Readers write: May 7

I must take umbrage with a recent letter to the editor. The writer makes a broad statement: “There are more restrictions on voting than there are on owning a gun” (Readers write, May 4). Yes, owning a firearm is not complicated or restrictive. It takes a dose of common sense and a thinking mind and carries grave responsibilities. Purchasing a firearm, though, is a complex dance with county, state and federal laws and regulations.

Registering to vote is not complicated or restrictive, either. While there are conditions that must be met with each process, registering to vote is fairly painless. You can register when you renew your drivers license, on line at the library, by mail or in person.

To legally purchase a firearm in the state of Georgia is more difficult. While you can register to vote via different methods, purchasing a firearm must be done in person. Even if you order a firearm from out of state, it must be transferred though a federally licensed Georgia dealer.

JAMES VAN VALKENBURG, SNELLVILLE

GOVERNMENT WASTE

Let’s put job funds

loss in perspective

What a great piece on the theft of money that was meant to be spent on training for jobless people (“City squandered job-training funds,” News, May 4). It involves the usual suspects who brush it off by saying mistakes were made. It makes me sick to see these unscrupulous people preying on those who truly need job training. How can these people live with themselves?

The abuse of government-funded projects is so entrenched in so many sectors of society. I see companies like Wal-Mart teaching their employees how to apply for food stamps because they refuse to pay them decent living wages. Where is the outrage? The amount of money that was misappropriated or stolen by Atlanta Workforce Development is very little compared to the amount of money being taken from the government by wealthy corporations every day.

MICHAEL DE GIVE, DECATUR

Reed should start

jobs investigation

Recently we read about illegal pay raises in the Atlanta Watershed Department. Now we read about job-training funds being paid to non-existent companies and pocketed by others. My word for this is corruption. I would remind Mayor Kasim Reed that he is ultimately responsible for the way city departments are run. As in any organization, the tone is set from the top. And I would recommend Reed spend more time and energy auditing Atlanta’s city departments. I’m thankful The Atlanta Journal-Constitution can uncover these messes, but why does it take a newspaper to do the job the mayor’s office should be doing?

RICHARD W. AUGUSTA, ATLANTA