Higher standards needed for concealed carry
Anyone in Georgia born after 1961 who wants to get a hunting license must complete a hunter safety course. To get a permit to carry a concealed weapon, one only needs to pass a background check. There is no required training in gun safety or marksmanship. Anyone with a clean background can get the concealed carry permit without any knowledge of how to hold a gun, handle a gun or even operate the safety on a gun. Should it not require as much training to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon as it does to hunt? Surely human lives are as important as deer, ducks, rabbits, etc.
MIKE DEAL, ALPHARETTA
Pitts columns are fueling fires of racial rage
How sad! Leonard Pitts splatters a century-old tragedy across a “bloody” newspaper column (“A grisly tale to remember in these inhuman times,” Opinion, May 20). It was a horrible crime story of murderous brutality; black innocents, white oppressors. It was recalled from 100 years ago to increase racial rage. Pitts seems unaware of the horrors that have happened to every race throughout the eons of history – from Roman crosses to Coliseum entertainment to the gas chambers of historic Germany. Ruthless murder has been in the history of all mankind. Pitts seems to remember only tragedies that happen to people with skin color like his own. Has he looked around lately? Has he seen today’s tragedy of schoolchildren being shot to death? Pitts’ mental fix is called prejudice. That is a disgusting tool to raise hatred against others.
CATHERINE BOONE SHEALY, ATLANTA
Flag’s symbolism not same as actual rights, freedoms
As a retired military officer, I support the young men who kneel as a protest against racial injustice and police brutality. The NFL owners’ action is not about patriotism. They are simply trying to protect their profits. I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. I didn’t get to pick and choose which amendments to the Constitution or whose rights and freedoms I supported and defended. In defending the First Amendment rights and freedoms of all Americans, this included the rights of bigots, white supremacists and others to assemble in the town square, call me names and tell me that this is not my country. Now if I could defend their rights, I damn sure can defend the rights of young men who have simply chosen to kneel as a protest. While I love our flag and stand at attention whenever I hear our national anthem, I did not serve to defend the flag or the anthem, as these are symbols. I proudly served to defend the actual rights and freedoms of all Americans.
MICHAEL E. WATERS, ELMORE, ALA.
Liberals, not Trump voters, are cause of U.S. discord
A reader’s take on Kathleen Parker’s column, “Trump, abusive frats both examples of ‘cultural disruption’” (Opinion, May 6), and his reference to the Trump White House being the better example as a root cause of that disruption in society, is laughable. While I do not excuse everything that emanates from any administration, there are facts that he ignores. What about Antifa and other thuggish protesters shouting down conservative speakers on college campuses? You also have a disgusting university professor offering up vile disrespect toward an honorable First Lady and her family upon her death. The current climate in this country is manufactured by a destabilizing, elite-minded media and the indoctrination-minded (as opposed to education-centered) education system. I am a Trump voter, and my kids will be proud American citizens – not grievance-mongering parasites. God bless this country, and God bless our president.
STEVEN BASSO, SUWANEE
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