Teens make impulsive decisions. Easy access to guns can create tragedy fast

Rash decisions’ consequences

I have cared for three families that each had an adolescent child who, in a fit of despair, found a loaded handgun and committed suicide. The behavior was on impulse, unlikely to have happened if there had been some delay in getting the gun.

In my nearly 50 years as a physician treating children, adolescents and families, I remember the cases. They’re all so painful and tragic for the families.

- Thomas Murphy, Fort Worth

Too many questions

Arming teachers is a knee-jerk reaction to a serious and somber problem. Police officers go through extensive training on weapons handling, use, storage and retention. Are teachers willing and able to do the same?

Should teachers’ time be diverted from teaching to firearms training? Would they carry constantly? Would a teacher be able to retain his or her weapon if a student tried to take it away?

If the weapon is stored, who maintains the lock? And where? At a central location? In a drawer? When a firearm is needed during an active-shooter threat, immediacy is the key. There is no time to run to the office and check out a gun or fumble with a key or combination lock.

School shootings are a terrible problem. Arming teachers is not the answer.

- Mark Swanson, Mansfield

One thing just leads to another

No one should be surprised by this climate of violence and disregard for law and order. It started with the prison reform movement in the 1950s. Campaigns to change the ages to drink, smoke and vote followed. Dope, abortion and gambling were legalized.

When it’s OK to deface and destroy public and private property, desecrate our flag and obliterate our history, why would anyone give much thought to killing people?

- Bob Schultz, Haslet

A tool just for destroying life

Lawmakers on the right say we can’t destroy the Second Amendment, but the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right to own guns like the AR-15, which has been used in multiple mass shootings in recent years.

A person can protect his or her family without using the weapons used to kill masses of children.

It’s funny how the right is anti-abortion, but its own actions show Republicans (at least the ones in Congress) value guns and carnage over living children.

- Victoria S. Kemp, Granbury

A Black teen would be fine

Mac Engel writes that Kyle Rittenhouse is lucky he is not a Black teen or he would be in prison doing hard time. (June 7, 9A, “Kyle Rittenhouse’s Texas A&M pledge sounds like a fantasy”)

Are you kidding? If Rittenhouse had been Black, he likely would not even have been indicted.

Charging a Black teenager with homicide while defending himself against three white men amid racial protests? Imagine the resulting burning, looting and rioting, not to mention endangerment of innocent citizens across the country.

- William Kenny, Cresson

Rittenhouse is a hero to me

It is obvious that Mac Engel does not consider Kyle Rittenhouse a hero, as many of us do. Rittenhouse was acquitted by reason of self-defense. To put this term in quotation marks shows Engel’s disdain for the justice system in this case.

And to point to Rittenhouse’s errors in public remarks about his choice of schools doesn’t allow for the sometimes ephemeral judgment of 17-to-20-year-olds. Rittenhouse has been thrust into the spotlight without the experience to handle the exposure. So, Mac, give the kid a break.

- R.G. Prewett, Arlington

A sensible carbon plan

Reading about a record high in carbon emissions despite our efforts to reduce them sent chills down my spine. (June 5, 21A, “Carbon dioxide levels in air shoot past key milestone”) Considering that we will almost certainly fail to meet our goals to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius without immediate climate action, this news story comes at an apt time to remind us that we could be reaching milestones in carbon reduction rather than production.

One effective step toward reducing our emissions is a carbon fee and dividend, which would tax fossil fuels and distribute collected revenue equally to all Americans. That money could fund the transition to a clean energy economy. Carbon pricing has been introduced in Congress as the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. I encourage Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to support it.

- Samantha Liao, Dallas