Happy Fourth of July
I hope everyone is enjoying the four-day holiday weekend celebration.
Happy Fourth of July. We won the lottery the day we were born in this country. It’s not perfect, but we had the chance (and still do) to make it so.
And, as it gets further out of reach with each passing day, we strive to make our way. Amidst the chaos, sound the chorus.
God bless America.
Bob Denny
Lewiston
Gun violence
Ryan Busse, author of “Gunfight: My Battle Against The Industry That Radicalized America,” left the gun industry because of the tyranny of the National Rifle Association.
“When they castigated me for selling a rifle to a Democratic governor, that was it,” he recalls.
Busse recoils at today’s NRA political machine that manifests itself in armies of MAGA hats and AR-15s, armed amateur militias, and a culture of fear, hatred, racism, intimidation, misogyny and glorification of violence.
“The NRA has always lobbied very effectively with big money to keep gun control laws from being passed,” Busse says. He holds the NRA directly responsible for juicing Americans’ love of guns to change basic laws of U.S. politics, causing the minimizing of gun violence and mass murders.
“The NRA has ordered the country’s political solar system by placing guns in the middle, forcing everything else to orbit around them,” Busse insists.
He says Americans must refuse to tolerate a culture based on the glorification of war and the weapons of war.
After the 2019 mosque shootings in New Zealand, the country swiftly enacted new gun laws. Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recalls: “We said ‘never again’ and we acted on that.”
After the March 27 shootings in Nashville, Tenn., state Republican Rep. Tim Burchett said, “We can’t stop the killings.”
His solution to protect children in school: home schooling.
The NRA and Republican Party are fine with gun violence. They promote it. It’s good for business.
Mike Epstein
Clarkston
Where’s the outrage?
I had the great privilege of completing a summer internship in the now historic Hull-House in Chicago in the early 1960s, more than 50 years ago. During that time, the Hull House was gradually closing, as the neighborhood it served had moved.
I was astonished to learn that in “the olden days” (think 1920s) the settlement house served immigrant families whose children worked in factories, and often did not attend school. Frequently, little children were tied to furniture all day, while their parents worked.
We have come a long way since then. However, during the pandemic, agricultural businesses were caught illegally employing underage children working in dangerous conditions, often at night. In the past two years, at least 10 states have introduced or passed bills that weaken child labor protections. Children can work with restrictions at the age of 10 in some states, and the Iowa Legislature recently passed a provision that businesses and factories would not be liable for injuries or deaths of children employees.
In 2023, we are replicating dangerous conditions for children seen more than 100 years ago.
Where is the outrage? It seems focused on attacking those waiting at the southern border, who could take up the jobs the children are doing. So, let’s allow more people into the country and at the same time strengthen and enforce bills that protect children from dangerous labor conditions. That action would be compassionate, humane, and a win-win for both immigrants and children, and the United States.
Nancy Street
Cheney, Wash.