Readers write for March 5, 2010

Before gun lovers get the idea that state Rep. Michael Paymar's gun show bill would take rifles from hunters or even handguns from those who feel they need them for protection ("Effort to tighten Minnesota's gun law getting folks riled up," March 3), let's be clear about the bill's objective. How many Minnesotans think anyone who wishes should be allowed to walk into a gun show and buy 10 AK-47s without a background check, much less a look at the terror watch list? I can't imagine anyone needing sort of firepower to shoot pheasants or even to ward off a would-be burglar.

STEPHEN HARLAN-MARKS, Robbinsdale • • •

Interesting and shocking: On the front page, an article about how upset some people would be if they had to get a permit to buy a gun at a gun show. Then on the first page of the Twin Cities section, the headline "'Please don't kill nobody else'". Maybe gun advocates should pause and think about what they would say if one of their family members were shot down. Remember, guns don't kill people -- people with guns kill people. Thank you, Rep. Paymar, for wanting to set things right. It's far too easy to get guns today.

PETER CLARK, Roseville

Every day I read or hear about some new law our state legislators are pushing for. I have a news flash for them: We are $1 billion in the red; we have high unemployment; jobs are leaving this state at record numbers, and we have one of the highest tax burdens of any state. But our legislators seem to have plenty of time to come up with stupid new laws and rules. I say "Get to work!" on the real problems this state faces and quit messing around. We sent you to the Capitol to get things done. Do your job or we will find someone who will.

BARNEY NESSETH, ZUMBROTA

To the letter writer who suggests that General Assistance Medical Care and other programs for the poor should not be the purview of government because, according to Christian teaching, "We, the people, are supposed to take care of those less fortunate" ("Don't tap government to care for the needy," March 4):

JOYCE DENN, WOODBURY

Former New York Rangers goalie Mike Richter may know a thing or two about Vancouver, having turned in an exceptional performance in defeating the Canucks in the 1994 Stanley Cup finals. But his suggestion that the use and development of Canada's oil sands caused "warm weather" to plague the Vancouver Olympics betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of science and a gross distortion of the facts ("Of Canada, the Olympics and dirty oil," Feb. 25).

Putting aside Richter's failure to grasp the distinction between a weather event and the phenomenon of climate, his demonization of secure, affordable energy resources from Canada is particularly off-base. Your readers should know that more than 80 percent of Minnesota's gasoline is derived from sources of energy originating in Canada -- and that's a good thing. Without these resources, the energy you need to run your state would be harder to find and more expensive to purchase.

And what of Richter's assertion that energy derived from the oil sands is "creates three times" the carbon of conventional oil? Another empty net. The truth is, the carbon intensity of oil sands has been reduced by 33 percent over the past 10 years and accounts for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

As for Richter's concern that we are facing the end of winter as we know it, apparently he hasn't spent much time recently in Minnesota.

So nice to see congressmen Erik Paulsen and Tim Walz reaching across the aisle to join hands in what they want to see done on energy for Minnesota ("A consensus is emerging on nuclear power," March 3). I was thinking that since they seem so determined to push nuclear energy on Minnesotans, they should personally commit themselves 100 percent to this endeavor, and what better way than to offer to use their own back yards for radioactive nuclear waste storage? Better yet, why don't all the proponents of nuclear power take a few barrels in their yards? With such a noble effort, we can be assured that storage will be available for radioactive waste at least until we run out of its advocates.

MADISON TRUTZA, BYRON, MINN.

I would like to point out to March 3 letter writer who wrote that recent snowfalls, rain and earthquakes are "Mother Nature trying to rebalance the disbalance we have created" that quakes are not related to climate change or weather patterns. To link these unrelated natural disasters and conclude that humans are to blame is the same logic used by Pat Robertson, who accused the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti for those natural disasters.