Arm teachers, don’t try to seize guns
After every mass shooting, there is a cry to “do something,” and inevitably, it’s “stricter gun control.” One area that always gets attention is closing the “loophole” on the purchase of firearms. But the Florida and Las Vegas killers obtained their firearms legally. Let’s get real. There are about 320 million firearms in civilian hands in the US. Even if the private sale of a firearm from one person to another were banned tomorrow, does anyone really believe it would stop this practice completely? Same thing with high-capacity magazines. If these are banned, how difficult will it be to buy them, given the fact that there are tens of millions of them in the hands of individuals? Trying to control the use of firearms and enacting more laws isn’t the answer. We need teachers and administrators who volunteer to be carefully screened and trained to carry a concealed pistol.
FRANK MANFRE, GRAYSON
Ga. voting machines are hacking risk
The Center for American Progress issued a report grading the security of each state’s voting systems. Guess what Georgia got? “D.” I shudder thinking about the 2018 elections on ancient DRE voting machines, in light of Russian hacking (“Kemp faces voter security concerns,” News, Feb. 20). Citizens should share concerns about our elections with legislators. It’s been shown time and time again that our machines, and any electronic machine, are quite hackable. The national press has reported on the issues with Georgia’s machines a number of times, from Politico to the Center for American Progress. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp labels such concerns “liberal conspiracies” to campaign against Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. If he is using his office to campaign, perhaps it’s time to step down? The “pilot” project in Rockdale was extremely premature. The vendor for the pilot was the folks who supposedly maintain our current lousy system.
BETSY SHACKELFORD, DECATUR
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