Re: “Books’ foes target librarians, too,” Front Page, March 26:

Book banning is a slippery slope quickly leading to the infringement of freedom of thought and speech. The supposed purpose is to protect our youth from exposure to lewdness and violence. If adopted and taken to its natural conclusion, it would mean the Bible and Quran would have to go, along with all the romance novels, war novels and most adventure stories.

Eventually any book that anyone finds offensive for the most frivolous of reasons would be removed. My biggest question to the person who is attacking books is, why aren’t they attacking the internet with the same fervor? This is where any youth with a smartphone can readily access the most graphic pornography and scenes of violence imaginable.

These are the same youths that rarely want a hardbound book anyway but prefer a virtual or audio version, which I am sure will give them access to every physical book that is banned at the library anyway.

Kevin Bryan

Library’s history books

I read with dismay how librarians in Texas are being treated. And then I thought of what I had read, that someone was worried about Texas turning into California. Really? At first I worried that Texas was becoming too much like Florida.

But then after Sunday’s front-page article I realized that Texas is turning more into Germany of the early 1930s. Go back to your history books and reread what happened then. Oops, I forgot, you can’t go to the library and get history books. They have been pulled off the shelves, or will be soon. Yes, history can, and does, repeat itself.

Fred M. Vasquez

Keeping kids clueless

I cannot help but to applaud those on the right for wanting to ban undesirable books that display nudity and other forms of filth.

Imagine the shock opening a book and seeing Michelangelo’s David, or worse, Michelangelo’s Adam. How dare we expose our children to paintings of Paul Ruben’s nude women. Time to remove the impeccable works of the great masters of art.

We have to keep or kids pure and clueless.

Steven Ochoa

Mass shooting

Only one safe place

Another school shooting with the loss of young innocent lives.

To ensure the safety of all, we should permanently keep everybody in the womb. Although misguided, that’s the only place where the majority of our legislators have taken steps to offer protection of human life.

Billy Tassos

Value life after birth

Yet another shooting of children and adults. Yet again, nothing from those supported by the National Rifle Association who are loath to say anything sane about banning assault-style rifles. At the same time, they are banning abortion and books, altering books to remove racism and banning abortion pills. How they care about the unborn, but not those born whom we have learned to love so dearly and deeply.

The Declaration of Independence states our “unalienable rights” to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Second Amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Which of the school shootings involved a well-regulated militia?

I believe unalienable rights came before the right of a person to own any gun, but more to the point, an assault weapon. Where are the rights of those innocent people murdered because the right of the shooter to own an assault weapon came first?

When will we learn life is valuable after birth?

Valerie Overstreet

Prioritize kids over guns

Americans have no more mental health problems than do citizens of other countries. What we do have is far easier access to guns, particularly assault-style weapons.

Gun manufacturers are making fortunes. Some of that money is then passed on to lawmakers to fund their campaigns. Surely it’s impossible for us to be any more tired and disgusted than we are now.

There might be a few Democrats in Congress that would not support an assault weapons ban, but it is certain that no Republican would support one. Call your lawmakers and tell them that they won’t get your vote unless they prioritize children over gun money.

Deborah McNabb

Reducing gun violence

Another day, another mass shooting, and another response by Republicans offering thoughts and prayers but nothing more. Except for making it easier for anyone, including criminals and terrorists, to acquire and publicly carry weapons designed for military use.

We have by far the highest rate of gun violence of any developed country. This problem is solvable because everyone else has solved it.

The majority of Americans support meaningful steps to reduce gun violence even if our Republican leaders don’t. But first we must vote out leaders who idolize guns, and elect people committed to actually reducing gun violence.

John Fehlauer

Thoughts and prayers, again

Re:
“Gutierrez’s fight ignored by Senate Democrats,”
Metro, Wednesday:

Thanks Gilbert Garcia for the column on state Sen. Roland Gutierrez and the fight for some sanity about guns.

Every time I hear “Robb Elementary” it sends a chill through my body. I was the pastor of the Methodist Church in Hondo in the late ’70s and early ’80s. I can’t tell you how many times I dropped my children off at the elementary school without any thought that they wouldn’t be there when I came back at 3:30 p.m.

I doubt I could do that anymore. I doubt that fences, locks, armed guards would make me feel any more secure. As I realize how I feel 40 years later, it’s not hard to know the terror parents feel today.

Hearing the statement “my thoughts and prayers” after every shooting I thought was a bit more than trite. Now maybe that’s all we have.

Rev. Bert Clayton, retired