Now that sports betting is legal, what happens to people convicted of it?

I have a question. Now that the Supreme Court’s Monday ruling struck down the gambling prohibition on sports betting in all of the United States, what does it mean for all of the arrestees who have been jailed and tarnished for life with felony convictions for taking action on sports betting?

I have served 33 years serving the City of Chicago as a cop. I have had many assignments including working vice in the early 1970s . Eighty percent of our arrests were for sports betting, the rest were for prostitution and illegal card games, pimping and policy, which was a favorite in the black community before the lottery took hold and essentially killed the policy business,

What is the end game for those who have been permanently stained for their betting habits?

Bob Angone, Miramar Beach, Florida

High drug costs

I understand that people with high drug costs go to Canada, or Mexico to buy the same drugs for lower prices. If the same drugs they use are available outside of the U.S. for lower prices, then there should be a law that says that drugs cannot be sold in the U.S. for more then the lowest price available elsewhere.

Norman Friedland, Highland Park

Ideas do compete

Cook County Clerk David Orr says Illinois’ campaign finance system squeezes out competing ideas. Unnamed critics of the system say it discourages diversity. (“Will big-bucks race spur change?” May 14).

Given the radically different competing ideas Gov. Bruce Rauner and J.B. Pritzker have on the origins of and solutions to our state’s problems, Mr. Orr’s contention is laughable. Given the diversity of the plans of the two gubernatorial nominees, the critics’ contention that diversity is being discouraged by the current campaign finance system is tenable only if one’s definition of “diversity” does not extend beyond skin color or gender to encompass such apparently trivial dimensions as ideas, thought, and opinions.

There may be problems with our campaign finance system, but given the radically different ideas embodied by Bruce Rauner and J.B. Pritzker, discouragement of “competing ideas” and squeezing out of “diversity,” at least of thought, are not two of them.

Mark M. Quinn, Naperville

Take a hard look

Guns, mental instability and or hatred when combined create a lethal mixture. Mass shootings like those in Las Vegas, Texas and Florida and daily random violence throughout the country and in Chicago are a result of this mixture. Getting rid of the hatred in the hearts of some of our fellow human beings will be much more difficult than taking guns out of the mixture.

In a country that is awash in violence caused by guns, it is time that we take a hard look at this weapon of mass destruction. A person who owns a gun is in reality declaring that at some point and under certain circumstances, he is willing to take the life of another fellow human. All gun owners fall under this category even so-called responsible gun owners. It has been shown day in and day out that no one with a gun can be trusted to not at some point use it when he becomes mentally unbalanced or provoked in a fit of rage. Or when the heart is full of hate.

There is a majority in this country that would prefer to see a society free of guns and the violence they produce. One thing for certain, If you do not own a gun, you will never be in a position to use it.

The question is, how long will the majority who favor a peaceful gun-free society continue to allow a minority to block meaningful change? If the gun-rights side continues to prevail and refuses to budge an inch, the majority might have to resort to the power of the boycott to target businesses, cities and states that cater to those who won’t be satisfied until everyone is walking around with a gun on their hip.

Let’s hope it never comes to this.

Ned L. McCray, Tinley Park