Readers share thoughts on mass shooters, guns, John Kasich
Promoting killers
Adam Lanza, James Holmes and Syed Farook. How do we know these names?
They are but a handful among the ever-increasing terrorists, home grown or not, whom the media spend too much time turning into celebrities. Can anyone name the victims whose lives were lost at the hands of these madmen?
Are the media unwitting accomplices in helping terrorists commit these acts knowing they will gain fame and the tale of their deeds will spread throughout the world? Why do the media spend so much time repeating the names of these thugs and so little on the names of those taken?
Perhaps it’s time we celebrated lives that ended too abruptly and not the accomplishments of terrorists. Are the media really that desperate for a story that they must put terrorists on the news pedestal and worship them for days on end until the next terrorist celebrity appears?
And more than one will. For in doing so, their names will live in infamy, and they guarantee themselves a place in media history.
Tomas Ferraro
Independence
Gun entitlement
The best argument for gun control is the intelligence of the average American who thinks having a gun makes him feel cool, think he’s safer or consider himself a tough guy. The people who love guns who try to stop common-sense regulation are not responsible enough to carry the very weapons they believe they are entitled to.
John Winslow
Kansas City
Backing Kasich
Hardly a day goes by that we do not hear about mismanagement in the federal government. From problems in our veterans hospitals to the Internal Revenue Service, the age-old struggle for large bureaucracies to operate with accountability, responsibility and common sense continues to haunt us.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, with whom I served for 10 years in Congress, has the tested executive experience we need in the White House to transform the culture and bring responsibility to Washington, D.C.
As governor of Ohio, he succeeded in turning an $8 billion shortfall into a $2 billion surplus — while cutting taxes by $5 billion and improving services for the neediest in his state. He has proposed those same kinds of reforms in Washington, including returning many federal powers to the states and imposing a yearlong freeze on new federal regulations.
Kasich is a proven change agent and has a reputation for bringing people together to deliver results. A vote for Kasich is a vote to break through Washington gridlock, make government more responsible and create the pro-growth climate we need to get America moving again.
Tom Coleman
Former Missouri
Congressman
6th District
Alexandria, Va.
Happy gun times
Republican candidates advocate bringing back the Wild West with their open-carry plan and gun-free zones in our schools. Right on.
And let’s bring back today’s version of 1950s heroes like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, with their white cowboy hats and silver revolvers. They knew how to clean house and sing a happy tune.
Victor Dewey
Kansas City
Trump, birther
With Donald Trump’s obsession with birther conspiracies for both President Barack Obama and Sen. Ted Cruz, does that mean that Trump’s current wife is ineligible to be first lady?
Mary Rogers
Kansas City
Eroding middle
Through deliberate tax policy and deregulation of the financial industry, among other such actions that favor the well-to-do, we have seen the middle class shrink to the point where it hardly exists.
Important programs for the needy have been cut drastically to give even more riches to those who don’t need it. I think our forefathers particularly intended to include the middle class and the needy when they devised mottoes such as “The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law.”
We need to examine policies that have slowly but surely created a class system never envisioned by our Founding Fathers. And an awakened electorate should carefully consider its vote for candidates at every level.
It is only by electing honest men and women to public office that we can hope to reverse policies that have been so unfair and harmful. It is not rocket science.
Robert R. Cook
Manhattan, Kan.
This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on mass shooters, guns, John Kasich."