The rear window of this police car was shattered during a shooting in Colorado Springs last Saturday. A gunman killed three people before being shot to death by police. (Christian Murdock, The Gazette via The Associated Press)
We just got back from Ireland. While we were there, a gunman shot nine people in Oregon. A few of the Irish people we met, who are not strangers to violence, said things like, “Why are there so many guns in America?” and “Why do you keep shooting yourselves?” I had no answers for them.
Now I’m back and there’s been how many more senseless shootings? One right in our backyard, and that couldn’t be stopped because Colorado has an open-carry law. The rest of the world must think we are reverting to our lawless, Wild West days.
My question to the Second Amendment fanatics and NRA absolutists is: Isn’t there anything we can do to stop the insanity? Reasonable gun control doesn’t mean we’re going to take your guns away. It does mean that gun owners should have more accountability for owning lethal weapons.
Our political leaders need to grow spines, stop listening to (and taking money from) the gun lobby, stand up and say, “Enough!”
Dan Eberhart, Denver
This letter was published in the Nov. 9 edition.Regarding the recent shooting in Colorado Springs and the 911 call that didn’t jump-start police action, I’m reminded of my own experience two years ago. We spent a lovely Sunday afternoon in Old Colorado City (a historic district in Colorado Springs), enjoying shops and restaurants, when a young family — mom, dad, baby stroller — passed us. The dad was wearing a holster and gun over his plaid shorts. My husband and I were taken aback. Why did he feel he needed protection on the sunny streets of Old Colorado City? We could never figure out his purpose — other than to be macho. I’m glad he felt safer, but I then avoided him at all costs. He made me very nervous, let alone not trusting anyone who would wear a gun in front of his own toddler.
We must revisit open-carry laws. Not only to preserve sanity and safety, but to aid law enforcement in their determination of what is a real threat or not. To me, anyone showing off their gun in public is a threat.
Krista Igoe, Littleton
This letter was published in the Nov. 9 edition.
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