Opinion: Another opportunity to do nothing about gun violence in America

To the editor: According to Gun Violence Archive, a not-for-profit corporation formed in 2013 to provide free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States, there have been 52,453 episodes of gun violence in 2017 in U.S as of Nov. 6, including 307 mass shootings. This has resulted in 13,175 deaths and 26,978 injuries.

In response to Sunday’s massacre in Texas, President Trump said, “In a time of crisis … Americans will do what we do best: We pull together and join hands and lock arms, and through the tears and sadness we stand strong.” (“26 dead in Texas church shooting, with children among the victims,” Nov. 5)

In other words, we as a nation continue to do nothing to address this scourge.

Sharie Lieberg-Hartman, Oxnard

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To the editor: Trump should have asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, where Trump was on Sunday, how many “mass killings” have been reported in Japan during the past 35 days. How about during the past year?

Trump should speak to each of the leaders he meets during his trip through Asia about the mass shootings that have taken place in their countries over the past 35 days.

After all these tragic shootings, we need effective gun laws, not more prayer.

Harry A. Roth, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Judaism teaches that all of us are in partnership with the divine presence, that “praying to end war” does absolutely nothing if the people waging war are unwilling to lay down their weapons. We speak of miracles, but place the responsibility on people to live by the lessons imparted by “supernatural” events.

So respectfully, House Speaker Paul Ryan, when you say, “The people of Sutherland Springs need our prayers right now,” I just want to shout to the heavens, “The people of the United States need congressional action right now.”

Place the mental health of this poor country at the top of the budget list, because we’re going out of our minds. Oh, and maybe round up the guns while you’re at it.

Heaven help us.

Rabbi Shana Chandler Leon, Reseda

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To the editor: We must look directly at the problem: too many guns of all types in society, and too many insecure and macho men who feel the need to use them against others.

We have rightly put women’s studies’ into the curricula of schools and colleges. We need to add men’s studies for a new generation of males who will not feel the need for overpowering dominance as part of their gender makeup. (I taught it at a Cal State University school years ago.)

Essentially, we need to move beyond patriarchy, a system of rule and control by the “fathers” based on rigid laws, hierarchy, dominance, removal from nature, guilt, punishment and abjection to ancestral figures, which turns men into violent controllers.

Big changes are required in every segment of society in order to achieve this shift, but it is both possible and necessary.

Robert Chianese, Ventura

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To the editor: Newtown, Las Vegas, Orlando, Aurora, Sutherland Springs, the checkout stand at a Colorado Wal-Mart last week. Thoughts and prayers — a meaningless phrase from those who repeat it but do nothing in the face of unimaginable massacres, one after the other.

Our nation’s most fervent prayers should, pardon the expression, target our cowardly, arrogant and greedy lawmakers who place the warped mission of the National Rifle Assn. above our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Pray our president and Congress are granted compassion, wisdom and courage.

Patricia Farrell Aidem, Valencia

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