Readers Write: Gun violence prevention, suicide, Social Security, Northfield

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

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The national conversation around gun violence is fractured — dominated by competing voices that often talk past one another. Some advocate for tighter restrictions on gun access. Others emphasize the need to instill a mindset of respect for others’ rights and property. Still others call for increased intervention by law enforcement and upgraded security for homes, businesses, schools and places of worship.

These approaches may seem to be at odds, but they all touch on a fundamental principle familiar to crime investigators: the triad of means, motive and opportunity. Every crime, including gun violence, is shaped by these three elements. Yet too often, public policy focuses on just one.

Limiting access to firearms addresses the means. Promoting a culture of respect and responsibility targets the motive. Enhancing security and police presence reduces the opportunity. To make meaningful progress, legislators must stop treating these elements as mutually exclusive. Instead, they should craft comprehensive solutions that address all three.

Gun violence is a complex problem. It stands to reason that the solutions will be similarly complex.

C. Jeff Erdmann, St. Cloud

I am a former soldier. I was trained to use weapons, and I still own and enjoy them today. I hunt, I shoot, and I believe in the right to bear arms. But I also believe something too many people in this country have forgotten: Guns demand responsibility.

Owning a gun is not like owning a toaster or a lawn mower. A firearm is a tool designed with lethal force in mind. In the military, we learned not just how to fire a weapon but how to respect it — how to handle it safely, store it securely and understand the consequences if we didn’t. Civilian life should not be different. Every gun owner should know the basics of safe storage, responsible handling and disciplined use.

Instead, we live in a society where almost anyone can buy a gun, regardless of training, stability or circumstance. Someone in the grip of a psychotic episode can walk into a store and walk out armed. Laws that should allow temporary seizure of weapons from those in crisis are too rare or too weak. Mental health treatment is underfunded and overburdened, people are patched up in emergency rooms and turned back onto the street without the sustained care they need.

The result is a country where no one is safe. Not the average citizen. Not CEOs. Not public figures. Not even the president of the United States. If a trained Secret Service detail can’t guarantee safety, what chance does a classroom of kids have? We’ve reached the point where the most powerful man in the world and a child in a school share the same reality: the knowledge that anyone, at any time, could take a shot.

This isn’t about being “for” or “against” guns. It’s about whether we take seriously the responsibility that comes with them. As a soldier, I was trained to handle firearms with discipline. As a citizen, I see a country that shrugs off that responsibility and accepts mass death as the price of doing business.

Responsible gun ownership is not an attack on liberty. It is the only way to preserve it.

Michael Vogt, Burnsville

In his counterpoint, Rich Cowles twice mentioned the phrase “committed suicide” in his article on the danger of guns in rural areas (“There is a different danger to guns in rural areas,” Strib Voices, Sept. 15). I’d like to say something about that expression. Last week we had the 2025 Twin Cities Out of the Darkness Walk at Como Park in St. Paul, sponsored by AFSP Minnesota. I know that most of us in attendance who have experienced suicide in our families never thought about the weight of the word “committed” before our lives were changed forever. Historically suicide was thought to be a crime or sin and brought judgment and shame to those left behind. The phrase “committed suicide” is damaging for these reasons. It ignores the fact that suicide is many times the consequence of depression, trauma or a mental health issue. No crime was committed. “Died by suicide” or “took their life” are the recommended alternatives.

I grew up with the old phrase and never gave it a thought until my own son died by suicide. We should choose our words carefully so we can create a more supportive and nonjudgmental environment for people to seek the help they need.

Rebecca Fredrickson, Burnsville

Cowles raised an important point in his commentary about gun violence. In Minnesota about 72% of gun deaths in 2024 were suicides. In rural areas the rate of suicides was even greater than the metro. Mass shootings like the shooting at Annunciation School get a lot of press, but in the U.S. there were about 47,000 gun deaths in 2023, of which 27,000 were suicides and nearly 18,000 were murders. Mass shootings accounted for about 700 of the deaths. Gun violence is a major problem in the U.S. and has been for a long time.

Suicide remains the leading cause of gun deaths and the presence of a gun in the home makes suicide more likely. Murder on a small scale is the second most common cause of gun death and mass murders are much less common. To address the problem it is important to educate people about the dangers of gun ownership. It is also important to find a way to store guns to make suicide more difficult.

Martin Urberg, Edina

The reprint of the New York Times article “Americans’ top asset is in peril” (Sept. 14) was extremely frustrating to read. We keep hearing that Social Security benefits will start to run out by 2035 and that our elected officials ought to do something about this perilous situation within the next eight years. Um ... you think?!

Where is the willingness of our elected officials to do what it takes to save this vital program? And the bigger question is, where is the outrage? Where is the AARP in all of this?! Hello! Really, is there anybody out there? Courage and bravery is needed to address this practically existential threat! No more kicking the can down the road, people! Please! Do Americans really want poverty rates to skyrocket with more elderly folks becoming homeless? This is the reality.

Sharon E. Carlson, Andover

I was interested to read the story about Northfield housing but discontented that the reporter did not use the longtime slogan (originating in 1914) of “Cows, Colleges and Contentment” rather than the one the council put in (after paying $45,000 to a consultant!) of “Cows, Colleges and Community” (“Northfield housing? Needle in a haystack,” Sept. 15). The original slogan was granted some sort of legacy status and the Northfield History Center continues to sell T-shirts and magnets and such with the original slogan. And Content Bookstore and the Contented Cow pub have kept their names.

As a local historian, I can only hope that someday Northfielders will rise up again (there was a brief time when the slogan became “Northfield — A Special Place”) and restore the historic slogan. And that writers about Northfield will refer to “the town long known for Cows, Colleges and Contentment.” I also hope that lowering housing prices can someday add to our contentment here.