Readers Write: Abundant Life shooting, LGBTQ inclusion, campaign promises, fraud scandals

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Once again, this time in neighboring Wisconsin, gun violence hits the most vulnerable among us: our school-age children and the teachers who have been unfairly tasked with protecting them because apparently there is no political will to take on the gun lobby and gun enthusiasts (“Teen kills 2 at Wisconsin school,” front page, Dec. 17). My daughter teaches elementary school students. Recently, during a lockdown necessitated (fortunately) by a false alarm, her young students were frightened and traumatized by the experience. Here were some of their questions for their teacher:

How would you answer them? And does it not seem hollow and shameful that we lament these tragedies but allow them to continue week in and week out?

Sydney Kase, Edina

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School shootings have become so common that we all know how the aftermath will play out. Some will blame access to guns, and others will say it’s mental health. Here in Lakeville, one of the biggest cities in Minnesota that went for Trump, voters also rejected an operational levy that would have increased the number of behavioral support specialists in the district. I’m not saying these staff members would stop school shootings, but it would have shown that Republicans take student mental health seriously. As every shooting since Columbine has shown, there is a large portion of Americans that accept the slaughter of children as “a fact of life.” I want to believe that my fellow citizens care about the safety and well-being of our children in our schools, but as the recent election has shown, protecting your guns and keeping your property taxes low are far more important than protecting children.

Nick Hansen, Lakeville

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Priorities. Another school shooting, this one in Wisconsin. Oh, well. In 2023 there were around 45,000 deaths by firearms in the United States. Was there outrage? Hysteria? Nah, it’s just a fact of life. There were somewhere around 40 — jot that number down, 40 — transgender athletes playing NCAA sports. OK, now that is just downright unacceptable; there’s something to get excited about. Candidates campaigned on it, thundered from their podiums about the inequity. Laws must be passed, injustice suppressed! Gun deaths? No worry, nothing more than our birthright as a nation. Don’t let that be a diversion, we can’t lose our focus on a much bigger threat, those transgender folks. I expect any challenges to this letter will focus on the number 40, and nothing else.

Gary Jenneke, St. Paul

In this season of gratitude, I would like to express my thanks to the top letter writer on Dec. 16 for her response to Karen Tolkkinen’s article (“Please, leave trans people be,” Readers Write and “When greater Minnesota isn’t welcoming,” Dec. 11). I would also like to express my gratitude to the citizens of the city of Minneapolis and the state legislative leaders who have taken steps to protect transgender, nonbinary, gender nonconforming and genderqueer people. Every day, I see LGBTQ+ people living out and free in our city. I wish for all Minnesotans, no matter their race, sex, religion, no-religion, ethnicity, political point of view, gender, gender identification or sexual identity, to have full human rights — equality no matter the societal labels and fears.

Sheridan’s appeal for trans people to be left alone to live in peace is just the minimum. Maybe I am naive, but I have faith that most people are fair-minded and would never want to take away or diminish the rights of any person, much less their hardworking, taxpaying, family-providing, LGBTQ+ fellow citizens. The United States has been a beacon of freedom to the world, maybe not perfectly, but a democracy where people have the right and opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The letter writer states, “I encourage everyone to think about how we can be better.” I would like to add: better people, better citizens, better neighbors and better advocates for everyone’s human rights — everywhere.

MJ Anderson, Minneapolis

Democrat voters are still coming to grips with the nationwide repudiation of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ policies. They continue to read into Donald Trump’s statements what they want to believe — not what is being said. Claiming that Trump is backtracking on lowering food prices (“Backtracking, just as predicted,” Readers Write, Dec. 17) is the message that some Harris supporters cling to as some form of vindication. Trump is yet a month from Inauguration Day and he is being written off as a failure — something this publication is all too willing to promote.

The president-elect recently said it will be “very hard” to bring down food prices. That doesn’t mean he can’t or will not be able to lower them. During the campaign he said he would lower them “quickly.” What is that time frame? A week, a month, a year? Policies have to be put in place and time is needed for them to have an effect on the marketplace. Trump isn’t going to run down the food aisle with a bottle of Wite-Out!

Contrast that with what Harris promised. She would investigate price-gouging and establish price controls. A clueless response to economic reality. Trump has already been active in meeting world leaders and making policy statements. Some are already making strong economic news, such as the CEO of SoftBank who announced on Dec. 16 that the company will be investing at least $100 billion to create 100,000 new American jobs. Additional companies announced they will be returning to the U.S. to take advantage of the proposed 15% corporate tax rate.

Democrats continue to misinterpret Trump’s tariff talks by claiming the cost of goods will go up. This is purposely being done all the while ignoring the psychological and behavioral outcomes that tariffs can change without implementation. Writers like to tell us that 75 million voters supported Harris — an apparent attempt to collectively assuage their feelings. Trump is already making significant headway while Biden has all but disappeared from the scene. Maybe Democrats and their allied media ought to let Trump’s “pro-growth” policies take shape first before they declare failure. After all, 77 million Americans voted for Trump.

Joe Polunc, Waconia

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Another Feeding Our Future-type scandal? (“FBI raids two state autism centers,” Dec. 13, front page.) When will our do-gooders learn they are no match for our do-badders?

David Wiljamaa, Minneapolis