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April 12, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: Our local paper contained a letter to the editor recently basically laying blame for the ills of society on Republicans. She is rightfully upset by the Nashville shootings and others. We all are. Of course, the reasons of what to do about it are where divergence begins. Her arguments are the same starting with “common sense” and ending with “assault.”
I have used many tools and other inanimate devices my entire life. No once did I spend time training them. That effort would not be “common sense.” What is common sense is the training I did to use the tools at my disposal. I have driven tractors with no ROPS, mowed grass in reverse with operating blades, used many tools in ways that would be considered dangerous in order to accomplish a task. I have put up, tolerated, sometimes defeated the various devices installed (and paid for) so I could profitably and efficiently do my tasks. Two eyes, 10 fingers and toes, with a healthy BMI at age 69, still watching and listening to things that really do matter. The lengths that society goes through to impose on others, their solutions, are breathtaking and multiplicative.
Our society is really at an impasse. We have taken a basic blueprint we call “Constitution” and have thoroughly corrupted its wording and directives. We have put meaning and made interpretation never intended. We have contracted responsibility to others ill suited for that task while we pursue liberties with no moral boundaries.
The “unnamed” author of the letter that inspired this missive basically states that guns and Republicans are the reasons for the mayhem we see and feel. I respectfully take issue with that conclusion. I would much rather see training our youth as responsible citizens preferable over the current grooming taking place. It becomes self-healing after that.
GEORGE PERSINGER Rockbridge Baths
