Readers Write: Annunciation shooting, Minneapolis protest

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

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I was driving home from a home visit (I am a physician) when I heard the news about the shooting. I had just visited an elderly woman and her family. She is dying of cancer. We met for an hour to explain and answer all of their questions.

When I got home, I called my daughter to see how she was doing. Her son, my grandson, was attending his first day of kindergarten. His school, a few miles from the shooting, was put on lockdown as a precaution. My daughter did not know whether or not he knew about the lockdown and why it had occurred. I told her that she and my son-in-law should have a conversation in advance of their son’s return home and determine what to say to him, if anything, about the shooting. Did he know about the lockdown and why it occurred? Did he know anything at all?

You would think that just having finished a long conversation with my patient about her terminal illness that I would have some guidance for my daughter. But I had none. I did not know what to tell a 5-year-old boy about the shooting of children praying in a church a few miles away.

So, I must ask all of you Second Amendment advocates and fanatics, who have witnessed so many, many mass shootings. You must know what to say. You must have prepared some eloquent words to explain this to a 5-year-old. Should we tell my grandson that your “thoughts and prayers” are all that is necessary? Or should we tell my grandson, “It’s not guns that kill people; it’s people that kill people”? Or should I tell him that we need all 400 million guns in this country in order for us all to be safe? Please, tell me what to say. Damn it to hell, tell me what to say.

Vic Sandler, Plymouth

Another senseless shooting and we voters continue to put up with it.

Why? The majority of voters want safer communities and that requires sensible, effective laws. But. The current legal interpretation of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment is controversial and clearly a roadblock to community safety. The Second Amendment should be replaced with a thoughtful amendment designed for the realities of the 21st century and modern weapons.

Should hunters be allowed to own hunting rifles? Yes. Should mentally unstable people be allowed to own military-type weapons? No. Should any civilians be allowed to own rapid-fire, military-style weapons? Why? It is clear that military-style weapons in civilian hands make our communities less safe. If people wish to be weapon-trained and available to protect the state and the country, they can join the National Guard. The National Guard and the other military branches are the modern equivalent of the “well-regulated” militias referred to in the Second Amendment.

Let us stop being harmed by an amendment passed in 1791 and pass a new amendment designed to protect the individual, the communities in which we live and the country. Doing so is simply common sense.

Mark Brakke, Coon Rapids

And now a shooting at Annunciation Church and school. Another shooting. Followed by thoughts and prayers. And again we will do nothing positive to address the gun issue. Nothing!

John Anthonisen, Richfield

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Minneapolis has had two major shootings in the past few days with multiple victims dead, including children. Again, the lax gun laws in this country are a major reason for these acts of violence.

However, there has to be acknowledgment now of the need for Minneapolis to have an active Police Department and law enforcement. The fact that members of the City Council who are aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America and Our Revolution Twin Cities refuse to acknowledge this is very disturbing. Yes, we need to address police brutality and racial bias through reform. Still, efforts to defund and replace law enforcement agencies are not acceptable given what has happened in Minneapolis in the past several days.

William Cory Labovitch, West St. Paul

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The United States protects guns more than it protects children. This is a moral stain. This is a moral failure.

Amy Lange, Minneapolis

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The most recent shooting at Annunciation Church carries a cruel irony. That such an event could occur in a place of worship is a stark reminder that prayers alone are not enough to ensure the safety of our community.

Wendy Khabie, St. Louis Park

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I am a retired public school teacher in an early childhood program. I did active shooter drills with children from birth to 5 years old. How is this OK as our “normal operation” of school protocol?! (We also did fire drills throughout the year, but how many school fires in the U.S. have killed people?)

Thoughts and prayers don’t stop gun violence, and I doubt they truly comfort the families of the dead. The reason for the shooting does not matter; it still tragically happened, and we still allow it. What location is next?

Sarah Clarke’s commentary on Aug. 27 was a chilling reminder of how protest can cross the line from civic engagement to personal endangerment (“Feel free to disagree with my husband, Jacob Frey. Just don’t protest outside our house,” Strib Voices). Her account of repeated vandalism and threats to her family underscores the urgent need to re-examine the boundaries of acceptable dissent.

Sharing the addresses of our civic leaders is an abomination and should be illegal. As Clarke so eloquently stated: “As a community, we can and should debate passionately. But we must also draw a clear line: The safety of families should never be collateral damage in the fight over politics.”

Mayor Jacob Frey is, in my opinion, dead wrong in the way he serves his city, although I applaud his stand on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and President Donald Trump’s overreach. Still, anything more zealous than spirited discourse and peaceful protest only serves to create chaos and discord, both of which serve Trump’s agenda in his march toward fascism.

I urge everyone to exercise their constitutional right to free speech and assembly, while these rights are still available. But please, let’s fight fairly.

Joe Lundequam, St. Paul

The protests have only to do with what the mayor does in his work life, not in his personal life. There are official channels for protests — legal, decent ways to protest. Truly ugly behavior like protesting at officials’ homes, painting “Kill the mayor” on his front door, intimidating and doxing, are criminal and not legal protest behavior. It was never “normal” before social media, and it’s not really “normal” now. It’s certainly not effective. Harassment only causes decent people to not want to run for office, leaving the field wide open for crooks.

Establish some guardrails for decency and leave the mayor’s family alone. Protest at City Hall, or the rest of us will regard you as stupid thugs and dismiss what you’re protesting for as things for your own private, personal gain that the rest of us aren’t interested in supporting. You’ll lose us. You’ll lose in the court of community opinion with your bad behavior. Don’t try to terrorize Frey’s family any more.