Columbus on mass shootings: Shame on home of the brave. Our children are being slaughtered

What is the final straw?

Ohio GOP representatives, senators, governor: If this latest string of mass shootings isn't the final straw, what is? What will it take to convince you that our country's obsession with guns and your unwillingness to address the issue are a deadly disease?

More: Ohio lawmakers have introduced at least 28 gun bills: Where are they in the process?

Yes, I'm singling out Republicans, because you refuse to engage on the issue. Yes, I'm singling out Ohio officials, because you represent me and you have the platform.

More: Columbus needs Amtrak. There is no reason Ohio shouldn't 'jump all over this deal.'

I am legitimately asking the question. What is the hypothetical scenario that would prompt you and your colleagues to drop everything, work together, buck politics, and even try to solve this problem? Can your hypothetical final straw possibly be worse than seeing 19 elementary school students murdered in their classrooms — again? How horrifying that you've let your tolerance grow so high.

Look, I get it. Some responsible people want to own guns so they can shoot a deer once a year or whatever. Because "it's their right."

More: 'How many of our babies have to die?': Ohio politicians react to to Texas mass shooting

But when do the actual lives and innocence of our children and citizens get to have as much value as the rights of gun owners and gun lobbyists? Those real kids are dead. Dead. Young lives snuffed out, others traumatized forever, with our kids in Ohio and other states fearful that it can happen to them, too.

Answer the question: What is the final straw? What will it take for you to do something?

Tony Auseon, Columbus

I feel 'safer' already

I am writing this letter to thank Gov. Mike DeWine for his leadership in the area of public safety. I'm sure we all feel safer since he single-handedly gave anyone 21 years old or older the right to carry a concealed weapon without a permit or training. What forethought and insight.

More: Our view: Mike DeWine's promise to curb gun deaths now rings hollow

I'm sure he only wanted to make Ohio a safer place. He would never have let money from the NRA or the gun lobby influence him. He only wanted what's best for us.

More: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed permitless carry. Why his gun record leaves him open to attack.

Thanks again, governor. I feel safer already.

James Lytle, Westerville

Gun laws outdated

We have been made to feel that we are slaves of the Second Amendment and the gun lobby. It is time that we realize that we have outgrown our current gun laws.

More: Column: The Second Amendment right to bear arms is not absolute

It is time for the Constitution to be brought up to date and the Second Amendment be changed to allow effective gun control.

Bill Cotton, Blacklick

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Shame on 'home of the brave'

In 2019, my wife and I were being driven from Croatia to the city of Mostar in Bosnia. The young driver spoke English and was engaging. He said we will see buildings in Mostar that still are littered with bullet holes from the war in the 90s.

Then he asked if we were scared. We were confused and asked, "Should we be?" He then clarified: He was asking if we were afraid to live in the USA. with all the guns and mass shootings happening everywhere.

More: Bloodshed since Sandy Hook: Uvalde school shooting among deadliest school attacks in past 10 years

So from going into ‘"war-torn Bosnia," we returned to the "home of the brave," so torn by fear of others, we have littered our country with innocents killed with weapons made for war. Once again, shame on us.

Al Debelak, Columbus

Do your job

Once again innocent children and adults have been murdered and every news channel and politician says that there must be gun law reform.

Haven’t we been through this enough to realize it isn't going to change until someone  puts forth legitimate ideas on how to change it and then lawmakers come together to save lives?

More: Columbus mayor declares gun violence a health crisis, forms alliance to fight illegal guns

Congress must stop talking about having another moment of silence in honor of these victims and do their job. Forget the far-right gun advocates and forget the far-left ban —all gun advocates can come to the middle with a plan that makes common sense while protecting the Constitution.

Our children and grandchildren are being slaughtered. Do your job.

Randy Suver, Powell

GOP enables tragedy

In the wake of the mass slaughter in Texas and in Buffalo, it might be a good time to remind voters how Republican politicians consistently respond to the carnage.

Two cases in point: In 2017, Donald Trump signed House Joint Resolution 40, making it easier for the mentally ill to purchase guns, a bill supported by Sen. Rob Portman.

And of course, our very own Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed Senate Bill 215, making it legal to carry a concealed weapon with no training or permits.

Republicans may tweet their thoughts and prayers, but when it comes to legislating on guns, they enable tragedy and terrible human suffering.

Kevin Griffith, Columbus

Nation not so great

How dare we continue to put ourselves forward as a great nation when we allow conditions which lead to the slaughter of our children in school, those in the marketplace, and those in their houses of worship.

Larry Smith, Columbus

Blood on lawmakers' hands

Once again, our children have been killed by gun violence. This has got to stop. We as Americans need to protect our children.

Let's call and write legislators who receive massive donations from the NRA using just six words: "Their blood is on your hands."

Protest with signs using only those words. Deluge their offices with calls and letters. Make it a rallying cry for our children. Maybe, just maybe, some of our so-called leaders will see the light.

Linda Rieder, Columbus

We are beyond Ozymandias

How many senseless tragedies will the United States withstand until our collective conscience notices?

How many lives lost until we awaken from the slumber of apathy and denial?

One million lives lost to COVID-19 in the United States? Ten lives lost at  Tops in Buffalo, New York? Twenty-six lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Conn.? And now 21 lives lost at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas?

10 lives lost at TOPS in Buffalo, N.Y.? 26 lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Conn.? And now 19 lives lost at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas?

We are lost not because we don’t understand, but because we fail to take action. Apathy and denial are the twin evils that permeate our minds and hearts, leaving us only to look in the mirror and see the reflection of a once hallowed body, now void of feeling and thought.

More: Theodore Decker: With homicides down, is the city response once again losing its urgency?

We are a rudderless, wandering nation drifting along a sea without a moral compass. The flames of our souls have long been extinguished by a blatant disregard for caring about the very essence of our society…our children.

We are beyond Ozymandias. As at least therein remains a statue in the sand. For us, there is nothing but sand.

Jeffery J. Auletta, M.D., Dublin

My rights being infringed

Could someone please tell me what frigging "well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state" all of these mass murderers belong to because the “free State” does not really feel so secure?

My rights to safety and security seem to be the only things being infringed.

Elizabeth Lawless, Columbus

One word says it all

ENOUGH!

John M. Seryak, Reynoldsburg

We are treating the “other” as an enemy

Regarding the gun control debate, I’ve never found the slogan “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” very illuminating. Who are these “people?” I get it now. Of course, they are the ones who pull the triggers.

More: Letters: Guns kill people. Other countries have figured this out, so why can't the US?

They also are the people who block the majority of citizens who support the Second Amendment from passing sensible background checks. They are the people who oppose requiring gun owners to know how to use their guns and keep them safely stored. They are people who ignore the nation’s mental health crisis, especially among the nation’s youth, by not supporting legislation to expand mental health care and funding for school counselors.

Really, they are all of us who have allowed our political discourse to be reduced to treating the “other” as an enemy. Doing so has created a mean-spirited culture with very little room for compromise. In our fundamental pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, we the people owe it to each other not just to pray but to find some common political ground. 

Joan McLean, Delaware

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Letters: What is Columbus saying about mass shooting in Texas, Buffalo