AZ falling behind in conserving public lands
According to the Center for Western Priorities, Arizona ranks second to last in Western states protecting public lands, finding that only 879 acres (less than 0.005%) have been protected in the last decade.
This severe lag doesn’t reflect Arizonans’ priorities. A staggering 82% of Arizona voters support conserving federal public lands, protecting historic sites and safeguarding areas for outdoor recreation.
While both of our U.S. senators, along with Reps. Raúl Grijalva, Ruben Gallego, Ann Kirkpatrick, Greg Stanton and Tom O’Halleran, have sponsored legislation to protect more than a million acres of land around the Grand Canyon and prohibit uranium mining in the area; they can’t let up until it is signed into law.
If we want to bolster tourism, the outdoor recreation economy and access to public lands for those who enjoy hunting, fishing, hiking and camping, we have to conserve the lands that make Arizona the iconic destination that it is.
Trica Oshant-Hawkins
East side
Think, what are others doing
Re: the May 28 article “Gun debate needs to break old patterns.”
It took me several minutes to read Ramesh Ponnuru’s opinion article. Basically it said nothing is going to work to reduce gun violence. Therefore, we need to think.
Well I “think” the rest of the First-World countries don’t have this problem. Possibly we should do what they are doing.
Ray Omdahl
Green Valley
Fake news; Real pain
Right-wing politicians constantly remind me that what I see and read in the mainstream media is “fake news.’’ But what I’m seeing lately is real pain. When did we become a country where other people’s suffering is not our problem? A school shooter kills someone else’s child? As long as no one takes my gun, we just have to live with that. The Founding Fathers based the Constitution on the Declaration of Independence, which enshrines “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as inalienable rights. When did unfettered gun ownership come to define liberty, and when did the right to remain alive become the price of liberty? We ask first responders to put innocent victims’ lives above their own safety. Is it too much to ask gun lovers to put children’s lives above their right to own weapons that can take those precious lives in an instant? America has a gun problem. When are Republicans going to acknowledge that? When can a real conversation begin?
Lori Cinnamond
Foothills
Many of us are awake
Re: the May 26 letter “Wake up!”
In his response to another letter this letter writer feels that people need to “Wake Up!” He takes issue with the fact the original letter writer blamed Republicans for many problems, including gun deaths, pollution deaths, COVID deaths, etc. Of course Republicans are not to blame for all of these problems, but what I take issue with the most in the letter writer’s response is when he said that “under Clinton and Obama ... they did squat,” and today they (Democrats) “hold all the cards.” First of all, under Bill Clinton there was an assault weapons ban, which was rescinded under President George W. Bush. Second, is the letter writer aware of the filibuster and the need for 60 votes in the Senate? Watch what happens if Democrats try to pass some sensible gun laws after the recent shooting, and see how many “cards” they hold. How many “cards” did Barack Obama hold when he couldn’t even get a hearing for his Supreme Court nominee?
Tim Chamberlin
Oracle
Wake up, America
Repeatedly we have heard how “All it takes is a good guy with a gun to take out a bad guy with a gun.”
So in Uvalde, Texas, the “good guys,” with guns — police officers — stood by and waited and waited, failing to take out the bad guy while he proceeded to murder 19 children at school.
The refusal to address real possible approaches to shootings after shootings, after shootings, is beyond reprehensible.
Do not buy into the same old, nauseatingly repeated slogan. Wake up, America.
Stuart A. Ulanoff
Oro Valley
Show the carnage
When are we going to put an end to this gun insanity? How can an exceptional people allow their children to be slaughtered in schools and adults to be killed everywhere, every day?
When the media started showing photos of dead Ukrainian civilians, the American people threw their support behind our effort to punish the Russians for their brutal invasion.
As a Vietnam era veteran, I know that the carnage shown on the nightly news had a serious effect on turning a majority of Americans against an unpopular war.
Show the photos! Let the American people see what these weapons of war did to their babies in Sandy Hook and Robb Elementary. Show the slaughter of innocents in Las Vegas, Buffalo, Charleston, Tucson and hundreds of others. If we continue to sanitize this madness it will never end.
Dennis Rivera
Foothills
Explaining the inexplicable
Re: the May 29 article “GOP still seeks full flowering of minority rule.”
Dear Mr. Bracy:
At last someone has explained the role of Lewis Powell at the breach birth of the Republican Cabal. Now what to know is who convinced Donald Trump to run for the presidency. He’s not smart enough to dream this whole thing up on his own. He can’t even figure out how to steal from his own charity without getting caught.
Also, thanks to your analysis of the future of streamlined government, the voters and non-voters can no longer wail of innocence when the benevolent dictator they were warned about moves against them, which he inevitably will if Putin, Hitler, Stalin and Mao are examples.
Susan VonKersburg
Northeast side
Coming elections
I would like to respond to the call for voters comments on the Opinion Page.
My suggestion is that the Arizona Daily Star publish a complete list of all candidates for every state and local office in Arizona as soon as possible. The primaries are coming up soon and there are many candidates, some with a shady record. There are only a few candidates that are advertising on local TV. I have no idea of the qualifications, or lack thereof, of most of these individuals. If we had a list, we can monitor the various comments in newspaper articles and letters to the editor about them. We can then make better informed decisions during the primaries. By the time of the general election, we uninformed voters may have already selected duds for the general election.
Art Di Salvo
Northwest side
Abortion and the power of choice
Re: the May 29 letter “Abortions done since Roe v. Wade.”
The letter writer wonders why many continue to support abortion rights. Let me present another viewpoint. Why would non-white and economically disadvantaged citizens want to bring another life into this country when: 1. police target them for simply being non-white or poor, 2. they are targeted and shot simply for existing, 3. their rights, economic well-being, and “personal liberty” are being systematically withdrawn.
I could go on. To be succinct, who would want to bring a child into a country that commonly practices such behaviors? When the lives of all truly matter in this country, having an abortion may not need to be a consideration.
Lastly, abortions are not forced; they are options. For a decision that is truly personal, you should not have the power to force your objection on anyone other than yourself simply because you would not choose the same option. That is the power of choice.
Craig Whaley
Oro Valley
Firearm safety
As a 10-year-old boy, I was fortunate enough to attend a summer camp in upstate New York. Along with swimming, track, archery and crafts was my favorite activity, riflery. Mr. Soan, the rifle instructor, was low-key, attentive and devoted to safety.
Thus, I and many other youths learned to shoot a .22-cal. single-shot rifle and to treat guns with care and respect. Gradually, I progressed through several stages of achievement and earned colorful patches (“Marksman,” “Sharpshooter,” etc.) provided by the National Rifle Association that I could sew on the back of my jacket.
Nearly 70 years later, the jacket and its patches are long gone. I don’t miss the jacket, but I sure wish I had those NRA patches. Why? Because I’d like to take them to the headquarters of the NRA and burn them at the front door.
Gerard Ervin
Northeast side
Candidates for Arizona Secretary of State
Re: the May 23 letter “Finchem, the fox guarding the hen house.”
I think this letter shows that Rep. Mark Finchem’s involvement in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election disqualifies him from becoming Arizona’s Secretary of State.
Another candidate for that office, Rep. Shawnna Bolick, also disqualifies herself by betraying democracy. She introduced House Bill 2720 that would have allowed the Arizona Legislature to overturn the votes of Arizonans to decide presidential elections, if the Legislature disagreed with the outcome.
When asked about her opinion on early voting, Bolick recently said her views were “nobody’s business.” Also, . . . “because her husband sits on the state Supreme Court, Bolick said she would not talk about the legal challenge to early voting,” as reported by the Daily Star.
The Secretary of State should be a public servant and not a haughty princess who disdains democracy and replies “nobody’s business” to questions about her ideas and qualifications relevant to the position.
Ronald Pelech
Midtown
House Bill 1412
Re: the May 31 article “Impact of bill leaves AZ classrooms muddled.”
HB 1412 appears to preclude public school students from being taught that the victims in Buffalo were targeted because they were Black. What I discern from the bits of language provided and Rep. Michelle Udall’s muddled remarks is that teachers can teach that the shooter was a white supremacist who deliberately targeted Black shoppers, but students may not pass judgment on the shooter based upon his race. Yet the shooter did exactly that with his weapon of war. And Rep. Udall apparently admitted as much in saying “I would hope that a teacher would not be in the classroom promoting that students judge based on race, as was done in that shooting.”
HB 1412 is yet one more effort by the Arizona Legislature to control the thoughts and opinions of public school students. Send it to me. I have a shredder.
John Riley
Oro Valley
Democrats ignore some mass murders
Mass shooters fall right into the political hands of Democrats. Don’t they understand that their actions give “ammo” to anti-Second Amendment Democrats who despise the personal ownership of firearms? Instead of cherishing the right to own firearms, mass shooters wantonly go about slaughtering people with no thoughts of how their actions will impact the 99.9% of law abiding gun owners. Right on key after every mass shooting, Democrats go before the news cameras demanding gun control. These same Democrats however ignore the mass murders that go on every weekend in urban cities like Chicago. Maybe because the violence is predominately Black on Black, using stolen or straw-purchased handguns. These same Democrats, who are so outraged about the loss of life in mass shootings, vigorously support abortions, which essentially terminates the life of a developing human being. What hypocrites. As long as Democrats support abortion, they will have no moral high ground on calling for banning firearms and repealing the Second Amendment.
Rory Smith
Marana
GOP leading to disenfranchisement of AZ voters
It is really depressing to watch Sen. Kelly Townsend, Rep. Mark Fincham and the gang trying to make it harder and harder for the citizens of our state to vote. Clinging tenaciously to the voodoo thought that the 2020 election in the state was not conducted according to ethical standards (despite being certified by a GOP Governor), the GOP wants to eliminate mail-in voting, early mail-in voting, drastically reduce the number of drop boxes for ballots, hand-count ballots, all to be done before the November election. It’s impossible.
Voting is one of the most important privileges of citizenship. We should be making it easier to vote, not harder. Unfortunately, the GOP well knows that the more votes that are cast, the less likely they are to win. I wonder if that’s why they’re trying to make it harder for me to vote?
Rick Smith
Foothills
