Sinful, shameful, pathetic. GOP inaction on gun violence is unforgivable. | Opinion

Republican priorities

Republican legislators have a mantra, “We must protect those in the womb, they cannot defend themselves.” It makes no difference though that civilians walking this earth have no protection from the killing efficiency of the assault weapons.

Republicans continue their cult-like worship of the NRA and former President Donald Trump as bodies continue to pile up daily. As soon as the next site of human slaughter is announced, I challenge those lawmakers to immediately visit the scene. Let them witness first-hand the reality that assault weapons produce. Let them hold the tear-stained hands of the shattered souls as they look into the eyes of parents and family members. Of course, they won’t face the results of their shameful inactions. They simply don’t have the guts to admit they’re just as guilty as the shooter.

Republicans continue to dig themselves into the realms of repulsiveness. As a Democrat, I’m happy to hold the wheel barrel but, most importantly, as a person of faith with an actual conscience, I’m sickened by their tolerance of collateral damage. They continue though, with great pride in their efforts to make sure no school library shelf has a copy of “Heather Has Two Mommies.”

Sinful, shameful, pathetic, unforgivable.

Cindy Sutton Hargett, Lexington

Destructive weapons

U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, and U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, I have questions.

When and where will the next mass shooting take place - which school, which bank, which park? Who will be next? Will it be my neighbor or yours? Will it be my family member; or will it be yours? What have you done to prevent the next horror? What are you currently doing that will protect your constituents and the citizens of Kentucky and the U.S.?

Our country went to war with Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that did not even exist, yet in the U.S. we sell them at the corner store. More guns have NOT made us more safe! Time to end these mass shooting nightmares! Time to ban assault rifles, semi-automatic guns, and ALL other weapons of mass destruction! The blood of EVERY mass gun violence victim streams from YOUR hands! Time to wake up and do your job!

Beverly C Johnson-Miller, Lexington

Gun problem

I continue to be sickened and exhausted by the gun violence in this nation. Republicans keep saying that it is not a gun problem, but a mental health problem. As a mental health clinician for 24 years, I heartily disagree.

The profile of our mass murderers that I see over and over again is one of a young, mostly white male, who appears to be disgruntled about things in his life — work, friends, ability to get dates, having been bullied in middle school (weren’t we all?), etc. In other words, “Life isn’t treating me the way I deserve to be treated.” This is not a mental health diagnosis. These murderers often have no criminal history. The only thing that will keep the rest of us safe from these potential assassins is for them not to have access to guns.

Yes it is the guns! How long must we wait?

Cindy Frase, Lexington

Gun chips

I suggest gun manufacturers put a homing chip in all new guns so that police and authorities could locate all gun in a public place such as schools.

Police could drive by those public places and detect those guns. Gun owners who abide by the laws would not be affected. Illegal shooting would be greatly reduced and eventually eliminated.

Russell Oliver, Hazard

Kelly Craft’s ads

Can Kelly Craft sink any lower? In her disgusting ad that calls our schools immoral, she has proven that she is the one lacking morals. Her propaganda and deceit mark her as a very unchristian person. What she depicts only happens in her mind - and what a sick mind it must be.

Apparently, the opposite of woke is incivility, hatred, lying, and manipulation of those you wish to subjugate. I truly pity those who fall for her fake indignity. She’s using you in the best Trumpian manner. What she’s dishing out on her table isn’t fit for consumption.

Glenna Brouse, Lexington

Supporting girls

Dear Kelly Craft: You say you want to “protect our females and…our young girls.” Yet you also say that you want to dismantle the Kentucky Department of Education. Has anyone ever told you that universal public education—for all girls of all colors and all socio-economic backgrounds—is the best way to ensure that every girl has a chance to build a stable and successful future? And that, if pregnancy complications arise, access to legal abortion may be necessary to guarantee that they live past child-bearing age? That’s assuming, of course, that these girls make it into their teens without having been gunned down by a legal weapon of war. I promise you, these are much graver dangers for “our young girls” than the boogeyman in the bathroom.

We would like to think that you truly mean it when you say you support “females” in all their aspirations. But I’m afraid you’re only interested in girls who look, and act, and think just like you.

Sallie Showalter, Georgetown

Coal investments

Kentucky’s children are cannon fodder for Attorney General Daniel Cameron as he eliminates free market investment choices of banks and other investors. Cameron supports a legal ban on investments aimed net-zero emissions by 2050, yet these are investments that factor in the true costs of irresponsible energy production.

Cameron rejects the free-market evaluations that factor in health costs on our children and ourselves, disaster costs from the dying industry’s receding commitment to safety and the clear future of devaluation of the dying industry as the inevitable switch to renewables increases. If coal was such a great investment, it would not need Cameron to babysit it.

The Attorney General is abusing government power to demand irresponsible investments in a dying industry that only benefits its owners and eliminates free market choices – why? Is his goal to serve masters that will fund his reign over a wasteland state? Instead, he should commit to policies for a prospering and healthy Commonwealth. He should care about Kentucky’s children.

Write Daniel Cameron at KYOAGOR@ky.gov and tell him to stop his war on responsible businesses who want to lower fossil fuel consumption because it is a wise investment.

Cathy Hinko, Louisville

Poverty kills

On April 14, 2023, I attended an excellent symposium in Morehead, Kentucky held by the Northeast Kentucky Area Health Education Center. Among a host of excellent speakers, keynote speaker, Mr. Michael Meit, MA, MPH, from East Tennessee State University, spoke on the health disparities of northeastern Kentucky.

He pointed out that current research shows the leading cause of death in northeastern Kentucky is poverty. Although a host of other factors contribute to these deaths, a lack of educational and economic opportunities places people in poverty and keeps them there. People turn to drugs to escape the harsh reality of their poverty, decreasing their ability to be healed and find gainful employment.

It is said that industry will not move to eastern Kentucky because they cannot find enough people to pass drug tests. However, Mr. Meit dispelled that argument when he told us that our people have uncommon resilience and innovation. Additionally, we have made great strides decreasing the overdose rate, making treatment more accessible and increasing harm reduction opportunities. We are on the mend and must promote these successes. Our legislators can help by aggressively pursuing industry through appropriate incentives for jobs in northeastern Kentucky.

Lew Nichols, Greenup

Thank you, Gatewood

The recently signed into law Senate Bill 47 is more than long overdue. While the bill will not take effect until 2025 Kentucky now joins more than half of the other states in allowing some form of medical cannabis. This is just a much needed first step toward the liberation of cannabis for the medical benefit of our Kentucky society and humanity.

At his bill signing, Gov. Andy Beshear gave credit to some of those who sponsored and supported this bill, and they deserve it. Thank you. But the energy that breathed life into legalization in Kentucky began many years ago.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Gatewood Galbraith put his neck, his future and his passion on the line for the liberation of a plant, and the benefit of humanity. He conducted a conference at the University of Kentucky after publishing “The Kentucky Marijuana Feasibility Study,” an in-depth analysis and vision for the future. It was a future Gatewood would not live to see here in Kentucky. Gatewood ran for several state offices. He developed more name recognition in Kentucky than just about anybody. And everybody knew what was always on his mind: marijuana for medicine and recreation; hemp for a better environment.

Gatewood made many friends and a few enemies. His friends are still here, and now have been joined by some of the others.

Thank you, Gatewood.

Harry Merlin, Lexington

Crossing guard death

The only reason I was shocked to read that a school crossing guard was killed by a motorist recently was because it’s a wonder it hasn’t happened before--and often.

Some years ago, I was a crossing guard on Clays Mill Road. Every single day I realized how vulnerable I was, relying solely on my whistle and body to stop moving cars. The city provided no flashers, no traffic control vehicles, no signage, no nothing. It was me and only me. And many, many drivers every day simply ignored my presence as though I was some kind of silly annoyance.

If construction companies can provide mobile signs to alert motorists to road work why can’t the city do more to protect the lives of our crossing guards, many of whom are no longer young or nimble enough to jump out of the way when rude drivers ignore them?

Sally Wasielewski, Lexington

Repressed state

Should we shout “Sieg Heil”? Or call each other “Comrade”? Should we change the name of our country to The Repressed States of America?

Our freedoms are disappearing. The books? The votes? A woman’s choice?

Vote.

Sherry Carpenter, Lexington

White evangelicalism

There is a nationwide campaign, fueled by the marriage of pretending fascism, that is a holy crusade: that White Evangelicalism/Nationalism is a manifest destiny.

At the heart of this movement are people like former President Donald Trump (though Trump is not a “believer,” just a user that hopped into the vehicle to fabricate himself as it’s Messiah, not realizing he was more the vehicle for them than he for it). They don’t need Trump anymore though. However, if he is made a martyr for their cause, this will fit nicely into their narrative of persecution.

The other principle “commander” (a “Handmaid’s tale”-styled scenario) is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis and the white Christian/Nationalists use the term “woke” the same way Hitler used the word “Jew.”

Democracy is done by consensus, by courage, by honesty, by accountability, and by transparency. It embraces diversity, inclusion, and equality. It is eternally aspirational to freedom, equality and justice (which are mutually dependent upon the other). It is an actual ethos that rejects dominance and rebukes subjugation. We either embrace this or we condemn humanity to a cold dark death in an oubliette of lost potential.

Robert Moreland, Lexington

Compiled by Liz Carey

This story was originally published April 20, 2023 at 2:40 PM.