SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
Common-sense ideas
wanted in gun debate
In the ongoing trauma created by the recent massacre of children in Connecticut, people are grasping for any reasonable way to prevent a recurrence. This may be a tough thing to do, as troubled people who normally may have committed suicide in private now find they can instead go out in a blaze of publicized glory. Opponents and proponents of gun ownership are in a froth over who is to blame for the tragedy.
I suspect the majority of Americans believe in some common-sense measures that would displease those on both sides of the debate.
Something on the order of stricter checks on a person’s criminal and mental background, and banning military-type assault weapons and their large clips seems like a reasonable, measured way to start. The fact that the “ban all guns” groups and the “sell any and all guns to anybody” groups would dislike such proposals may point toward their reasonableness.
Sometimes, who you disagree with can be a badge of honor.
ERIC SANDBERG, ATLANTA
Guns in classrooms?
You can’t be serious
Many have suggested that arming teachers is the only reasonable response to tragedies such as those which occurred in Newtown.
Let me get this straight: Kind, caring, elementary school teachers — the majority of whom have no desire to carry a deadly weapon — should be compelled to keep a loaded, lethal firearm in close proximity to the small children they are trying to educate, just to preserve the privilege of a vocal minority?
That they expect this notion to be taken seriously shows just how out of touch and disturbed the firearms apologists have become.
ED UDALL, MARIETTA
VOTERS RIGHTS
No need to declare
election day a holiday
I was baffled at a recent letter writer’s admonition about how hard we make it for voters in this country (“Make future elections more voter friendly,” ajc.com, Dec. 16).
In Georgia, early voting began weeks before the election of Nov. 6. In some counties, the locations were limited for the first couple of weeks, and later broadened to include most polling places. Saturdays were included in the early voting times.
I believe absentee ballots are granted to anyone who requests one, and you don’t have to leave your house to receive or submit one. In the not-too-distant past, there was no early voting. The current schedule is wonderful for workers and parents — indeed, all voters — and it is hard to see how it can be labeled “difficult.”
Short of making Election Day a national holiday, Georgia, at least, already meets the letter writer’s requests. I find it absurd to make the day a holiday when voting times are now so expansive.
BETSY M. KERR, LILBURN
