Readers Write: Georgia school shooting, expecting better in politics, child care

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

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Former President Donald Trump is wrong (again) that the boy who killed schoolmates and teachers in Winder, Ga., is a “sick and deranged monster” (“Georgia school shooting kills four,” Sept. 5). Certainly, it was a sick, deranged and monstrous act, but the shooter was a 14-year-old and one of those “cherished children” Trump referenced to his parents, other family members and friends. When do we as a society grasp that anyone can act out of a furious rage of jealousy, a despondent pit of misery, a ruthlessly selfish ideation, a psychotic delusion or a deep need for vengeance? The National Rifle Association says that “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people,” but the truth is that it’s people with guns that kill people. There were almost 50,000 firearm deaths in the U.S. in 2022.

In our homes we have knives, matches, axes, poisons and ropes, which all can be deadly weapons, but it is guns that are used in the vast majority of homicides. It is guns that permit attacks at greater range and from positions of better concealment. It is guns that enable attacks by persons physically or psychologically unable to overpower their victim through violent physical contact. It is guns that enable multiple people to be killed at one time. Because guns can kill instantly and from a distance, firearms are virtually the only weapon used in killing police officers.

Since we can’t control people’s thoughts, emotions or beliefs, we must control the guns. There is no reason an assault rifle needs to be owned by anyone other than a member of the armed forces. Let’s simply begin there.

Susan Corrado, Minneapolis

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Thoughts and prayers. It’s a mental health problem. It’s a violence problem. We never thought it would happen here.

It happened. Again. A school shooting. Not even a week into the new school year.

What will be the answer to address it? I am fairly sure it will be nothing. Nothing will be done.

We, as a country, have become inured to the headlines. We tune out the shouting matches between the warring factions. We have become complacent. We have become apathetic.

In short, America and its citizenry have made the very conscious choice to live this way.

We elect representatives who disregard the majority’s wishes for taking steps, however small, to begin to address each facet of this problem. We reward these same representatives by re-electing them.

They refuse to take even the beginning steps to address the problem of gun violence or mental health issues.

They prefer the status quo.

Is there a gun crisis? Yes. Is there a violence crisis? Yes. Is there a mental health crisis? Yes.

Will any of these elements be addressed in the days ahead? I doubt it.

Will it happen again? Yes. Before I’m finished writing this letter gun violence will have occurred multiple times, all over this country.

Americans have made the decision to live this way.

Erika Christensen, Lake Elmo

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The news of the deaths at a school in Georgia came in Wednesday morning. For Americans this is no longer shocking news. The reaction now is more like, “Why not Wednesday?” Any day, hour or place is just as likely as any other. Should we take some comfort in knowing that we are captives of our own system and there is nothing we are willing to do about it? No, there is no comfort for us. We have to take responsibility for what we have created.

Joe Zweber, St. Cloud

When our primaries here produced U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar as the Democratic nominee for the House (again) and Royce White as the Republican nominee for Senate, I shook my head. Well, I said to my husband, it looks as if we are not the least bit interested in electing people from either party who are willing to put bipartisan problem-solving over far-left and far-right personal agendas.

Apparently we the people of Minnesota are comfortable with this.

I am not.

In state Sen. Julia Coleman’s piece on our country’s polarization (“If they win, we lose: American unity must outperform this November,” Strib Voices, Aug. 28), she says, “Understanding, compassion and compromise have become dirty words in today’s political climate.”

I ask what reality other people live in.

Do you live in a neighborhood? Belong to a community? Are you married? In a relationship? Do you have kids? A job? Do you drive a car? Share your space? And you’re telling me you’ve never had to compromise? See something from someone else’s viewpoint? Exercise compassion? Practice empathy?

That’s a new one on me.

Only your way of seeing things matters? Everyone else should knuckle under to your beliefs? You’re right? They’re wrong?

Must not have any friends.

“Fixed mindsets obscure real and actual solutions. Agendas don’t fix flat tires,” writes an Aug. 31 letter writer in her letter “Stop agonizing and start moving.”

Truer words were never spoken.

Marjorie Rackliffe, Hopkins

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In regard to Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent abrupt change in policy positions (aka “flip-flops”) made in her transparent effort, some 60 days before the election, to appeal to moderate/independent voters, I am reminded of the words of Winston Churchill: “Some men [and women] change their party for the sake of their principles; others change their principles for the sake of the party.”

Mark Miller, Minneapolis

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I see in Thursday’s edition of the Star Tribune that former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney intends to vote for Harris for president. That’s all well and good, but her vote will probably not be “counted,” as a Democrat presidential candidate has not won the Electoral College votes from Wyoming since Lyndon Johnson did so in 1964. That could change this year, but not likely.

The opposite can be said of Minnesota in that a Republican presidential candidate has not won Minnesota’s Electoral College votes since Richard Nixon in 1972. That, too, could change this year, but also not likely.

Richard Trickel, Crosslake, Minn.

As a parent, I was glad to read “Minnesota delays overhaul of child-care licensing rules after backlash” (Aug. 13) because the draft of new child care licensing rules falls far short of what our children deserve. Raising my children, I often worry whether their child care environment will not only be safe and nurturing but whether it will also provide space for their culture and their needs. Too often, regulations and standards feel disconnected from the needs of diverse families like mine.

Our child care providers are professionals who deserve respect and support. They are highly trained in child development and early education, yet they have to operate in a system of regulations that seems more suited to health care facilities than child care centers. We trust them with our children, and it’s essential that we treat them as the experts they are.

I appreciate that the state has delayed the new licensing regulations draft to collaborate with providers, and I hope this leads to regulations that focus on what truly matters: creating supportive spaces for all children, ensuring that providers have the resources they need and treating child care professionals as partners, not just rule-followers.

Minnesota’s children deserve high-quality child care that honors their development and their backgrounds. I am excited for continued collaboration to build a system that works for all families.

Amina Adan, Bloomington

The writer is a parent of four and a leader with Kids Count on Us, a project of ISAIAH.