Letters to the editor for Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008

It is tragic that a 3-year-old boy was accidentally shot by his 6-year-old sister with a gun they found in an unlocked nightstand (Star Tribune, Aug. 6).

What was lacking here was discipline and training. I was not allowed in my parents' bedroom without their invitation and presence. That was a rule. It was clear and enforced, and I obeyed it. That was the rule for my children, also, who never accessed the gun that I also kept in the nightstand drawer. That would have prevented this tragedy.

Further, my children were trained in firearms safety beginning at age 4. The mystery was removed from firearms. They understood what guns were.

Further, the National Rifle Association has a program that trains children about firearms. It's called the Eddie Eagle Program, and it has various age-appropriate forms. It educates children using a mantra they can easily can remember and follow: "Stop! Don't touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!"

DAVID M. GROSS, FARIBAULT, MINN.

Lock them up! There is no excuse for not protecting our children better from gun violence as what happened in Nerstrand.

With the right to gun ownership comes an enormous responsibility to store all firearms safely away from children and criminals. We can all do better.

MINNEAPOLIS

Simple steps to take This is the sad reason why sensible gun control is needed. The statistical evidence has existed for years that a handgun in the home is far more likely to kill accidentally than to kill purposefully. The NRA and other organizations should promote sensible gun control measures, like requiring trigger locks and locked storage boxes.

I don't know if this tragedy would have been prevented through such simple, noninvasive measures, but shouldn't we try to prevent the next one?

ERIC A. GUSTAFSON, BRITT, MINN.

Regarding the latest data showing that more Minnesota schools are failing to meet state standards in math and reading (Star Tribune, Aug. 6): If failing students are an indicator of failing schools, does that mean that failing schools are an indicator of failing government?

Even if we drill in our back yards, it's not going to be "our" oil. We can never have any sort of domestic production. Any oil drilled here belongs to the company that drills for it. It has to go on the international market. It can be sold to whomever the company wants: the United States, Europe, India or China.

There is no foreign or domestic oil -- there is only Big Oil.

BRIAN NELSON, ST. PAUL

Perhaps if the collection of anarchists, antiwar types, Greenies, and general malcontents had a history of peacefully protesting, St. Paul police might let them play with the adults at the Republican National Convention.

Instead, the "peaceful" protesters bring with them baggage from every gathering of the political or economic powers from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 to the protests at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999.

Since they behave like morons, let's acknowledge what we know they will do, collect them before the RNC and give them a preemptive five-day "timeout" behind concertina wire -- thus saving the cities, counties and state a ton of money.

When the police can step in to prevent someone or some people from doing something stupid that you know will hurt others, shouldn't they? Why not shut down the protests before St Paul '08 becomes another Chicago '68?

JAY HUYCK, MAPLE GROVE

I applaud retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad for voting with the Democrats to temporarily release 10 percent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help lower gas prices.

DFLer Ashwin Madia, the Marine Corps and Iraq war veteran running for Ramstad's open seat, said last week in an interview that he agreed with Ramstad's vote. Unlike Ramstad and Madia, Republican candidate Erik Paulsen is opposed to the idea and supports drilling in the environmentally sensitive areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and additional areas offshore. While the Ramstad/Madia approach would deliver immediate relief to Minnesotans, Paulsen's approach would force us to wait up to eight years for results.

I trust that voters from both parties in the Third Congressional District will agree that Paulsen is no Jim Ramstad.

DAN BROMELKAMP, MAPLE GROVE

The Bush administration takes great pride in the fact that it doesn't negotiate with terrorists. Does this mean that the toddlers who are placed on the terrorist watch list -- such as the one featured in the Aug. 5 story "Is this the face of a terrorist?" -- are out of luck?