America the fearful: what happened to feeling safe?
letter to the editor
To the Editor:
I recently witness an event that took me to writing this editorial piece. In the last 46 weeks there has been 45 school shootings. We have had 382 mass shootings so far this year in America.
Today I witnessed our local police SWAT doing sniper training in the middle of a residential neighborhood (no live ammo) and when brought up in a community page, 99 percent of the reactions I got were, so what? Not only that, but some even said they would allow their children to watch such training so they can know that the good guys are protecting them.
One gentleman said he will be going to our local grocery store armed (he says he is able to conceal and carry). My concern is this: if open military-style training and gun-carrying grocery store customers are the normal, at what point does this become an insane society?
I just has the local police department call me and try to explain why they are sniper training in a residential neighborhood. “It’s all for your protection, ma’am. We don’t use live ammo ma’am, we don’t have the proper facilities ma’am.” Etc., etc.
What happened to feeling safe in our own homes, in our own neighborhoods? Are we to turn over our neighborhood for military-style sniper training? I will be selling our house and moving; I don’t want to shop at a grocery store and worry if I will be shot by a gun-toting customer, nor will I live in a neighborhood where sniper SWAT training is normal.
Mary Jordan
Barberton
I recently witness an event that took me to writing this editorial piece. In the last 46 weeks there has been 45 school shootings. We have had 382 mass shootings so far this year in America.
Today I witnessed our local police SWAT doing sniper training in the middle of a residential neighborhood (no live ammo) and when brought up in a community page, 99 percent of the reactions I got were, so what? Not only that, but some even said they would allow their children to watch such training so they can know that the good guys are protecting them.
One gentleman said he will be going to our local grocery store armed (he says he is able to conceal and carry). My concern is this: if open military-style training and gun-carrying grocery store customers are the normal, at what point does this become an insane society?
I just has the local police department call me and try to explain why they are sniper training in a residential neighborhood. “It’s all for your protection, ma’am. We don’t use live ammo ma’am, we don’t have the proper facilities ma’am.” Etc., etc.
What happened to feeling safe in our own homes, in our own neighborhoods? Are we to turn over our neighborhood for military-style sniper training? I will be selling our house and moving; I don’t want to shop at a grocery store and worry if I will be shot by a gun-toting customer, nor will I live in a neighborhood where sniper SWAT training is normal.
Mary Jordan
Barberton
