Readers react to gun violence, Donald Trump and driving
Reducing shootings
I wish it were possible to mandate the presence of all members of Congress at funerals in their districts for gun violence victims so that some might reconsider their blind loyalty to the National Rifle Association, which seems to value the ownership of guns more than human life.
Dorothy Stoeger
Platte Woods, Mo.
Trump, immigrants
If there had been restrictions on immigration in 1930, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s mother, at age 18 coming from Scotland, might have been denied entrance to the United States (12-8, A1, “Muslim proposal creates firestorm”).
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Steve Sherry
Kansas City
Keep right on road
On people who choose to drive the speed limit in the left lane, Kansas, Missouri and other states have enacted drive-on-the-right laws, which require vehicles on multilane roads to drive in the right lane except when passing another vehicle, when preparing to make a proper left-hand turn or when otherwise directed by signs, markings, signals or a traffic officer.
There is no mention or exceptions for driving the speed limit. Emergency vehicles normally use the left lane, so if you are leading a parade of drivers who are patiently or impatiently waiting to pass you it is difficult for anyone except the last driver to see them and move out of the way.
There are numerous signs directing drivers to “keep right except when passing” or for “slower traffic keep right.”
So perhaps the next person who comes up behind a driver doing the speed limit in the left lane and gestures will be a highway patrol officer.
Jack Malacarne
Kansas City
Trump’s candidacy
In the 1960s and ’70s, the left had lost its collective mind. Today it’s the right that suffers from this malady.
To misquote Camus: (The right) is in complete decadence, caught in its own vocabulary, capable merely of stereotyped replies, constantly at a loss when faced with truth. ... (The right) needs doctoring through pitiless self-criticism, exercise of the heart, close reasoning and a little modesty.
The latest evidence of the right’s viciousness are the rise of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, a demagogue if there ever was one, and the un-Christian, un-American unwillingness to accept even a tiny fraction of the refugees flooding Europe.
Melt down the Statue of Liberty: No more “huddled masses” are wanted here.
Marc Robinson
Prairie Village
Background checks
A Dec. 6 story, “Gun death stats don’t flatter United States,” shows the mortality rates per million for gun homicides in a variety of countries. The United States, with 31.2 gun homicides per million, is 1.71 times more than the combined 17 countries: Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Australia, China, Spain, New Zealand, Poland, England, Norway, Iceland, Scotland, South Korea and Japan.
The only explanation for this disparity is strict gun control by those 17 countries, thorough background checks and enforcement, plus severe penalties, including fines and jail time, for illegal possession.
Compare this with our lawmakers who march in lockstep with the National Rifle Association, a trade association whose sole purpose is to sell as many guns as possible.
It’s the ultimate con game: Make it as easy as possible for the bad guys (criminal, terrorists, wackos) to buy guns, and then scare the daylights out of us good guys who line up to buy more guns for protection from the bad guys.
The only way to reduce gun violence across America is at the ballot box. Nearly 90 percent of Americans surveyed favor background checks. Voting matters.
Harold Oppenheim
Kansas City
Leaving Kansas
My name is Dorothy, and I am leaving Kansas.
Another Dorothy I have heard about had three friends. One wanted a brain, one wanted a heart and one wanted courage.
So as I leave Kansas, I hope somehow Gov. Sam Brownback starts searching for a brain, the Kansas Legislature finds courage and somewhere Secretary of State Kris Kobach receives a heart.
I have lived here all of my life, but Kansas is not Kansas, and I will not be in Kansas anymore.
I’m taking Toto, too.
Dorothy Rohning
Bonner Springs
This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to gun violence, Donald Trump and driving."