Letters to the Editor: Dec. 20

There have been over 600 mass shootings this year. So much for the myth that an armed society is a polite society. Once a staid association for serious hunters, the NRA has promoted gun ownership to the point where there are now more guns than people in the USA, and nobody is safe anywhere—school, street, market, church—and anyone with a sense of grievance is free to act out his most murderous fantasies.

Betty Feinberg

Southeast side

U of A Football

One weekend, Greg Hansen lamented the weak attendance at the U of A football game. Another week close to 50,000 fans showed up to fill the stadium. But many of us waited in line 45 minutes to get through security and missed the first portion of the game. The entrance we used was grossly understaffed. Certainly the athletic department had an idea of the number of tickets sold and significance of this rivalry game. I think they would have planned for this with increased security entrances. There is a reason games are poorly attended.

Bear down Wildcat stadium staff.

John Kautz

Midtown

Superintendent Hoffman will be missed

I want to thank State Superintendent of Public Education Kathy Hoffman for her tireless efforts to protect and improve our public schools.

I appreciate all that she accomplished while in office. She worked across the aisle to obtain special funding for hundreds of school counselor positions, created Arizona’s first Teacher Residency Program, and advocated for the American Family Plan to fund pre-K education.

I appreciate how hard she fought for equal access to high-quality public education for all students regardless of race, gender, or zip code by establishing inclusive policies and expanding digital access for urban and rural communities.

I appreciate her efforts to increase teacher recruitment and retention, improve funding and access to social-emotional learning resources, provide support for multilingual learners, and advocate for Arizona’s steadfast and resourceful teachers.

Thank you, Superintendent Hoffman, for your positive influence and dedication to our schools and our children. You will be missed.

Dr. JB Marshall

Oro Valley

New GOP tradition

Over the past few decades, it has become a tradition for winners to say, “I’m going to Disneyland!” Now, it seems, the GOP is beginning a new tradition for losers.

“Kari Lake, you just lost the election. Where are you going to do next?”

“I’m going to Mar-a-Lago!”

Floyd Newsom

Northwest side

Sandy Hook Day

Dec. 14 was Sandy Hook Day. Ten years ago, on Dec. 14th, Adam Lanza killed 20 sweet, innocent first-graders, six of their teachers, his mother, and finally himself using an assault weapon his mother bought for him. A parent of one of the murdered children said on the radio today that soon everyone in the U.S. will know someone who has been killed in one of these senseless killings because anyone can buy a powerful gun at almost any time and do anything with it. It hit me that I’m one of those people. On Oct. 5th my friend and colleague Thomas Meixner was killed by a man who should never have been able to get the gun he used. It is our shame that we allow this wanton slaughter to continue.

Larry Winter, professor in the UA Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Science

Midtown