Letters: Our inaction killed schoolchildren; Protect police from weapons of war; Technology requires gun law change

Our inaction killed schoolchildren

Nineteen children slaughtered in Texas. Changing gun laws is only the tip of this iceberg. Lurking beneath the surface is something much more sinister: mental illness.

People will say, “Yeah, I knew something wasn’t right,” or, “They’re disturbed.” But what do we do to help folks battle this? Nothing. It is our inaction that killed those children.

Patty Lentz

Aina Haina

How to curb gun deaths in America

Columns by Jacob Sullum and Megan McArdle pointed out how difficult, and probably ineffective, proposed gun control laws would be if enacted (“Touted policies ill-suited to stopping mass shooters”; “Beware misleading data on American right-wing violence,” Star-Advertiser, May 28).

In my opinion there is nothing to stop mass shootings short of confiscating all guns in America.

There are more than 40,000 gun deaths per year in the U.S. However, there is an easy way to decrease gun-related deaths. Australia’s solution was to buy back guns and destroy them. If the number of guns was reduced, it is logical that gun deaths would decrease dramatically.

Don Moody

Kailua

Protect police from weapons of war

Before we criticize the police, we need to ensure every police officer has the means and tools to protect himself or herself from an AR-15’s fury.

Weapons of war need to be removed from our society.

Elections can purge our Congress, so make lawmakers vote now. The voters will then know who’s willing to make America safe again.

Pauline Arellano

Mililani

Technology requires gun law change

I request that all lawmakers, especially those at the federal level, read the Second Amendment and focus on this phrase: “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

It was adopted in 1791 when there were no automatic rifles and guns. It would take a qualified rifleman several minutes to discharge a flintlock rifle.

The phrase in the Second Amendment needs to be changed without delay to account for the technological changes made to handguns and AR-type rifles, before more mass shootings take place.

Jay Pineda

Waikiki

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