7 letters from this week: Children suffer when we cater to gun owners

Children suffer when we cater to minority of gun owners

The horrifying murder of small children is not the worst of it. The worst of it is catering to a minority of paranoid gun owners, who do not represent a majority of gun owners, to force millions of small children to endure drills and the presence of armed guards. They are fooled by sugarcoated explanations of “protection.” They watch television, too. What kind of country will we have when they grow up, carrying their instilled terrors into adulthood?

Men disabled by crippled souls keep promising relief as they hand out ever more money to “harden” schools into prisons. Meanwhile, parents submit their DNA so that their children can be identified, and in their wake come the experts in facial reconstruction. But don’t worry. It will never happen to us or our children.

Robert Supansic, McKeesport

Jesus never approved of abortion

I couldn’t help agreeing somewhat with letter-writer Dave Ninehouser’s declaration that Jesus, nowhere, specifically calls out the evil of abortion (“Jesus never preached about abortion,” May 20, TribLIVE). There are many words that are missing in the records as coming from the mouth of Jesus. But Jesus called abortion evil when he gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. Specifically, thou shalt not kill.

We argue a lot about when a fetus is considered a living being. As science progresses, this timeline continues to shrink in the direction of the point of conception. Some will never accept this scientific fact. But that does not make it false. It only shows those folks as ignoring reality in their closed-mindedness.

But, to be sure, there is nothing written anywhere attributed to Jesus that could be interpreted as his approval of abortion. Such a misleading thought should never cross our minds.

Gil Brezler, Penn Township, Westmoreland County

Hostage to America’s guns

Letter-writer Russell Dejulio’s idea is to lock down schools like they are Fort Knox (“Solution to school shootings,” May 26, TribLIVE). Armed guards, metal detectors, allowing teachers to carry guns. That’s like putting a Band-Aid on major surgery. What happened to the “land of the free”? The United States is the only civilized country to have so many school shootings.

The Second Amendment should have been eliminated hundreds of years ago. It’s an antiquated law that’s been abused by gun lobbyists.

Most Republicans want to take away a woman’s right to have a medical procedure but don’t want their right to carry a gun taken away. They seem to care more for an unborn fetus than a living and breathing human being killed by a gun. My country, the “land of the free,” is being held hostage by denying me access to go shopping or to a theater, house of worship or school, or even to walk down the street without being afraid of getting shot.

I am truly ashamed of this country and to say I’m an American. Hopefully the tragedy in Texas will turn the tide and wake up the country to stop this from happening again. May God bless the USA.

Marlene Butler, Hempfield

New teachers will steer clear of certain school districts

Multiple articles have appeared in the Trib regarding local school board actions that make teaching more stressful. It’s time for a reality check.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education reports a steep drop in the number of teachers being certified. In 2010-11, the state certified 15,031 new teachers. By 2019-20, that number was 5,128. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there are 567,000 fewer educators in U.S. public schools now than there were pre-pandemic. In short, it will be harder to staff classrooms.

I am a retired educator who hears from former students. After Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin initiated his “report a teacher” phone line and one Virginia school district openly considered a public book burning, a young teacher working in that state contacted me. His message was this: Tell new graduates not to apply in my district. I can imagine teachers in some Westmoreland County districts issuing the same warning.

Teacher expertise matters for student achievement. Whether new or experienced, teachers will have more choice than ever over where they teach. Some Westmoreland County districts may soon find that the best educators are unwilling to work for them.

Helen C. Sitler, Ligonier

Why still supporting Trump?

Why so many Americans support Donald Trump is beyond comprehension. I must confess that I am a DINO who bought wholeheartedly into the slogan to “Make America Great Again” in both 2016 and 2020. But Jan. 6 has caused me to do a 180-degree turnaround. Are the American people just ignorant about the Constitution (one of the oldest forms of continuous government in modern history) or are they just willing to circumvent the Constitution as Trump attempted to do?

There is hypocrisy in the fact that the very Constitution that put Trump into the presidency in 2016 (remember Hillary Clinton won the popular vote) he attempted to overthrow in 2020 because he failed to generate the popular vote that would have given him the electoral vote and a second term in the White House.

Law-respecting citizens of the United States can thank God for providing this country with the likes of Mike Pence, Bill Barr, Pat Toomey, the Georgia secretary of state, et al., for not capitulating to Trump’s requests. Trump then proceeded to challenge voting results via the courts and lost virtually all of his challenges.

Are there no moral principles left in the United States that so many people are so willing to support a person for the presidency who has been thrice married, twice divorced and paid hush money to a porn star and God only knows how many others?

If that is the type of person the American people want as their president, then may God show his mercy on the future of this country!

Jack A. Graham, Unity

It’s not extreme to expect Biden to solve our problems

Recently it was disclosed that a plot to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was foiled. The intentional leak of an upcoming court document in regards to the Roe vs. Wade decision was behind it. If this misguided individual would have gotten his news somewhere other than CNN, MSNBC, “The View” or Jimmy Kimmel, he would have seen that this decision is not going to end abortion but return the power to the states.

We hear every day from President Biden and his administration how we, as Americans, are above certain behaviors.

Biden’s intentional destruction of our energy independence in an effort to appease his woke base, forcing families to buy electric vehicles, is delusional at best. Worse than that it is unattainable without fossil fuels. This administration always claims to follow the science until science disputes their point.

Unsustainable printing of money has caused high inflation. We have a baby formula shortage, an off-scale level of lawlessness, and only one in seven ports operational in LA due to environmental regulations, thus our supply chain issues.

The fentanyl crisis at our southern border is killing thousands of our citizens, yet neither it or illegal crossings seem to matter to this administration. The facts are there to prove the numbers.

There is nothing extreme in expecting your president to uphold his sworn oath of office to protect our country’s interest.

Maybe the reason our president has not had time to attend to any of the issues above is because he was too busy preparing for his recent appearance with Kimmel.

Romayne K. Levcik, Greensburg

Dems will stop at nothing to take down Trump

I currently am watching, not for much longer, the Jan. 6 “hearings,” with no defendant, namely President Donald Trump. The Democrats, drowning in their own insanity, will stop at nothing to stop this great man from being reelected in 2024. What scared them in 2016 and what is scaring them regarding the upcoming election?

How could this party constantly criticize his every move every single day while he was in office without a peep about President Biden’s one screw-up after another? What is wrong with you people?

Sharon McKnight, Avonmore