This gun insanity: When will it stop?

Another mass shooting, this time in Nashville, Tennessee, and we get more prayers but no action [“Honoring lives of the lost,” News, March 30]. We desperately need our Washington legislators to pass a serious federal gun control law now.

A federal ban on assault weapons is long overdue. State laws are not sufficient because anyone can travel with weapons from state to state.

In all the now-routine mass shootings, there has never been an instance where the use of an assault weapon other than by police protected or saved anyone. Still, more people arm themselves with these weapons of mass destruction.

Lives could be saved by enacting simple federal laws such as requiring a short waiting period to access a newly bought gun and having thorough background checks by all sellers, and providing better access to mental health facilities.

 — Elaine Rauch, Lynbrook

How many more innocent children, women and men must die until some new rational gun law is finally implemented? If lawmakers lost loved ones this way, I’d like to think they’d push for reform.

Who specifically is holding it back? And what campaign contributions are coming their way — plus other gifts, perks and trips from anyone involved in manufacturing or marketing guns, ammunition or related accessories? As we learned from Watergate, “follow the money.” Oh, I am a longtime registered Republican.

 — Mike Solomon, Northport

How often must we hear “enough is enough”? How many more people have to be killed by guns until we get serious about gun control? Over 40,000 people in the United States are killed by guns every year.

Republicans block meaningful legislation on gun ownership. They say most shootings are done by mentally ill people, yet only 4% of interpersonal violence is done by people with mental illness [“Change how we talk about gun violence,” Opinion, March 14].

I am not against gun ownership but am against making it easy to buy a gun. To drive a car, a person must pass written and practical tests. To own a car, a person must register it.

Cars and guns in the wrong hands are dangerous. Like cars, all guns should be registered, and people who purchase a gun should take a written test and attend classes on proper handling. If a gun is not registered, it should be a felony.

 — Roger Kaufmann, Northport

Warren Burger, the Republican chosen by President Richard Nixon as the Supreme Court’s chief justice in 1969, refuted gun lobby claims. After retiring in 1986, he said to PBS in 1991: “The gun lobby’s interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American people by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

In two articles he wrote: “The real purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure that state armies, the militia, would be maintained for the defense of the state.” And: “The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires.”

— Raymond Boivie, Kings Park

In the United States, there are 1.2 guns for every man, woman and child; that’s over 400 million guns, not counting ghost guns. Guns take the lives of more of our children than birth defects, cancer or anything else.

 — Mark Bernstein, Roslyn Hts.

The picture of the child looking out through the window of the school bus, sobbing and looking terrified with one hand on the glass after the Nashville shooting is perhaps the most devastatingly poignant photo I’ve ever seen.

I suggest that gun control advocates in Congress adopt that picture as a lapel pin to counter the arrogance and insensitivity of those wearing AR-15 rifle pins [“Awful Nashville sequel to Santos story,” Opinion, March 30].

 — Jim Brennan, Rocky Point

Uvalde, Texas; Las Vegas; Sandy Hook Elementary School; Parkland, Florida; and now, Nashville. Why do I feel guilty after each one? I find it difficult to remember what each deadly event involved. Was this the one where dozens of adults were murdered or the one where so many kids died? Was an AR-15 used? Was it purchased legally?

Cowards in our legislatures do not put their constituents’ lives over money from vested interests. Common-sense gun safety measures are approved by most Americans, so do legislators not care about our lives or our children’s?

 — Sherry Eckstein, Huntington

My husband and I walked out of a movie because the gun violence was unacceptable and dangerous. These films unfortunately influence our country, making guns and death seem normal. Must we continue to feel that anywhere we venture, like schools, supermarkets and places of worship, could become a killing field?
 — Sylvia Essman, Plainview

Is anyone surprised? This seems to have become the norm, with most people immune, unless it’s your child or grandchild. This is insane.

It’s not taken seriously by many Republicans in Congress since many wear the AR-15 lapel pins, including Rep. George Santos (Queens/Nassau). Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert’s 2021 Christmas photo showed her with her minor sons holding rifles.

In the first three months of 2023, more than 130 mass shootings have occurred in which at least four people were injured or killed. More than 60 American children have been killed in a gun crime. Not to worry. The Republicans are busy doing things they deem more important such as banning books, stopping women’s reproductive rights and passing “don’t say gay” bills.

— Ann Leahy, Wantagh

While Republicans hold the House majority, we’ll hear “a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun.” We have plenty of good guys with guns, but it goes on. “Red flag laws infringe upon our right to privacy.” What about the rights of victims to safely go to school and concerts? The GOP isn’t willing to sacrifice donations from the National Rifle Association. These politicians place their jobs above the people they are sworn to protect.

 — Robert Broder, Stony Brook

Democrats ask for bans on assault weapons and Republicans say, “Don’t make it political.” Florida bans teaching Black history, some books, mentioning gay rights and other things they find unpleasant. Conservative states will enact more liberal gun laws. Bans are the business of the day — except about guns. Banned topics are to be for children’s safety. But books have not yet killed anyone. If they truly worry about children, stop banning books and start banning weapons.

 — Sue Wallace, Bayside