Gary Franks made many erroneous statements in his column “The root causes of mass shootings and inner-city homicides” (April 21, TribLIVE). The worst was saying slavery would not have existed if men didn’t use guns to capture Blacks in Africa. That is a joke. Those Blacks were already captured and chained by other Black tribes, then sold to the slavers. And that is a fact that many refuse to believe.

He also blamed “underperforming” schools for crimes. Don’t blame the schools; they are stuck with bad students raised by bad parents. Those students either can’t or won’t learn no matter how good the teachers are in a given school. Yet despite the fact that they can’t or won’t learn, they continue to be promoted to the next grade through the social promotion policies pushed upon our schools.

Mr. Franks, poverty is no excuse for criminal behavior.

George Dawes

Washington, Pa.

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