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Free mental health care
could stop future deaths
With the Uvalde school shooting on my heart, I heard Donald Trump say at the Houston NRA meeting that we needed to “drastically change our approach to mental health.”
Yes. I have a practical suggestion: Let us provide free mental health care for all. It is possible to save many who would otherwise choose this awful form of suicide. Of course, it will be expensive but think about those dead children.
Joseph Landau
Monte Sereno
Hold political leaders
accountable on guns
In the aftermath of another tragic mass shooting, this time at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the Saratoga Ministerial Association feels compelled to speak out.
We are overwhelmed by sadness, as many of us are traumatized by thinking of our children or grandchildren having a similar experience. In Saratoga, we have a false sense of isolation from these horrific events, but we must face the fact that this is a cultural reality that affects us all.
There have been more mass shootings in the United States in 2022 than there have been days in the year. The No. 1 cause of death of children in America is guns (“Guns the leading cause of deaths of young in U.S.,” Page A1, May 30).
We must hold our leaders accountable to keep weapons out of the hands of those who can do harm. We must work together toward common-sense firearm safety.
Rev. Erik Swanson
Rabbi Jaymee Alpert
Saratoga Ministerial Association
Bloodshed is on
Abbott’s shoulders
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is responsible for the atrocious murder of 19 beautiful young lives and two devoted teachers.
Abbott has led the effort in Texas to further weaken already loose gun laws in his state. His campaign for reelection has now become a national referendum on his legacy of devastation and trauma.
The need to oust him from office is a call to action beyond the Texas borders.
Blanca Alvarado
San Jose
To change the law
vote out GOP first
Congratulations to the Republicans for creating a base of voters who wrongly believe the Second Amendment guarantees Americans the right to own weapons of war.
Decades ago, unfettered gun ownership was chosen as an issue to instill fear and passion, thus securing reliable Republican voters for the long term. Republican politicians are victims of their own success. They can’t vote for gun safety legislation without losing their jobs.
We won’t stop the massacre of children in schools and all the other horrific gun violence America is known for unless we remove every Republican from local, state and national office.
Janet Darrow
San Jose
The right’s delusions
are killing all of us
Tens of millions on the right believe that more guns make us safer and that an 18-year-old has a constitutional right to own an assault weapon. They believe that there is little racism in this country and to teach there is is un-American; that parents of transgender kids are child abusers; that people are gay or poor because they choose to be; that to solve economic problems you give corporations and the wealthy financial breaks and let the profits “trickle down”; that an unsustainable fetus is a human being and to choose to have an abortion is murder; that COVID is a liberal hoax and vaccinations are a Nazi conspiracy; that fraud cheated Donald Trump out of an election victory.
Remember that this is the platform for the next probable Republican majority. So be prepared for two years of political retribution and legislative stagnation. And, sadly, “thoughts and prayers” aren’t going to get it done.
Bob Parker
San Jose
Bearing arms inextricably
linked to military service
No one can argue that a well-regulated militia is necessary for the security of a free state. But, looking at the Second Amendment, there are commas in the middle, not periods.
To me it means that all phrases are related to each other and not absolute in themselves. The right to bear arms is related to the security of the free state. If you want to bear arms, you must participate in the security of the free state. In our country the well-regulated militia providing the security is the armed forces.
I dare say that if you want to bear arms, you must join the army and face the enemies of the country – not go and kill innocent children.
Ashok Agarwal
San Jose
Nonsense arguments
favor assault weapons
Stop the nonsense. Whether an AR-15 is an assault rifle or not depends on how it is used. If capable of full automatic or a semi-automatic, it is an assault weapon if used in a classroom of first-, third-, or 12th-graders. Designed for war, it’s lightweight – both the weapon and ammunition – handles high capacity magazines and has more than enough killing power (.223-caliber).
What sports hunter would proudly use such a long gun on a game animal? Duck hunters are allowed only a three-shell magazine.
Over the centuries the world has, with the Geneva and Hague Conventions, and the Strasbourg agreement, banned poison bullets in 1675, dealt with civilian hostages, chemical and biological weapons, and certain types of flat bullets.
Why, in our democratic republic, do we suffer this?
Jim Hamm
Los Gatos
Source: www.mercurynews.com