Editor:The thought of countries like Iran and North Korea having the capability to develop, build and use nuclear weapons is a very frightening thing. Those countries say they need weapons like that to be safe and to protect themselves. Hmm, where have I heard that before?
Right here in the U.S. People are running out and buying truckloads of guns, high capacity magazines, ammo, etc., which they say are to "protect themselves"! Don't the people in other countries have the right to have bigger and better weapons to protect themselves? What a hypocritical country we are! What right do we have telling other countries what to do when we don't even have a civil society in this country?
The U.S. has some of the highest rates of gun homicide, drug use, rape, child abuse, etc., of any of the developed countries in the world. Most developed countries have already worked on the gun issue and have developed laws, rules and regulations that are effective. They ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines and have very extensive national background checks. And they even - surprise! - allow people to "bear arms." They also support their police forces and let them enforce the laws.
Our government and justice systems and even our Christian religion have quit working and/or are totally ineffective. We have the "right" to do whatever we want, as much as we want, anywhere, any time we want.
North Korea's threats to use nuclear bombs is very scary. But even if it is just a threat, the fact that those bombs could fall into the wrong hands is a serious concern. When the bad guys steal all of those brand new assault weapons that are now available out there, we had better be concerned too! Almost everything we do needs some kind of rules and guidelines and often a line that should not be crossed. If we can do anything to control gun violence in this country, we should do it. There are proven laws that work. No one "needs" an atomic bomb. No one "needs" an assault weapon!Tom TownleyCortez
