Letters to the editor for Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015

How to stop the violence?

I was horrified to wake up and hear of the on-air murder of two television journalists in Virginia the other day, yet their bodies were still warm when the White House, the governor of Virginia, and Hillary Clinton were all calling for new gun laws. At this point, it appears the killer did everything by the book: filled out paperwork, passed a background check, waited the appropriate time — and then slaughtered two former coworkers.

What, exactly, specifically, “common sense measures” would have prevented this crime? It seems likely from the latest stories that, had he been denied the purchase, he would have screamed discrimination, and the NAACP, ACLU, NRA and the Rainbow Coalition would have all stood up for him.

He jumped through all of the hoops, and chose to deliberately, wantonly and publicly kill two people.

He wasn’t a criminal, not adjudged as having mental health issues; he was, by most accounts, simply a difficult person to work with, who saw himself a perpetual victim. He committed a violent and vile act, and no law could have stopped him — certainly not one proposed by people guarded around the clock by armed security details.

What happened was tragic. No one, no matter how they feel about guns, wants dangerous or unstable people to have them.

This man stated in his manifesto that his act was racially motivated, though I doubt the Justice Department will investigate this “hate crime.”

Stop the violence? Yes! How, though, is the hard part.

Gary M. Collier

Gardnerville