Readers weigh in on guns, airline security and drunken driving

Guns in public

The recent shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota by police officers should give everyone concern. These are examples of what we should expect if everyone has a gun, concealed or openly carried in public.

How are the police going to be able to tell who is the good guy and who is the bad guy?

I am not excusing poor judgment by the police. But in the moment, a split-second decision must be made. And if everyone has a gun, this will happen more often.

Laura Way

Roeland Park

Male slant to laws

There sure are a lot of male politicians proposing abortion restrictions in multiple states these days.

Funny, but there doesn’t seem to be any push to revive statutes to deal with men who abandon the women they impregnate. With DNA technology, it is much easier to positively identify a guy for child support than years ago, when such statutes were last put in place.

Why do you suppose there is no action in that area? Hmmm.

Elaine Hines

Kansas City, Kan.

Smelly candidates

I cannot vote for presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, and I cannot support Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. Both parties have made wrong choices.

If these two are pitted against each other, I cannot vote for either. Clinton has the support of big banks and the money class, as does Trump.

I would rather vote for a pig than either of these two.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if neither side won?

Vernon Justice

Kansas City, Kan.

Bypassing security

Recent articles have noted that airline fees for checked bags have increased the workload and wait times at Transportation Safety Administration check-ins.

Indeed, they have, but there is a way around the system.

If a traveler brings the largest allowable bag through TSA, he or she most likely has to gate-check the bag and pick it up in the jetway upon landing — at no cost. On my most recent trips, there have been 10 to 20 people waiting on the jetway as I exited the plane.

They have checked a bag for free, increased the workload and wait time at TSA screening and paid nothing. Any solutions?

Una Creditior

Kansas City

Obnoxious support

Recently, we were driving on a freeway in Florida. We passed a luxury motor home towing a very pricey sport utility vehicle.

A placard on the motor home declared “Trump will make America great, again.” A bumper sticker on the back of the expensive SUV denounced socialism.

A prosperous senior and his mate were ensconced in comfortable seats while motoring down a federally built interstate.

To wallow in the sort of opulence those two ingrates receive while failing to see that America is still great comes from propaganda, not circumstances.

A safe bet would be that more than $300,000 worth of rolling stock would still be on dealers’ lots if not for the “socialist” government pension checks these folks receive and the “socialist” Medicare benefits that keep them healthy.

Their behavior is tantamount to an overindulged child who whines about his abusive parents after they’ve sent him to Princeton University and given him a Porsche upon graduation.

Norence A. Nelson

Waverly, Mo.

Drunken driving

A young teacher recently lost her life because of a young man driving drunk. This was his second driving-while intoxicated charge.

One life was taken, and another life will be spent in prison for 20 to 30 years.

As a human being, you feel helpless and ask why?

In 1960, my brother and I were riding our bikes on a highway while going to Laredo, Texas. One drunken man took the lives of nine people on vacation. The drunken man was not hurt, but he killed nine people.

I was 10 and my brother was 8. We saw the nine people dead. We will never forget that moment frozen in time in our minds and hearts.

If we can send men and women to the moon, why can’t we stop the damage that drunken drivers do?

Daily, we hear the news of more people driving drunk and people dying because of them. It is crazy to lose your loved ones because of selfish people on the road driving drunk.

I will try to get the word out about this safety issue just like the new concern of distracted driving, especially teens and young adults using their cellphones while driving.

Florentino

Camacho Jr.