Praise for brave students and other letters
For brave students, praise and criticism
Thank you to the children who walked out of their schools, to the children who are organizing the March for Lives all over the world on March 24, to the two young ladies from Paschal who are organizing the March in Fort Worth, and to the children who have already changed gun laws in Florida.
You have given me hope that this country will survive.
President Kennedy made us believe that we could change the world. Now these children have picked up the mantle and have already changed our world.
God bless them for not remaining silent.
—Kay Fulgham, Fort Worth
Let's assume guns were completely taken away. Would our schools be safe? NO! There are two reasons. One, there would still be people who are determined to kill. If guns were not available, determined killers would use bombs, vehicles, knives, or other methods. We must stop the perpetrators; And two, schools would continue to be "soft" targets vulnerable to many forms of violence We must greatly increase security at our schools to protect students. Focusing on gun restrictions is misguided and detrimental because it diverts attention. We need sound thinking, not emotionally charged reactions.
—Teddy Landry, Crowley
I find it a paradox that thousands of the high school kids that walked out of class to protest the shootings in Parkland, Fla., go home, turn on their Xbox and start killing their adversaries. It got real for these kids, yet violent game sales have never been better. How many of these kids went home and smashed their devices to pieces? I would be willing to guess not many. How many parents stepped up and said "no more"? In video games, you get shot multiple time and have five lives. Truth is, it takes one shot and only one life. There are no second chances. Before lecturing me about morality, these children need to examine their own lifestyle. I own no guns and my children were never allowed to play those games. There are plenty of laws on gun control. I have no problem with expanding background checks or a national registry. Yet, I am not naive enough to believe any of these measures will take guns from the hands of those who would do evil.
—Charles Andrews, Fort Worth
Sports spending in Arlington
Money for a Rangers stadium. Then, a Cowboys stadium. Now, a video stadium?
It would be nice if Arlington would spend some money away from that area.
Maybe fix the streets?
—Charles Anderson, Arlington
Words matter
A columnist wrote Friday about abortion without a single use of words such as zygote, embryo, or fetus. Instead, the term used was “nascent child.” Do Star-Telegram writers order bacon and nascent scrambled chickens for breakfast to show empathy for eggs?
—Larry Mason, Azle
This story was originally published March 19, 2018 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Praise for brave students and other letters."