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Krauthammer paints gun control as hopeless
To the editor:
On Sunday, Dec. 23, I sent a letter to the editor advocating gun control. My wife asked if the paper would give more space to a subject that had already been addressed. Evidently they would, because later I saw they ran an op-ed Dec. 23 by Charles Krauthammer well over twice as long as my piece that basically said gun control won’t work. If a person is what he/she eats, a newspaper is what it publishes.
My letter imagined what the slain children at Newtown might say about gun control if they could speak. I said that children were reasonable and would know that gun control could be a useful tool even if it was not perfect. Children, I thought, would value the life of even one child saved in the future over any inconvenience to adults now.
Krauthammer says almost exactly the opposite of what I imagined the children at Newtown would say. He argues that it would take more than 100 years to “draw down” the 25 million large-capacity magazines in existence now. He paints a difficult task as entirely hopeless.
It is Krauthammer himself who is hopeless when he ignores the children and ends his op-ed with the question, “How much are we prepared to trade away after Newtown?”
Ken Hollar
Hagerstown
Who benefits if ‘mortgage tax exemption’ is dropped?
To the editor:
I think the talk of eliminating “mortgage tax exemption,” as noted in Tim Rowland’s recent column, will deal only with owner-owned residences. Tim supports this idea, but admits he owns two houses (one that I assume is rented).
Owners’ personal residences and landlords’ rental homes fall into different tax categories. I doubt, and sincerely hope, the mortgage tax exemption will drop only for residences, not investment property. That might really subvert the rental housing industry.
David L. Woods
Hedgesville, W.Va.
Writer offers suggestion on gun control
To the editor:
After this horrible tragedy and senseless killing of all those children and staff in the school, this is my suggestion on gun control.
My son, who has a 4-year-old daughter, suggested having our National Guard with full body armor and weapons inside schools, installing bulletproof glass at all entrances of buildings and having doors locked at all times. Unlocked doors were an ongoing problem that I dealt with when I was a custodian for the Washington County school system for five years. Many times during special events, doors were open or unlocked without anyone watching the doors most of the time.
On gun control itself, I believe people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness by a physician should not be allowed to have guns in their homes, and if a family wants to have guns, they must be kept in a safe — locked away from such people. And, of course, anyone convicted of having a violent act against another person, such as a threat to cause evil or harm to people with a gun or otherwise, should have their guns taken out of the home.
To the editor:
On Sunday, Dec. 23, I sent a letter to the editor advocating gun control. My wife asked if the paper would give more space to a subject that had already been addressed. Evidently they would, because later I saw they ran an op-ed Dec. 23 by Charles Krauthammer well over twice as long as my piece that basically said gun control won’t work. If a person is what he/she eats, a newspaper is what it publishes.
My letter imagined what the slain children at Newtown might say about gun control if they could speak. I said that children were reasonable and would know that gun control could be a useful tool even if it was not perfect. Children, I thought, would value the life of even one child saved in the future over any inconvenience to adults now.
Krauthammer says almost exactly the opposite of what I imagined the children at Newtown would say. He argues that it would take more than 100 years to “draw down” the 25 million large-capacity magazines in existence now. He paints a difficult task as entirely hopeless.
It is Krauthammer himself who is hopeless when he ignores the children and ends his op-ed with the question, “How much are we prepared to trade away after Newtown?”
Ken Hollar
Hagerstown
Who benefits if ‘mortgage tax exemption’ is dropped?
To the editor:
I think the talk of eliminating “mortgage tax exemption,” as noted in Tim Rowland’s recent column, will deal only with owner-owned residences. Tim supports this idea, but admits he owns two houses (one that I assume is rented).
Owners’ personal residences and landlords’ rental homes fall into different tax categories. I doubt, and sincerely hope, the mortgage tax exemption will drop only for residences, not investment property. That might really subvert the rental housing industry.
David L. Woods
Hedgesville, W.Va.
Writer offers suggestion on gun control
To the editor:
After this horrible tragedy and senseless killing of all those children and staff in the school, this is my suggestion on gun control.
My son, who has a 4-year-old daughter, suggested having our National Guard with full body armor and weapons inside schools, installing bulletproof glass at all entrances of buildings and having doors locked at all times. Unlocked doors were an ongoing problem that I dealt with when I was a custodian for the Washington County school system for five years. Many times during special events, doors were open or unlocked without anyone watching the doors most of the time.
On gun control itself, I believe people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness by a physician should not be allowed to have guns in their homes, and if a family wants to have guns, they must be kept in a safe — locked away from such people. And, of course, anyone convicted of having a violent act against another person, such as a threat to cause evil or harm to people with a gun or otherwise, should have their guns taken out of the home.
