Regarding David A. Hopkins’ commentary “The gun lobby’s strength is cultural, not financial” (March 31) his conclusion — that the partisan gridlock over gun policy is more likely to be broken by a “larger shift in the cultural zeitgeist” — is out of touch. The parents who send their children off to school every morning should not have to worry about where and when the next school shooting will be or live with “the crushing fear that they might be the next victim or survivor of gun violence” (“Nashville and a nation of mass shooting trauma,” editorial by the Los Angeles Times, March 31). A cultural shift takes time and if we love and care about our children, we can’t wait any longer.
It has been 10 years since Sandy Hook and for 10 years many of us have tried to convince New Hampshire legislators to keep guns off school grounds, and to support universal background checks, red flag laws and other sensible firearm legislation. Yet the Second Amendment believers hang on to this outdated right with no interest in compromise.
How a Disney film about Ruby Bridges, a novel by Toni Morrison, or a transgender person is more dangerous to a child than someone with an AR-15 intending to shoot children in a school is beyond me. The time is now. Not one more child should die by an assault weapon or any other firearm. If we cannot effect change in our state and federal legislatures, then we have to find nonviolent ways. If you have investments, are you investing in gun manufacturers? Do you buy from any businesses that sell firearms?
Yes, there have been glimmers of light, small changes that, as Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., says, can be the way to larger changes. And no, I am not giving up, despite the unwillingness of some New Hampshire legislators to considering that spreading more guns around in public spaces in not an answer. But we — parents, grandparents, and people who care — need to find another way because we are running out of time; because we don’t want to lose any more children.
Dena B. Romero
Hanover
Greetings from a New Hampshire Glock 17 owner since 1989. You may not be aware that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled recently that non-felons can carry handguns concealed outside of their homes without a permit (the Bruen decision). I celebrate this ruling big time. Many of your readers may also not be aware that the U.S. Supreme Court has also confirmed what is already in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, that gun ownership is a firm right (the Heller ruling). God is good for sure. I shall now continue to carry my G17 wherever I go.
Mitchell Ota
Lebanon
In the past 10 years, reports the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Granite Staters aged 65 and older increased 40% while its young population declined at 10 times the rate of the national average. This trend — more people leaving the workforce, fewer people to replace them — threatens New Hampshire’s economic and social vitality.
This spring, legislators and Gov. Sununu have a critical opportunity to pass and sign into law two bills that affirm abortion care access in New Hampshire and that remove possible civil and criminal penalties for medical professionals providing reproductive health care. They also have a responsibility to nix anti-LGBTQ legislation, including the so-called Parental Bill of Rights.
Please call on legislators and the governor to make New Hampshire a welcoming state for young people to study, work and live by affirming safe and legal abortion care access and refusing laws that stigmatize and endanger members of the LGBTQ community.
Nancy Welch
Hanover