To the editor:
On March 3, the Daily Journal published a full page editorial, “Enough,” on the killing of 17 people, students and teachers. This editorial is the best I’ve seen since the shooting and I commend the editor and staff for their opinions that I believe hit the nail right on the head! I would like to add a couple of points.
Enough is enough is enough! Seventeen dead in one place at one time in a school where we send our kids to learn and grow; not to have to worry about being killed; how can this happen in America? Hundreds of adults and businesses have begun to strike back at the alleged evil, the NRA. But if it had not been for the kids, the survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas School, who began a really provocative protest about guns and gun laws which grew across the nation, did the adults and businesses take notice and maybe things will start to change.
You can regulate gun types, raise the age when you can buy a gun, and increase the scrutiny of background checks and maybe that will slow down the shooting sprees but, the last 3 or 4 perpetrators were all showing signs of mental instability before they did their hideous deeds. No one seemed to notice and they fell through the cracks. Yes, we need to better understand the mental illness issues and improve ways to identify those folks but this is probably an endless and never-ending mission.
Everything you have seen and heard about how to fix the problems are in their own right doable and will have a positive effect on the problem. However, in my opinion, the only real fix is to find out why. Why are these kids depressed to the point of taking deadly action? Why are these kids so distraught that they must strike out? Until the causes of these problem areas are identified and fixes are developed, only then can our society truly fix the problem.
Richard and Linda Isley
Franklin
