itself a threat to peace. The Palestinian cause and the eye-for-an-eye theology in the Middle East begs for us to open our eyes that we may see.
Western interference there for millenniums has brought us to this hour. War begets war.
Boundary lines were drawn by Western powers. The defense of Israel begs a solution.
If a bomb is dropped on Iran, where will peace be?
Franklin Rieske
Independence
Obama in Alaska
President Barack Obama is in Alaska to talk of climate change (8-31, A1, “Warming motivates Obama’s Alaska trip”). How nice.
All the trips this guy and his family have taken over the years have probably added more to the world carbon footprint than anything else. Instead of renaming Mount McKinley, he should be affixing his name to all those melting glaciers.
Bruce Erickson
Lee’s Summit
Net neutrality fix
Net neutrality is critical to ensure the unimpeded flow of information to all Internet users and to prevent Internet providers from discriminating online. There is a consensus that we need a strong and open Internet to drive economic opportunity, produce quality broadband jobs and close the digital divide.
But the Federal Communication Commission’s approach to net neutrality is a serious mistake. Numerous economists have said that these anachronistic rules could dramatically cut back the new investments needed for the next phase of the Internet economy and the new networks to provide faster service.
Why should workers and consumers care about investments by network providers in new and upgraded networks?
In a joint filing with the NAACP, the Communication Workers of America cited research that shows that network providers were responsible for 84 percent of the capital expenditures invested in the Internet ecosystem between 2010 to 2013 and that investment means jobs.
Congress must step in and pass real net neutrality rules to protect consumers without the destructive baggage of utility regulation, to ensure there are sufficient future investment and job creation, to propel economic opportunity and to permanently bridge the digital divide.
Clayola Brown
President
A. Phillip
Randolph Institute
Washington, D.C.
This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to gun control, a story of hope and the Iran deal."