America’s Response to the Latest Carnage
Readers criticize President Trump’s failure to call for new gun laws and express anger and fear but not “bewilderment.”
Aug. 5, 2019
New York Times
While President Trump was correct to condemn white supremacy and racist hate, his failure to call for significant new gun control measures is distressing. It took just minutes for the gunman in El Paso to kill 22 people and as little as 30 seconds for the Dayton gunman to kill nine. Both gunmen used assault or semiautomatic weapons that are designed for use on battlefields, not hunting or recreation.
Sadly, Mr. Trump, like so many other Republicans in Washington, is apparently more beholden to the gun lobby than humanity itself.
Cody Lyon
Brooklyn
To the Editor:
While our country has grown tired of hearing “thoughts and prayers” every time a mass shooting occurs, we must also reject the too simple explanation of the shooter’s mental illness. President Trump offered that very excuse with respect to the shooters in El Paso and Dayton.
We are facing an epidemic of hate and racism fueled by Mr. Trump and others high in his administration. His rantings of hate and disparagement offer fringe groups and their followers the license to engage in these terrible acts. Leadership is required, not demagogy.
Mr. Trump should insist that Mitch McConnell immediately recall the Senate for a special session to pass common-sense background checks, close gun show loopholes and ban all assault weapons. Our leaders must also face down the N.R.A. and its bought stooges and at a minimum eliminate its tax-exempt status.
To keep our children safe and protected, our schools must be secure, but, most important, our teachers must convey our everlasting belief in equality for all and respect for each person’s race, religion, gender and nationality. That is the only way to protect our democracy.
Philip Coltoff
New York
The writer is a senior fellow at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work and former chief executive of the Children’s Aid Society of New York.
To the Editor:
“In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy.” This seems an odd sentiment, coming as it does from a president who is the exemplar of all of those things.
Actually, President Trump draws a very fine line here: For him it is quite all right to appeal to racism, bigotry and white supremacy to get out the vote, but it goes too far when it gets out the gunmen to take action in line with what the president espouses every day.
Don Doernberg
Penn Valley, Calif.
To the Editor:
Re “Mass Shootings Are Terrorism” (editorial, Aug. 5):
You’re right. If the perpetrators of this weekend’s mass shootings had been Islamist and/or foreign terrorists, the United States government’s full resources would have been instantly, vigorously mobilized to counter them. No wasting time on “thoughts and prayers.”
So yet again this nation endures carnage, and yet again key political “leaders” will do essentially nothing. Can our increasingly dysfunctional democracy no longer protect us from within (never mind from without)?
Lunatics and socially deranged people exist in every country in the world. What makes America different from every other advanced country is that we allow easy access to guns. Let’s stop wasting time analyzing their motives, beliefs, warped childhoods, etc. It’s all irrelevant! We just need to stop them from getting their hands on mass-murder weapons. And most N.R.A. members support this, even if its leadership cannot.
Michael Northmore
Staten Island
To the Editor:
While some are trying to make a causal link between mass shootings and President Trump and his rhetoric, it’s too simplistic. Some cases are driven politically, but both sides are guilty of vitriolic speech. My political feelings are strong, but I’m not about to pick up a gun to kill anyone.
At the heart of these events are disturbed people who are easily provoked by their own demons and by what they hear. We need to lower the temperature of our political rhetoric and pursue all ways to keep guns out of the hands of the unstable, along with taking a hard look at the sale of firearms that clearly fall under the category of war weapons.
Phil Serpico
Kew Gardens, Queens
To the Editor:
Re “One Shooting Massacre Follows Another, Shaking a Bewildered Nation to Its Core” (front page, Aug. 5):
Bewildered? I don’t think so. That word implies that the nation doesn’t understand why these chilling, spirit-killing events are occurring. Had I been the headline writer, I would have chosen “horrified,” “outraged” or “furious” as more appropriate adjectives.
It’s not confusing or bewildering at all. This country has an obsession with guns, permits stunningly easy access to them, has a leader who spews hate and division all day long, and has a Congress that lacks the courage to do anything about any of these facts. These simple realities are obvious to anyone who cares to actually pay attention.
No, I’m not bewildered at all. But I am one extremely angry citizen.
Carol Nadell
New York
To the Editor:
Today I woke up with an aching heart. Thirty-one people were murdered. One of the massacres was committed by a white supremacist. He had targeted El Paso since many of its inhabitants are Latinx.
As a teacher in a school in North Carolina with several Hispanic children, I find this terrifying. I fear for my students’ safety and their families’ safety. I have seen some of these loving children crying because they fear that their parents or even they themselves can be detained and sent to a country they have never known. And now, they are afraid that a white supremacist may kill them.
As Latinx, we feel that President Trump has placed a target on our backs based on his inflammatory and racist remarks. We feel our North Carolina senators are more concerned about hurting the president’s ego than protecting us.
We Latinx deserve better.
Alirio Estevez
Chapel Hill, N.C.
Aug. 5, 2019
New York Times
While President Trump was correct to condemn white supremacy and racist hate, his failure to call for significant new gun control measures is distressing. It took just minutes for the gunman in El Paso to kill 22 people and as little as 30 seconds for the Dayton gunman to kill nine. Both gunmen used assault or semiautomatic weapons that are designed for use on battlefields, not hunting or recreation.
Sadly, Mr. Trump, like so many other Republicans in Washington, is apparently more beholden to the gun lobby than humanity itself.
Cody Lyon
Brooklyn
To the Editor:
While our country has grown tired of hearing “thoughts and prayers” every time a mass shooting occurs, we must also reject the too simple explanation of the shooter’s mental illness. President Trump offered that very excuse with respect to the shooters in El Paso and Dayton.
We are facing an epidemic of hate and racism fueled by Mr. Trump and others high in his administration. His rantings of hate and disparagement offer fringe groups and their followers the license to engage in these terrible acts. Leadership is required, not demagogy.
Mr. Trump should insist that Mitch McConnell immediately recall the Senate for a special session to pass common-sense background checks, close gun show loopholes and ban all assault weapons. Our leaders must also face down the N.R.A. and its bought stooges and at a minimum eliminate its tax-exempt status.
To keep our children safe and protected, our schools must be secure, but, most important, our teachers must convey our everlasting belief in equality for all and respect for each person’s race, religion, gender and nationality. That is the only way to protect our democracy.
Philip Coltoff
New York
The writer is a senior fellow at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work and former chief executive of the Children’s Aid Society of New York.
To the Editor:
“In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy.” This seems an odd sentiment, coming as it does from a president who is the exemplar of all of those things.
Actually, President Trump draws a very fine line here: For him it is quite all right to appeal to racism, bigotry and white supremacy to get out the vote, but it goes too far when it gets out the gunmen to take action in line with what the president espouses every day.
Don Doernberg
Penn Valley, Calif.
To the Editor:
Re “Mass Shootings Are Terrorism” (editorial, Aug. 5):
You’re right. If the perpetrators of this weekend’s mass shootings had been Islamist and/or foreign terrorists, the United States government’s full resources would have been instantly, vigorously mobilized to counter them. No wasting time on “thoughts and prayers.”
So yet again this nation endures carnage, and yet again key political “leaders” will do essentially nothing. Can our increasingly dysfunctional democracy no longer protect us from within (never mind from without)?
Lunatics and socially deranged people exist in every country in the world. What makes America different from every other advanced country is that we allow easy access to guns. Let’s stop wasting time analyzing their motives, beliefs, warped childhoods, etc. It’s all irrelevant! We just need to stop them from getting their hands on mass-murder weapons. And most N.R.A. members support this, even if its leadership cannot.
Michael Northmore
Staten Island
To the Editor:
While some are trying to make a causal link between mass shootings and President Trump and his rhetoric, it’s too simplistic. Some cases are driven politically, but both sides are guilty of vitriolic speech. My political feelings are strong, but I’m not about to pick up a gun to kill anyone.
At the heart of these events are disturbed people who are easily provoked by their own demons and by what they hear. We need to lower the temperature of our political rhetoric and pursue all ways to keep guns out of the hands of the unstable, along with taking a hard look at the sale of firearms that clearly fall under the category of war weapons.
Phil Serpico
Kew Gardens, Queens
To the Editor:
Re “One Shooting Massacre Follows Another, Shaking a Bewildered Nation to Its Core” (front page, Aug. 5):
Bewildered? I don’t think so. That word implies that the nation doesn’t understand why these chilling, spirit-killing events are occurring. Had I been the headline writer, I would have chosen “horrified,” “outraged” or “furious” as more appropriate adjectives.
It’s not confusing or bewildering at all. This country has an obsession with guns, permits stunningly easy access to them, has a leader who spews hate and division all day long, and has a Congress that lacks the courage to do anything about any of these facts. These simple realities are obvious to anyone who cares to actually pay attention.
No, I’m not bewildered at all. But I am one extremely angry citizen.
Carol Nadell
New York
To the Editor:
Today I woke up with an aching heart. Thirty-one people were murdered. One of the massacres was committed by a white supremacist. He had targeted El Paso since many of its inhabitants are Latinx.
As a teacher in a school in North Carolina with several Hispanic children, I find this terrifying. I fear for my students’ safety and their families’ safety. I have seen some of these loving children crying because they fear that their parents or even they themselves can be detained and sent to a country they have never known. And now, they are afraid that a white supremacist may kill them.
As Latinx, we feel that President Trump has placed a target on our backs based on his inflammatory and racist remarks. We feel our North Carolina senators are more concerned about hurting the president’s ego than protecting us.
We Latinx deserve better.
Alirio Estevez
Chapel Hill, N.C.
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