LETTERS: Rise up, lawmakers, against gun lobby

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says it is “premature” to talk about gun control legislation. He is correct, because discussion of gun control will go nowhere until such time as the majority of our lawmakers in Washington respond to the gun lobby not with open palms, but rather with clenched fists.

Gerald Weisberg, Lake View

Proud of Illinois for protecting abortion rights

I have never been as proud to live in Illinois as after this election and, more recently, after the signing of HB 40, a bill about abortion. I moved here in 2004 from Ohio to be in a more liberal area, and it’s not been easy, but I’ve been able to survive as a musician and father here.

One of the things I love about Illinois is the outstanding health care my daughter has received through the state, from my wife’s pregnancy to my daughter’s current age of four. I’ve studied women’s history extensively and I’m concerned that the separation of church and state is still in peril.

I feel that most beliefs about sex and reproduction are religious. Furthermore, we should be cautious of men like President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch making decisions about women’s health. We need more women in government as they only take about 20 percent of positions of power at best.

We should be trying to focus on cutting down gang violence, helping the poor and the impoverished, bringing jobs to the city and rest of the state, empowering as many people as possible to control their destinies.

Dan Huber, St. Charles

Our narcissistic president

As the devastation and heartbreaking suffering mounted for our sisters and brothers in Puerto Rico, they were subjected to a most demeaning and disgusting visit from our perpetually adolescent president. He told them they should be “proud” that they had fewer deaths than Katrina. Proud? Everything he said in Puerto Rico revealed him to be completely without an ounce of compassion and terminally narcissistic.

Edward David Juillard, Morgan Park