Gun safety begins at home with secure storage
School has begun for most of our children in Georgia.
It was heartening to hear from other states in our country that many school officials, from superintendents to principals, are asking parents who have guns in their homes to secure them away from their children, from our youngest to our teenagers.
It is a fact that a child or adolescent dies, on average, every other day in Georgia from gun violence or access to a gun in their home.
Parents, grandparents and other family members can prevent this tragedy through the safe storage of guns in the home.
Spread the word and act on it. Avoiding the senseless loss of our children is everyone’s responsibility.
Surely, Georgians can meet this challenge to save our children.
TEED M. POE, ATLANTA
Atlanta should do more for the unsheltered
The growing number of evictions and unsheltered people should be repugnant to anyone in Atlanta who believes everyone has a fundamental right to a place to live. Though there is no law to that effect, a higher moral law should be observed in a civilized city.
In Germany, the city of Ulm provides small, streetside, thermally insulated pods. They are for overnight or short-term occupancy. New York City provides vouchers to help struggling people pay rent and remain in their apartments. The reason is clear: Though vouchers are a “gift” of taxpayer money, taxpayers and the city as a whole end up paying far more to police, hospitalize and, at times, to incarcerate evicted citizens, many of whom do work but earn too little to cover the costs of living in Atlanta.
To every dilemma there are right and wrong solutions. Atlanta could stand out for its thoughtful compassion instead of, as it does now, for its general neglect of the needs of our unfortunate fellow humans.
RICKS CARSON, ATLANTA
