BALANCED VIEWS
Unlike other writers,
Krugman has a Nobel
This is in support of my favorite columnist, Paul Krugman. I’ve written to balance the opposing view expressed in “With one exception, AJC columnists good” (Readers write, Opinion, Feb. 1).
It’s nice to have a Nobel Prize winner calming the hysterical waters stirred by policy wonks who translate personal economics to the national level.
BOB BANASH, POWDER SPRINGS
CRIME
We’re too calloused
to teen street killings
I’m old enough to remember when the murder of one teenager, white or black, would be horrible news for the nation. Today, we almost yawn when we hear of another black teenager murdered in Chicago. What has made us so calloused? Have we as a nation decided that gang murder is acceptable because the gangs are doing it to themselves — that we have no responsibility for their actions?
Americans are responsible for creating a culture that celebrates macho heroes and gangs making their own rules. We are responsible for encouraging teen pregnancy, and then not providing the mom with the wherewithal to raise the child and keep it off the mean streets.
I fear the day will come when we look back on millions of young blacks either slaughtered or sent to prison, and be forced to label that period in our history a second Black Holocaust.
HARRIS GREEN, BIG CANOE
SCHOOL SAFETY
To protect children,
let staff carry guns
It’s ironic: There was a school shooting in Atlanta on the very day the AJC carried opposing opinion pieces on the feasibility and viability of arming the principal or other officials (among other issues) in schools — “Law allows armed principals” and “Let us make our children safe” (Opinion, Jan. 31). Both authors are reasoned and make their cases well, but neither addresses the real issue.
Terrorists, both foreign and domestic, prefer a soft target. Killers are going to avoid any target where there is a good likelihood that there will be someone else shooting back. The value of concealed carry in the school is not that the principal might be able to kill the killer, but that armed personnel on site will deter an assailant. I think the key is concealed carry — meaning that the armed staff would remain anonymous.
There is probably already somebody authorized to carry at most schools. Rather than a “Gun Free Zone” at a school, the sign should say: “We encourage our staff to be armed and accurate.”
Would-be killers will avoid such targets. Perception becomes reality.
EARL HIDER, SNELLVILLE
PUBLIC BROADCASTING
Chip Rogers could be
his own documentary
Perhaps Chip Rogers’ first documentary at GPB could be titled, “The 150,000 Benefits of Having Friends in High Places.”
MIKE CANFIELD, ATLANTA
