I am a retired teacher, and I am quite impressed at how the Parkland (Fla.) students are carrying themselves in speaking about the need for some sensible gun control laws. I am a gun owner and firm believer in the Second Amendment, but I don’t feel the need to own a machine gun to protect myself.

We should be listening to these wonderful students. These students are the best resource we have for studying this problem, as it is these students who felt the wrath of such a weapon of massacre. None of us knows how devastating such a massacre can be. But these students know.

Emma Gonzalez and several other students have been doing a great job in speaking for the students. When one of the students was asked by a reporter why she thought the students could effect positive change in gun control laws when adults haven’t been able to do so, she responded “adults are influenced by money, but students are influenced by their feelings.” I couldn’t believe how such a young person could come up with such a strong answer. As a country we should listen to these wonderful students. Perhaps we can learn something from them.

Brian Vukadinovich

Wheatfield

It’s so predictable. In the aftermath of yet another horrific school shooting, the response from Democrats is gun control; from Republicans, increased armed security and more stringent mental health screening before purchasing a weapon. There is reasonable debate on both sides on the effectiveness of these actions in preventing school attacks.

However, in my view, both responses just treat the symptoms of the disease and don’t address the core problem.

The culture of our society is rotting from within. Destructive philosophies have taken hold of our institutions. The teaching morality in our schools is prohibited. There is no absolute right or wrong, only individual preferences. The war on the family has left an alarming number of male children fatherless, lacking strong positive role models. The government has filled the void for many. Religion is ridiculed. Music and the cinema glorify violence. There are no good guys anymore at the movies, only varying degree degrees of normalizing immorality and even criminal behavior. For our children, social media and video games have replaced personal relationships.

We need to have an open national discussion, free from political correctness, on this societal decay before we can begin to right to ship. Otherwise, I fear that we are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Gary Ziolkowski

Crown Point

So, how many more students or concertgoers are your Republican lawmakers gonna get killed to protect the NRA’s profit margin?

How many people will die and things destroyed by hurricanes and wildfires because Republicans can’t grow a spine to acknowledge climate change is not a Chinese hoax — since money from the billionaire’s club is what controls their vote.

How many more qualified people will The Donald fire to fill the swamp with loyal Yes Men to discharge Robert Mueller before the inevitable conclusion of collusion comes out. Mr Mueller was awarded the Purple Heart as a Marine war hero serving his country, while Trump’s money and deferments kept him home to play golf and chase women, serving only himself.

How many more women are still out there who claim to have been molested or “had a good time” with Comrade Trump — all while he was married — with some being paid $130,000 for their silence.

How many more tweets or lies or insults will it take before the conservative Evangelicals who put Trump in office will admit they closed their eyes to all his negative baggage to stack the Supreme Court with Justices to reverse Roe v. Wade.

How many of those 47 percent lowlifers will get sick or die because Republican humanitarians cut money from Obamacare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc.

But hey, who cares, the Republican vision is changing America’s core beliefs of love and honor to that of distrust and darkness, and Emperor Trump is leading the Republican way.

Ah, yes, but yet another way to spell R.I.P.O.F.F.S: Republicans Inviting Progress on Fundamentally Flawed Securities.

Chuck Holley

Otis