No more GOP nonsense about gun rights

Someone needs to tell Republicans we are not living in 1870’s America, when cowboys with holstered guns supposedly roamed the prairie on horseback.

By Letters to the Editor

A body is taken from the scene where eight people were killed and others wounded by a gunman who then shot himself at a FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis, Friday, April 16, 2021.

Republicans, I am sick and tired of you using the pathetic excuse against gun control — that any measure designed to strengthen public safety with tougher gun background checks infringes upon the rights of gun owners and the Second Amendment.

Fed up to the bone.

One gun tragedy follows another, with the FedEx tragedy in Indianapolis being the latest. They keep piling up.

Someone needs to tell the GOP this is not 1870’s America, when cowboys with holstered guns supposedly roamed the prairie on horseback. That’s a “Gunsmoke,” “Lone Ranger” and “The Wild Wild West” mentality.

SEND LETTERS TO: letters@suntimes.com. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be 350 words or less.

This is a nation facing a gun violence epidemic. Real action is badly needed. President Joe Biden needs to make clear to Congress, and particularly to the Senate, that if they don’t get off their butts and act, he will bypass them with more executive orders to fight gun violence.

A mental health check should be a part of any background screening for a person to own a gun. We should require gun buyers to see a doctor first.

Gun fanatics who believe they have a God-given right to own a firearm, such as Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, are on the wrong side of public opinion. The GOP needs to be reminded of that. One poll after another has shown that nearly 90% of Americans favor tougher background checks for gun owners, with even a majority of Republicans holding that view.

Herb Vermaas, Salem

Tailgating in White Sox parking lots

A recent Sun-Times editorial raised the idea of residential and retail development on the site of the parking lots at Guaranteed Rate field. I say let it be.

Sox fans enjoy the fact that we have the space to tailgate before the games. People barbecue, enjoy a beverage, playing bean bags games and generally hanging out with each other. You can’t do that on the North Side around Wrigley Field, where a shortage of parking is a huge issue.

Families of Sox fans enjoy loading up the car and driving to the park, knowing there is plenty of parking space. Not every family has access to public transportation or would want to take it. Cut back on the parking lots and the entire Bridgeport neighborhood will be flooded with excess street traffic, with all the folks looking for a parking spot.

I would be willing to bet that most Sox fans feel just as I do.

Thomas Bajorek, Burbank

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