The Sun-Times Editorial Board is missing an important point.
The guns written about in the editorial “Two Chicago news stories tell the story of America’s gun violence” were legally purchased after the buyers completed detailed federal background checks.
As “straw purchasers,” they broke the law by selling those guns to people who were not legally allowed to possess them. That’s a crime problem, a human behavior problem and no universal background check would have prevented this from happening.
The only way to change criminal human behavior is to punish people — lock them up.
Let’s remember something.
A loaded gun placed on a table can remain there for a 100 years and never hurt anyone. Unless a human being picks it up and makes either a conscious or reckless decision to pull the trigger, the gun will never harm anyone.
We don’t have a gun problem. We have a crime problem.
You don’t ban or further regulate cars to stop drunk driving problems because the inanimate object is only a tool of the lawbreaker.
Go after the lawbreaker. We don’t need more laws. Enforce the laws currently on the books, fully and completely, and you will take a step forward to solving the problem.
As a retired police officer with over 40 years service, I am a firm believer in strict adherence to the law. The reality is that there are a lot of people who need to be locked up.
Once the rule of law is firmly in place, you can then take on the task of solving society’s education, economic and housing problems.
Let’s not worry about as much about the gun itself, but the lawbreaker behind it.
Robert Stasch, Norwood Park
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To Chicago sports fans like my dad
I’m sorry that the Chicago Blackhawks, Bulls, Sox, and Cubs will no longer be broadcasted on WGN. This is not a big deal to me because I’m not a huge sports fan.
But it is a big deal to people like my dad.
My dad dissects Chicago sports to tell me where each team went wrong or right. He doesn’t answer my phone calls during baseball games because he is so invested in watching. My dad also doesn’t have cable.
Shame on you, big networks. Shame on you, Ricketts family.
Allison Keller, Brookfield
