Pop culture, not NRA, the ‘bad guy’
A recent letter to the editor suggested that guns don’t kill, people do, and that the solution is better family values (“Readers write,” Opinion, June 29). Sadly, there are few families anymore and fewer values to learn at home. In the absence of families, society teaches values, and our most ubiquitous teacher is television. TV and entertainment teach our young people how to shoot, that guns are sexy and the great equalizer for the downtrodden.
The National Rifle Association advocates for simply owning guns, but TV advocates shooting guns and killing people. Why is the NRA the bad guy? Sure, we hate real gun violence, but we love pretend gun violence. The trouble is, our young people never figure out the difference until it is too late.
JEFF LAHM, STONE MOUNTAIN
NRA should alter ‘people kill’ stand
I wonder why the NRA and its supporters think our country’s citizens fall short of citizens in places like the U.K., Japan, Sweden and others. The words, “Guns don’t kill people, people do,” have become the battle cry of many who think guns have no role in our country’s high rate of gun homicides. In places like the U.K. and many other countries, the gun homicide rate is much less when compared to the U.S.
According to the NRA’s mantra, this is not due to our ease of obtaining a gun (legally and illegally), but because of the “people” who have the gun. I think our country has some of the most capable, compassionate and engaged citizens on earth. If the statement was, “Our guns don’t kill people, our people do,” it might get proponents of “leave my guns alone” to seek to improve the “people” they denigrate instead of continuing to disregard them until election time.
MICHAEL BUCHANAN, ALPHARETTA
Consider what flag really represents
Some see the Confederate flag as representative of an ugly and hateful period in their history. Others see it as a symbol of their Southern heritage and pride and a way to honor Confederate soldiers. After President Lincoln was elected in 1860, seven Southern states formed the Confederate States of America and declared their secession from the Union. War began on April 12, 1861.
While Confederate soldiers may have fought bravely in defense of their cause, that cause was, by definition, an act of treason. For that reason, it is inappropriate for the symbol of that treason to now fly alongside the American flag on the grounds of a state capitol, or placed on an official state license plate. Individuals certainly should be able to fly the flag at their homes or display it on their vehicles.
RAY WOOLFOLK, VILLA RICA
