Gun deaths comparison falls short: Letters

Re “Car crashes vs. gun deaths” (Letters, Aug. 9):

The letter regarding a comparison between deaths caused by guns vs. car crashes is a simplistic non-starter often used by the pro-gun community.

What the writer fails to understand are the words “domestic terrorism.” Therefore, we must not compare the proposed use of sane gun controls with accidents of any kind.

Mass shootings have changed the American psyche, where citizens now are scared into changing their shopping and entertainment habits for fear of being killed in an open public place.

Children are having active-shooter drills in school and parents are buying bulletproof backpacks. That is terrorism. That is the kind of change in our society that is a clear deterioration of the quality of life in America.

The writer suggests “relax and enjoy it” when you are in public. That is like telling someone who is depressed or frightened to just not be that way. Comparing body counts is a failed approach to the problem of mass shootings and its effect on our lives.

We do not have the collective will in this country to meet the problem head on; even sane gun controls are waved away in defense of the Second Amendment, and the money paid to lawmakers by the gun lobby assures no meaningful action will take place.

It’s a sad day in this country as our quality of life diminishes in front of our eyes on several fronts, but we must be clear that mass shootings have a much greater effect on our lives than a simple body count argument.

Vincent Guiliano, Jurupa Valley

Trump’s track record

I am an intolerant person when it comes to condescension and gaslighting. My reaction can be similar to Judge Judy’s. And that describes my response to “Trump is not a racist” (Letters, Aug. 6).

His track record shows a consent decree over housing discrimination, and newspaper ads calling for the execution of the Central Park Five, who were already proven not to have raped the victim by DNA testing, and were subsequently cleared of all charges (after spending years in prison) when the real perpetrator was identified, charged and convicted.

Then Trump publicly decried their release from prison where they’d wrongly been confined. He characterized Mexicans as “rapists” who “bring crime” and “bring drugs,” but that’s OK, because, as an afterthought, he added, as an apparent concession “some are good people.”

Then he transferred money appropriated by a vote of Congress specifically for other purposes, including military pensions and current military uses, for the wall. He did this by declaring a “national emergency,” which wasn’t quite so urgent until he and his party lost one house of Congress in the 2018 election.

And he called for four non-white female newly elected members of Congress to “go back where they came from,” notwithstanding that three of them were born in the United States.

It has been said, “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

Bill Seckler, Riverside

Critical theory

Re “Reject far-left ethnic studies curriculum” (Editorial, Aug. 8):

Notice that this curriculum is driven by “critical theory,” an ideology that dominates the humanities and social sciences in academia.On it, there are only oppressors and oppressed; to achieve justice, “outcomes” (including economic resources) must be equalized.

So, it is no surprise to see this proposal. But critical theory itself should be scrutinized; it is based on many fallacious assumptions and cannot hope to preserve justice.

Scott Smith, San Bernardino

Facebook political ads

Regarding Facebook political ads: Who believes what they read and see on Facebook? Politicians say what they need to get elected, with no intention of living up to their word. None are honest, true or believable.

How can these venues actually sway a thinking person? There may be a modicum of truth, but mostly a spin, and people believe their words. It really is a sad commentary on society today.

Edith Reed, Hemet

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