Letters to the Editor

Why is a 24-year-old graduate student allowed to build up an arsenal of assault weapons? I expect our military and our police to have such weapons, but I see no reason that every random person should be allowed to purchase them.

We have the National Rifle Association to thank for making military-style weapons so easily available, as well as our elected officials who don't speak out about this. Thank you, E.J. Dionne, for saying so articulately what I feel ("A debate gun lobbyists don't want," Sunday).

I am so saddened for the families of the victims in Colorado, as well as the victims of all the other needless massacres that take place in our country more and more frequently. My heart breaks for those lives cut short in such a horrible way.

There is another act of violence, and the gun-control lobby and its allies in the media are predictably complaining about the availability of guns. It's time we stop listening to them.

In 1993, the gun-control lobby swore that the Brady Law would "keep guns out of the wrong hands." It has been a total failure.

In 2004, the gun-control lobby swore that the expiration of the assault-weapon ban would result in a massive increase in violence. Instead, the national homicide rate has declined about 10 percent since then.

Each time a state passes a concealed-carry law, gun-control advocates argue that there will be a return to the days of the Wild West. In fact, on the whole, those states tend to have lower violent crime rates.

Violent crime in Washington, D.C., has declined 12 percent since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that city's handgun ban five years ago. Homicides have declined 40 percent since 2007.

Whatever the gun-control lobby suggests in the coming weeks and months, do the exact opposite.

It is high time that we stop allowing the NRA to hold us hostage. If not now, after the Colorado massacre, when will we discuss gun control? Let all concerned people join New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his nationwide committee of mayors in signing petitions to open the subject of gun control for discussion.

Good sense tells us of the urgency to enforce and pass laws that will control the sale of weapons of murder. We still have the vote, and if enough of us speak up, our votes can overpower the money of the lobbyists.

If the merger between Abington Health and Holy Redeemer Health System were so beneficial to the community, as Michael B. Laign, CEO of Holy Redeemer, professes, why couldn't the agreement allow abortions to continue at Abington ("Patients would have benefited from merger," Wednesday)? It takes two to compromise.

It seems ironic that in this year when we are celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens and the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie, there is unwavering support for a return to the Gilded Age that these great writers abhorred.