Letters: Gun violence epidemic a bipartisan issue; The real crime in criminalizing abortion

Gun violence epidemic a bipartisan issue

I was in tears this morning walking home from dropping off my two children at elementary school the day after a gunman killed more than 20 people at Robb Elementary School. My 9-year-old wrote to Senator Toomey after Parkland when he was “four and a half” asking him to get rid of “big guns” to protect people like him and his little sister; nothing has changed except gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children. This is educator mental health week, and the threat of mass shootings weighs deeply on most educators. We cannot keep living with this. Our elected leaders, especially Republicans, must stop thwarting the will of the American public to address this epidemic. Basic actions could keep our schools and communities safer: 1) passing background checks; 2) raising minimum age for gun ownership to 21; 3) banning assault weapons and buying back existing weapons; and 4) increasing mental health supports, especially in schools.

In the last ten days alone, I’ve told my children about mass shootings in churches, grocery stores and schools. The anxiety and trauma this creates when we see no political action will further harm us all. I implore our retiring Senator to use his last months to leave a legacy of protecting PA’s children. (And, this does not mean arming educators — we’ve seen repeatedly armed officers are no match for these high-powered assault weapons). Safety is a bipartisan issue, and the time for action from our elected representatives has long passed.

The real crime in criminalizing abortion

To those of you who want to outlaw abortion in Pennsylvania, I have this question.

After you close the clinics, are you going to close the airports?

Because if you don’t, there is nothing to stop people who have enough money from flying to a place where abortion is legal and the woman’s life is not endangered.

We don’t have to wonder if that’s what will happen. We’ve been here before. It’s what happens.

The only abortions your ban will prevent are the ones poor women would have had.

Well, you might say, at least that’s something. But are you so set on criminalizing abortion that you’re willing to have one set of laws for poor people, and another for everyone else?

Because that would be a crime.

Biden to blame for gas prices

On Friday, May 20, I stopped at Kwik Fill in Boalsburg. I told the attendant to either “fill ‘er up or stop at fifty dollars” — and handed her my birthday present — a nice crisp $50 bill. The pump stopped at 10.6 gallons. The sign at the station displayed “Regular $4.69 9/10”;

my tank was not full.

A fellow wrote a letter to the CDT telling us that the President(s) have no control over the price of gasoline — effectively meaning the price of petroleum products. I hope no one took him seriously?

I’m curious to know what all of you other Democrats are thinking as you pump gasoline into your vehicle? And some economists are advising that the price of gas is going even higher.

I don’t know about you, but I have had enough of this very inapt Biden administration’s handling of our country’s affairs — both foreign and domestic. There is no use writing about the litany of bungling!

And please let me add that this “little” thought is exceedingly kind, when compared to what some people have written to this newspaper about my president, Donald Trump.