The City needs lifeguards
Re: the May 22 article “Half of Tucson’s public pools to stay closed this summer.”
I was flabbergasted to learn that half of the City pools won’t open this summer because of a shortage of lifeguards. What a disappointment for so many families! City pools are where children can go to have fun and be safe. I was a lifeguard for two summers when I was 18 and 19 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Lifeguarding, though, requires applicants to be good swimmers and pass the lifeguard certification test. Commensurate with that, the City should offer a competitive wage, which is more than minimum wage, to draw interested young people. If enough people apply and are certified, schedules can be accommodated. Pools need lifeguards and Tucson in the heat of the summer needs to open all of its pools.
Ellen Shenkarow
People are also reading…
Midtown
Gun owners should have sponsors
At the present time, gun control is defined by both bureaucracy and paperwork, which is then elevated to the state and federal level. Perhaps it is time to inject the human element into the equation. In his novel, “Red Planet” by Robert A. Heinlein, a young person on this frontier planet must stand before a judge or magistrate with his sponsor to be allowed to carry a sidearm. In the present situation — if enacted — a young person would have to be sponsored by an adult who knows the individual over a course of years and attest — under oath — that they are capable and responsible enough to have access to a handgun/rifle. In doing so, the sponsor assumes responsibility for the actions of this individual and can be held accountable — with the person they are sponsoring of any wrongdoing. Perhaps if Mr. Ramos had a sponsor, he would not have committed the atrocities he did or failing to find a sponsor, be denied gun ownership.
Richard Rebl
East side
Do more than thoughts and prayers
Think about those killed in Texas, their families and friends. Then, everyday, think of what you can do to further gun safety legislation. You can: contribute money, call your senators, representatives, Arizona House and Senate. Talk to old friends; ask them to call their legislators. What if these dead children were their grandchildren? Talk to neighbors; what if shopping here was as dangerous as it was in Buffalo two weeks ago? People you play golf, tennis or racquetball with — talk to them. Your kids and your grandkids. Are they registered? Do they vote? Make that happen.
Talk about gun safety — not gun control. Seat belts and speed limits aren’t “car control regulation,” they’re “automobile safety regulation.” Don’t let people say, “The liberals want to take my guns.” Wrong, we want reasonable gun safety legislation. It won’t stop every mass shooting, but seat belts and speed limits don’t stop every crash death, either. Doesn’t mean we don’t need every tool possible. Don’t just send thoughts and prayers — do something!
Mary Keerins
Foothills
Mass shootings
Why would anyone buy or sell or own an assault rifle? I think it’s to kill innocent women and children, of course. Any other response is just another perverted excuse.
Cynthia Herron
Northwest side
Gun Violence
A Mother Hen’s Prayer
Would I could,
I’d spread my wings,
feathered ribs,
across the sky
Oh, let it be.
to shield
America’s children
from gun violence,
and the lawmakers
who father it.
Oh, let it be.
Would I could,
I’d spread my wings
Across the sky.
Oh, let it be.
John E. Irby
Southeast side
Tragedy in Uvalde
How do we get sensible gun control laws?
I propose that a member of Texas law enforcement, or a skilled computer hacker, get a hold of photos of the slaughter and plaster them all over the internet. When they get deleted from one site, post them on another. Maybe, just maybe, then our politicians will work to protect children outside of, as well as in, the womb.
How do any of the 2022 election issues matter while mass murders are rampant?
Vote for supporters of gun control.
Robert Olsen
Ajo
Uvalde mass shooting
I have always been a Steve Kerr fan. He was a fabulous basketball player and a coach with an incredible understanding of what is truly important in life. While on stage in a press conference some 80 miles from the latest edition of a mass killing, where 19 children and two adults were senselessly slaughtered moments before by a gunman firing his automatic weapon at innocent children, the assembled press was questioning him on his preparations for his next game. To his everlasting credit, Coach Kerr lambasted the press for their utter lack of proportion and outrage for 19 dead school children. The press, with what I consider total indifference and lack of outrage, questioned how he planned for the next game. Kerr blasted them and our inept legislators who ignore the wishes of 80% of voters choose to allow this slaughter to continue. If guns equaled safety, then Texas, brimming with guns, ought to be the safest state — it’s not. Coach Kerr stalked off an example for all of us to vote.
Robert Cozad
Oro Valley
Gun violence
After the shooting Tuesday in Texas, I admit to having a passing fear that I might not see my 6-year-old granddaughter after I dropped her at school this morning. On the news while driving home, several things stood out: in the last year 45,000 died from gun violence (there are 57,939 names on the Vietnam Memorial after 10 years of war!); this year alone, there have been 27 school shootings according to NPR; only recently, after more than 20 years, has the CDC been permitted to even research gun violence and its causes; and finally, a handful of senators are making decisions for the 300 million Americans who may want to see improved gun legislation. As the president said yesterday, this doesn’t happen elsewhere in the world and when it does, corrections are immediate. There are many legislative fixes going nowhere in Congress because a few can block even the debate on solutions. It just shouldn’t be.
Norman Patten
Midtown
How to select a candidate
Dear Candidate,
Do you support reinstating the ban on assault weapons? Yes or no?
Do you support reasonable gun control legislation and licensing? Yes or no?
Will you refuse campaign donations from the NRA and similar lobbies? Yes or no?
If you answered “no” to any of the above, I cannot consider your candidacy no matter what else you say you stand for.
Signed,
An angry and heartbroken (again) citizen.
Eleanor Arnold
Northeast side
Gun control assessment
As the San Antonio Express op-ed expressed: “By doing nothing to prevent gun violence, (the) nation chooses pain.”
Here’s my assessment.
1. Define and ban assault weapons.
2. A universal background check with a 10-day waiting period, not three days as it is currently. No exceptions for gun shows.
3. Mandatory gun safety training and insurance. We already require this to drive a vehicle.
4. Must be 21 years old. The shooter in Uvalde was 18.
While this won’t eliminate shootings, it would go a long way. Passing item one is critical.
Wayne Guerrini
Southwest side
Demand action
Gunfire, it has to stop.
All we hear from our elected officials about these shooting tragedies is the standard rhetoric. Now is not the time, support the people that have lost children and loved ones. People kill people, not guns. This has gone on long enough. People of the USA, wake up and demand that something be done now. No 18-year-old should be able to buy a weapon of war. No one should be able to buy a gun without a thorough check and some required training. There should be a national list of those that should not be able to buy a gun. If we can’t trust our politicians to do the right thing, perhaps we should eliminate their ability to accept large donations from specific groups, then they’re not beholden to anyone and perhaps will do what is good for the people of our fine country. This will only happen if we all write our elected officials and demand they do something now.
Hal Brown
East side
