Letters to the editor - Wednesday, Oct. 4

The recent mass slaughter in Las Vegas was a horrifying expression of our country’s addiction to guns.

The United States holds the world record for the number of its citizens who own guns and for the number of its citizens who are killed every year by guns.

The Second Amendment was written to assure the anti-federalists that each state could form its own militia.

Yet it is commonly construed as expressing the right of every citizen to have the means to instantly end the life of another person.

In our country this right is championed by the National Rifle Association.

Maybe what we really need is a cure for America’s addiction.

Richard Coan

West side

With the current bribery scandal going on in college basketball — which I’m sure will get much bigger in scope — let’s stop this nonsense and let the kids follow their dreams to the NBA.

That way the four- and five-star top players can take all the money they want from shoe and clothing companies after their senior high school year.

Plus, we won’t have coaches and agents bugging these kids from junior high school or sooner. Many of these super-talented players have no intention of staying in college and getting a degree.

Why should they worry about a degree with the millions dangling in front of them, including huge signing bonuses?

Save the scholarships for real student-athletes wanting a college degree.

Edward Mancini

Green Valley

Re: the Sept. 27 column “Shooters use ‘self-defense’ instead of just leaving.”

As the mourning maternal aunt of Thomas A. Dickinson, gunned down in the middle of the desert after a verbal altercation, I am heartened to see Star columnist Tim Steller’s column in which he clearly conveys alarm with our self-defense law, which raises monumental concerns in its written interpretation and egregious failure to be effectively applied in the defense of victims in court.

Primary among the myriad problems/questions raised in Thomas’ case is that Arizona self-defense law clearly states:

If an individual removes themself from an altercation, it is unlawful for the other to pursue him/her to perpetuate the altercation.

Sean Esparza acted outside his official capacity to pursue an unarmed man (who was on foot!) in the middle of the desert and shooting him.

Unfortunately, I believe my nephew’s case is being tainted by the initial judgment passed by officials on the addiction struggles he has fought for years, hence clouding judgment on the merits of the case at hand.

Nancy Montano

Columbia, Md.

As I picked up this morning’s Star I saw — again — a photo of Donald Trump on the front page, above the fold, the right-hand fingers on his slashing arm making their characteristic little circle.

That reminded me of one of the recent news hours by Katy Tur, an MSNBC afternoon anchor.

At one point she said, with a big smile, “and now for Trump-free news.”

Wow! That got my compete attention.

I would love to read the Star and other newspapers, and see TV news shows, occasionally with no image of Mr. Trump and no mention of his name.

I know he does everything he can to assure his presence continuously in these mediums, but it would be really nice just occasionally to be free of him.

We could cancel our subscriptions in pursuit of personal peace, but that would lose too much other information.

Jeff Dean

Northwest side

Re: the Sept. 29 column “TPD officer pushes boundaries with video rants.”

I find this column quite hypocritical with regards to the journalist.

Do you, as journalists, not champion the First Amendment?

Growing up in this country, free speech was free speech.

Today, it seems, speech is free but only if politically correct or fitting of the current social narrative.

If speech doesn’t match your version, it is an alternate viewpoint that you present as some kind of wrongdoing.

“That’s too bad,” writes Tim Steller, which is in itself a negative judgment against someone who has done nothing other than express their own opinion, much like he does.

That’s too bad, isn’t it?

Welcome to being a grown-up.

Michael Henley

Northwest side

Long before President Trump’s name-calling about football players kneeling during the national anthem, the Supreme Court spoke about a more-extreme form of protest — flag burning, an act offensive to most of us.

In 1989, the court, in a 5-4 decision, said that flag burning was protected speech under the Constitution.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, in the majority opinion, stated, “The hard fact is that sometimes we must make decisions we do not like. … The law and the Constitution, as we see them, compel the result. ...”

The deciding vote was cast by Antonin Scalia, an icon for conservatives then and now.

He must have agreed with Kennedy’s declaration, “It is poignant, but fundamental, that the flag protects those who held it in contempt.”

The football players do not hold either the flag or the anthem in contempt.

They were speaking out, in a constitutionally protected way, about something they felt sullied our democracy.

To be cursed by their president is an outrage.

Norman Sherman

Southeast side

Emanuel “Book” Richardson, the University of Arizona assistant basketball coach, may get up to 60 years in prison for his part in a bribery scandal?

And may pay up to $1.5 million in fines?

Good thing he didn’t kill anyone!

Susie Arnold

SaddleBrooke