Another day, another school shooting. Students and teachers have been killed because an at-risk young teen reportedly has criminally negligent parents and no one cared. Who reaches out to a 14-year-old boy whose mother has a long criminal record? Who guides him and gives him values, respect for life, a purposeful life?
He lives in a small town in Georgia of fewer than 20,000 people. Where are the community resources? Others knew he was in an unsafe environment. Did they turn away or try to help? He was obviously troubled when he allegedly posted about shooting up a school. Where are the social services, Big Brother interventions, support and direction for him?
We argue about gun laws as being the root cause of the evil. Politicians use it as a talking point but do nothing — they do nothing about it.
We failed him, and we failed the victims of this horror.
— Sandy Pernick, Wilmette
TSA-style screening at schools?
If many Republican leaders in Congress and the states have their way, in lieu of enacting sensible gun control measures to reduce the risk of school shootings, they will just have schools initiate Transportation Security Administration-style screening measures. Will students be able to apply with the National Parent Teacher Association for preapproval so they won’t have to take their laptops out of their backpacks or remove their shoes when entering their schools every morning?
— Bernie Woytek, Oak Park
Locks on classroom doors
The reporting on the recent school shooting in Georgia mentions that two teachers died alongside their students and that the students in the classrooms were barricading doors. Why? Because 25 years after the shooting at Columbine High School, many classroom doors in this country can still only be locked with a key from the outside. (This was the case in the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting.) Classroom doors are costly — an expense to a school budget that most people rarely notice.
As a teacher for the last 50 years, I can assure you that the two teachers who died were probably trying to save “their kids” from being shot — because that is how good teachers view their students.
In the next couple of weeks, many schools across the country will have their open house: a meet-and-greet for parents where they can walk around the school and meet their child’s teachers and their school’s administrators. Parents should check the doors of their child’s classroom. If there is no keyhole on the door’s inside, parents should confront administrators about it. They should also confront school board members. And, if they come across a politician looking for votes, parents should confront him or her as well.
This simple, uncontroversial change would save many more student and teacher lives than any of the suggestions about gun laws, hopes or prayers.
— Steven D, Fischer, Itasca
Kids dying for gun rights
How many more children have to die? It’s 2024, and the Second Amendment, ratified in 1791, is helping kill our school kids — America’s future.
— John Corona, Niles
Cracking down on enablers
Yes, the mental health of school shooters is a major factor in all these slayings. But it’s too late to address that health issue in the youngsters setting up to perpetrate these assaults. What can we do? We can start by making it more difficult to obtain the weapons of choice.
Who is responsible for access to these weapons by minors? Not just parents, but also and maybe especially those who assist to provide them.
Aiding and abetting a capital crime is a serious offense. Anyone who assists in providing access to assault-style weaponry to minors is in my book guilty of aiding and abetting.
Who are these people? Who has the power to deny access and didn’t follow through? Suppliers who don’t restrict sales to minors, legitimate dealers or others, relatives and/or friends who either explicitly allow access or do so through negligence to secure their own weapons.
Intent to maintain gun safety, and failing to do so, is not an excuse. People must realize the part they play and take responsible action to protect all of us. Those who shirk their responsibilities must be held accountable. They are accessories to murder.
We may not need new laws. We may only need the public to demand stricter enforcement of the concepts of aiding and abetting murder. Track down all those in the chain and indict them. Put the teeth in our current laws.
— John Bean, Chicago
Bears stadium likelihood
Willie Wilson’s op-ed (“Illinois Democrats must fix debt crisis in Chicago and the state,” Sept. 5) points out our dismal finances. One of his suggestions is to adopt zero-based budgeting that logically would preclude any deals to fund a new Bears stadium. As a Bears fan, I would love to see the team remain in Chicago, even though I now live in the suburbs, and a stadium in Arlington Heights for example would be more convenient.
If public money is a nonstarter, it seems clear that a new stadium would have to be financed by other means. Assuming it can’t go it alone, the McCaskey family would need partners to help with financing. To the family’s good fortune, the NFL owners recently voted to approve a proposal that allows private equity firms to invest in teams with some limits and conditions.
Will such firms have a preference for location? Following the money, I would think a location that allows for investment around the stadium would be more appealing. Think hotels, restaurants, betting parlors and so on. Plenty of possibilities for the private equity firm to increase the value of its investment. Doubtless there are other consideration I have not considered, but a suburban home for the Bears is looking more likely than not.
— Jerry Levy, Deerfield
Wilson’s column is lacking
Although I did not vote for Willie Wilson in the Chicago mayoral race, I have come to enjoy and look forward to his insightful opinion pieces intended to make people uncomfortable. However, his Sept. 5 essay is nothing more than a regurgitation of the current fiscal condition.
As Illinois and Chicago taxpayers, we bear the responsibility to fund our government and the services provided. As Wilson correctly points out, a significant portion of our taxes are supporting an aggressively self-serving Chicago Teachers Union and state and city pension plans. And as a sanctuary city, we are burdened with the additional care expense of the migrant population.
Wilson’s list of five suggestions does not contain any actionable items and no new paths to solutions to our fiscal problems. Each of the five points merely states the obvious, and that makes no one uncomfortable except the taxpayers.
— Diane Anderson, Chicago
Visit to Arlington was a stunt
In response to letter writer David N. Simon’s criticism of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris (“Harris’ criticism is rich,” Sept. 4), first, he has no knowledge of what they did to or for the Gold Star families.
Second, I ask him: Did he serve in the military? If he did, he’d realize that when you lose the war in a country you invaded, you leave running and shooting, just like in Saigon, Vietnam. Did he expect the Afghans to be on the tarmac waiving goodbye, saying, “Thanks for the visit. Come again”?
He should realize that Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery was just a publicity stunt. If it wasn’t, why did Trump need pictures?
— Frank W. Tedesso, Harwood Heights
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