The Issue: A shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 young children and two adults.
Yet another shooting at an elementary school (“Sandy Hook again,” May 25).
We have all failed these poor children and their devastated families, again.
But we, as a society, have also failed the perpetrators of these shootings. We do not treat mental illness as it should be treated.
Maybe if we could understand more about the assailants, we could get them the help they need before tragedy strikes, and put an end to these horrific attacks. God bless these poor little children and their families and classmates.
Steve Preziosa
Deptford, NJ
To Washington, DC, politicos: It’s very simple — no one but the police and the military need assault rifles. Period.
If you are too stupid to realize that, then you need to find another line of work. Quit embarrassing us and yourselves. Everybody knows you are in the pockets of the NRA.
And finally, people, stop re-electing these mooks into office time and time again, or you will see the president sending out condolences too many more times in the future.
Peter Sulzicki
Milford, Conn.
The month of May 2022 has been totally appalling. America has witnessed a handful of massacre shootings. The shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, is the most disturbing, since it involves little children.
The nation has not gotten over the May 14 grocery store shooting in Buffalo, where 10 people were killed and three injured. The next day was a shooting at Geneva Presbyterian church in Laguna, Calif., where multiple people were killed and injured.
Reading and listening to news like this only leads to questions of how safe we are. The targets of these hideous occurrences are of different races and cultures, but that doesn’t stop the perpetrators from taking innocent lives.
Larry Gore, Jr.
Detroit, Mich.
When are the Republicans ever going to admit that a good guy with a gun is never going to defeat a bad guy with an AR-15 who can slaughter a classroom full of little children in under a minute?
Sharon Austry
Forth Worth, Texas
It is horrible and shameful that police who were first on the murder scene at the school in Uvalde, Texas, were allegedly there for close to an hour before they entered the school.
As a retired NYPD cop, I know that cops, even just one cop by himself, should have immediately gone into the school and tried to take out the shooter. Most cops are courageous, but if one doesn’t have the courage to go in and face an active shooter, especially in a school, he or she shouldn’t be a police officer — anywhere. Risking your life is part of the job.
There is absolutely no excuse for waiting to enter the school, even if the officer had to give his or her life.
We may hear public-relations nonsense to excuse the police for their disgraceful delay to enter the school. It’s absolutely inexcusable in a case like this one.
Michael J. Gorman
Whitestone
Assault weapons are meant for one reason only: to neutralize a deadly threat — to kill people.
They’re not used for hunting, target shooting or any other sports related reason. They should not be permitted to be in the hands of any civilian. The same restriction should be in place for body armor.
How can politicians in Washington, who are sworn to pass laws in the best interest of Americans, lean on the Second Amendment every time assault weapons are discussed in Congress?
They know in their hearts that these were not the kind of weapons the Founding Fathers had in mind when they agreed to give American citizens the right to bear arms.
Sadly, this week I lowered the flag on my flagpole — again. Lately, it seems as though it’s been at half-staff almost as much as it’s been fully raised.
Dick Mills
Bardonia
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