I just read that President Donald Trump mentioned teachers carrying guns on themselves to help protect our children. How asinine is that of him to say? There shouldn’t be any guns allowed at all, on any campus let alone a high school facility. That’s just like anyone in politics who’s receiving money from the National Rifle Association: they’ll come up with various scenarios but not the one we want to hear.

Automatic weapons that can rapid-fire need to be banned completely. How many kids would have escaped if it wasn’t an AR-15? This will not be the last school that faces this crisis if the NRA doesn’t agree on a ban of this type of weapon.

These politicians need to get serious and start protecting our American citizens and remove themselves from office, if they take money from the NRA. I have nothing against guns, but an AR-15 is a bit too much.

William (Bill) T. Pirtle

Waipahu

—

Reassess language in Second Amendment

Since it is no longer necessary to arm citizens with muskets to ensure the security of the country, isn’t it time to amend the Second Amendment with language that is relevant to today’s world? The founders certainly didn’t mean for it to be used to justify what is happening today with guns they couldn’t imagine.

Any suggestion of tampering with the sacred Second Amendment sends Wayne LaPierre of the NRA into a tirade against those evil liberals who wish to remove all our basic rights.

Killing civil debate with this absurd “slippery slope” argument is a sure way to impede progress toward a reasonable solution. This is exactly what the gun lobby wants and unfortunately gets.

Arthur Mersereau

Manoa

—

‘Sanctuary state’ bill to hurt cooperation

I’m writing about the Ho’okipa Bill (Senate Bill 2290 and House Bill 1994), which is intended to make Hawaii a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants and prohibits state law enforcement agencies from complying with federal immigration laws. I think the bill is totally unnecessary and is just another anti-Trump political stunt as a poke in the eye to the current administration, rather than a logical and important initiative for the security of our state.

Cooperation between state and federal officials in law enforcement is critical in all areas. States and cities should not be able to decide what federal laws they will and will not follow at the expense of law-abiding citizens. I hope the Legislature can see its way to shutting down this sanctuary state proposition, which will tie the hands of local law enforcement and destroy trust and confidence and drive a wedge between federal and state agencies.

Mark Schnabel

Kapolei

—

Bomb-shelter story was free ad for firm

Please, Star-Advertiser: Building private bomb shelters in Hawaii should be a human interest story, not front-page news (“Taking shelter,” Feb. 19). You write that a nuclear strike is “highly unlikely,” according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, and really, how many Hawaii citizens will pay $40,000 to get one?

The story ends up being a big free ad for the company selling the shelters.

Sean Goodspeed

Ala Moana

—

Foreign trip provides new U.S. perspective

Taking a foreign trip is very informative as to the world view of the United States under this administration. Foreign news organizations report on contradictory Donald Trump statements and policies that are having a negative impact on people’s lives. Surprisingly, they also interview official Trump administration officials and easily eviscerate their statements with facts, data and presidential tweets. Foreign media expose the fraudulence of this White House. In short, being an American at this point in history is embarrassing.

For those who believe the American media are “fake news,” view this administration through the eyes of the foreign press. Clearly they have no political motivation to take a particular viewpoint.

Locally, if a person is watching only FOX News or listening only to Michael Perry radio (owned by conservative iHeartMedia, which also hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity), then one is ill-informed.

Darlene Pang

Moanalua

—

Too bad gender issue overtaken by politics

The LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii wants to thank the members of the Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Health, Lt. Gov. Doug Chin, Rep. Kaniela Ing and countless others for their support of banning conversion therapy for our keiki. We are sorry that this important topic has been overshadowed by one campaign.

We look forward to a vigorous primary election but, as always at the LGBT Caucus, we want to talk about the issues and where the candidates stand on their support of justice and equality for Hawaii’s LGBTQIA community.

Michael Golojuch Jr.

Chairman, LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii

—

More track-and-field coverage encouraged

I realize that, except for the Summer Olympics, track and field is no longer a big deal in America. So we few remaining U.S. track nuts do appreciate it when the Star-Advertiser’s sports section includes major upcoming televised meets in the “On the Air” section. But how about a little follow-up for big track-and-field news?

A recent Monday sports page was inclusive enough to show the results of local pigeon racing, but did not even mention a major item that came out of the weekend’s U.S. Indoor Championships: Christian Coleman set a new world record of 6.34 seconds in the 60-meter dash, breaking a mark that had stood for 20 years.

Nearly everybody got to know the excitement of world-class sprinting through the recently retired Usain Bolt, and with a little help from your sports section, they can be reminded again by the guy likely to replace him.

Dan Binkley

Makiki