THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 1996 TAG: 9604090002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
As a citizen of Norfolk, I am outraged at the recent wanton murder of the innocent child, Taylor Ricks. To those who extol the virtues of the Second Amendment, I ask: Is not the right to live in safety and enjoy the hope and promise of youth a greater freedom than to bear arms?
Where have we come as a nation that we allow the daily, murder somewhere in the streets of our cities, of our children and our future? How can we defend to our children such actions as politicians seeking to lift the ban on assault-style firearms in the face of such intolerable occurrences?
Politicians frequently call for a return to family values while readily accepting campaign donations from organizations that perpetuate this gun mentality. It is a far greater fear that our children may not reach adulthood than it is that a foreign army will attempt to infiltrate and subjugate us. How can we send a powerful enough message to our young when adults in positions of authority allow this reckless and dissolute behavior to continue?
Our young are dying; what part does that play in the American dream?
MARIA O'HEARN
Norfolk, April 3, 1996 by CNB