Letters to the Editor: Reasonable gun legislation is the next step
Reasonable gun legislation is
a step in the right direction
I am all for the Second Amendment and responsible gun ownership. That said, as a society we have chosen not to pass reasonable gun legislation that would at least have a chance of keeping guns out of the hands of the unfit. Politicians in the pockets of the National Rifle Association have blocked all reasonable legislation. And those who vote for those politicians bare some responsibility. There is no hiding from this issue. Gun rights is not an all-or-nothing issue.
For those who think I don't hear the other side, that is what the NRA wants you to believe. Of course we must also address the myriad issues that bring any human being to the point of being a shooter. Reasonable gun legislation is just one step in the right direction.
Diane Goodin, Lago Vista
We need to demand that our leaders
create a better and safer society
Something is abhorrently wrong when children are not safe in their own classrooms.
Something is unconscionably wrong when people are not safe in their places of worship.
How is it possible that, in this modern day, people cannot shop in their local grocery store without fear of mass murder?
As a citizen, I can vote, I can help a campaign, but I do not know what else to do. Still, I know that there are people with more knowledge and experience than I —legislators, policy makers — who have sworn to serve the American people, to create laws and systems that protect us from harm and find ways to increase peace and collective prosperity.
Our leaders must help us evolve into a more thoughtful, intelligent, considerate world-leading society. They can make it happen. And we need to demand that they do.
Lori Kline, Austin
Right to own deadly arms shouldn't
outweigh right for kids to live safely
Our state leadership is cowardly, hypocritical and morally bankrupt.
That our elected officials have focused on persecuting transgender children while making guns more accessible to anyone is obscene. The cries that they are protecting the children by banning books and investigating supportive families ring false when they stand idly by during every mass shooting and refuse to enact any meaningful legislation.
Abbott, Paxton and the rest don't care about children. They care about their own power.
The right to own deadly weapons capable of mass killing shouldn't be more important than the right for children to peacefully attend schools, go to the grocery store, go to church or just live in their communities.
Texans can take power away from these men and they should in November. I'm a 5th-generation Texan and I vote. We can do better than this.
Anton Prosser, Austin
We can't resign ourselves to wait
for the next deadly mass shooting
Today, every parent sees themselves in the Uvalde parents. We cry, we rage and throw our hands up and plead, what can we do?
We need gun control, universal health care to address mental illness and a livable wage so we have a future to look forward to. And we must directly confront the toxic masculinity that teaches that to be a man is to fit your pain in a broken little box that cannot possibly hold it. We cannot let people rest comfortably in their beliefs when their beliefs cause countless deaths.
We must vote for better leaders and run for office ourselves. We must rally and protest, and write letters to the editor. We must raise our children to be better. We cannot wait for the next shooting. We catch our breath and we start now, and continue until we see change. We fight for our children’s future.
Valerie Turullols, Austin
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin American-Statesman Letters to the Editor: May 29, 2022
