Reasonable gun measures could reduce shootings
Here’s a bromide that needs to be eliminated from public discourse: More guns make us safer. As Maureen Downey aptly points out in her recent column, Americans own more than 393 million guns, and we are not safer.
Some state politicians, including Gov. Kemp, seem to embrace a Wild West mentality with regard to firearms. Haven’t we evolved from that? The number of gun murders in the Atlanta area grows every year.
Let’s try reasonable gun control instead. Many of these shootings are not the work of criminals, but law-abiding citizens who lose their cool and reach for their guns. I’d bet that the number of shootings in Georgia would go down if we instituted some level of gun control or, at a minimum, required gun training.
We’re practically turning our schools into prisons while trying to make them safer. Schools should be warm, inviting buildings that make children want to attend them and embrace learning. Kids can’t be in lockdown.
BOB MOSELEY, PEACHTREE CITY
Kemp’s ‘redneck’ comment disgusting
As a Democrat, I don’t think Brian Kemp is the worst governor Georgia could have, even though his failure to fully expand Medicaid is disgraceful.
However, identifying himself as a “Georgia redneck going to Davos” is disgusting. How can the governor of a growing, racially diverse state like Georgia identify himself with a word that is thoroughly associated with white supremacy and racial discrimination?
All citizens of Georgia, except those proud to be called rednecks, should be embarrassed by our governor’s willingness to be recognized on the world stage by a term with such a racially identified history.
Also, if he has political aspirations beyond the confines of our state, I don’t think redneck will play that well outside the South.
C.R. VANTREESE, MARIETTA
