OpinionSeptember 29, 2019

Gun rights at risk

A very nice lady contacted me about my letter to the editor concerning mass murders. She identified herself as a Democrat, a liberal and a gun owner. She said that she agreed with everything in my letter except for my statement that Democrats want to destroy the Second Amendment and take away our guns.

That statement was not just my opinion, it is based on a recent United States Supreme Court case.

In McDonald v. Chicago, a 5-to-4 decision in which the Supreme Court upheld the individual right to own and possess a firearm, the dissenting view written by Justice John Paul Stevens and signed by three other liberal judges read: “The framers did not write the Second Amendment in order to protect a private right to self-defense. By its terms, the Second Amendment does not apply to the states. Read properly, it does not even apply to individuals outside the militia context.”

In other words, if their view had prevailed, no individual citizen would be allowed to own a firearm unless he was in a federal militia and he probably would not be allowed to possess it in his own home.

We are one Supreme Court justice away from losing our Second Amendment rights.

The new Democrat Party stands for socialism, radical environmentalism, late-term abortion and gun confiscation. Do you? Think about it.

Marvin F. Dugger

Lewiston

Pass Proposition 1

Pullman residents trying to get an appointment with their family doctor typically have to wait many weeks to get in. Too few docs are juggling too many patients, a frustration for all.

Pullman needs more good doctors. We’ve grown at a faster rate than the medical community can handle in a timely fashion.

This summer, the Washington State University College of Medicine received a $750,000 grant to help with start-up costs for a new residency program in family medicine at Pullman Regional Hospital. But the hospital is reaching the limits of its capacity and physical expansion is needed.

Nearly 20 years ago, Pullman residents passed a multimillion-dollar bond to move the hospital from an old, outmoded building on the WSU campus to its current location on Bishop Boulevard. We’ve been reaping the benefits ever since.

We must now prepare for the next 20 years by recruiting, training and retaining doctors in Pullman; by shortening waits for doctor visits through implementation of system-wide electronic medical records, making them accessible instantly to providers and eliminating wasteful redundant paperwork.

Pullman has been blessed with world-class health care in our own backyard. Let’s keep things moving forward by approving Proposition 1.

Roderick T. Schwartz

Daily headlines, straight to your inboxRead it online first and stay up-to-date, delivered daily at 7 AM

Pullman

Trump’s got the gold

For more than two decades Donald Trump longed to build a Hotel Moscow and own 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

To him, the presidency was a gold mine worth billions and he was going to take it. It’s just business.

He was a Democrat on paper but couldn’t hijack that party. It was too inclusive of minorities and too many lawful members.

The Republican Party was primed for his hostile takeover.

By 2016 the GOP was scared to death of Hillary Clinton, a long-time public servant whose only crime was to become very successful in a man’s world and not apologize for it.

Now they were going to lose again, this time to a woman.

There were lots of party members still apoplectic over Barack Obama being elected by a large majority and who, despite inheriting a mess, did an extraordinary job.

Trump despised Clinton and Obama. He duped the GOP into believing he could be managed, so the cabal was formed.

“.... Oh, he’s a crude rogue but we can wrangle him in.”

“... What’s a little grab ass? ... Well, that’s just the Donald. ... He’ll learn. ...”

So with GOP’s blessing, Trump humiliated and disparaged all of their other candidates and their families. In 2016 he got in; who cares how?

The Republicans gave him the vault keys and he looted it. ...

He stole their party’s soul and they let it happen while doing their best Sgt. Shultz impersonation. ...

They don’t know Trump’s ventures end in bankruptcy.

Richard Strongoni

Moscow

Daily headlines, straight to your inboxRead it online first and stay up-to-date, delivered daily at 7 AM