Letters: Support at stake | National gun control

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A’s stadium voting
could cost support

On July 20, Oakland City officials will vote on A’s $ 12 billion development proposal for the Howard Terminal area (“Councilors Push A’s Move Back,” p. B1, May 15).

We’re still paying off debts we took to bring the raiders back from Los Angeles. They then traveled to Las Vegas. The Warriors sued the City of Oakland to try not to repay the debt they incurred in remodeling the Oakland Arena and moved to San Francisco. Why should Oakland taxpayers be urged to subsidize a billionaire’s potentially lucrative development?

I can promise you that any Oakland official who votes to hand over a taxpayer-funded grant to a billionaire will lose my political support.

Greg Claiborne
Oakland

National gun laws only
Hope for an end to the violence

In the course of the recent VTA massacre, there was a lot of talk about how someone could have noticed the alarm signals and stole the gunner’s guns. After all, the man had expressed anger at colleagues and his workplace, experienced radical mood swings and allegedly acted violently against women.

Tragically, however, these red flags can describe millions of American men, although fortunately only a tiny minority of them become murderers. But it is impossible to predict which of them will fall into deadly violence.

But if the killer had less firepower, he would have killed fewer people.

Therefore, gun control and gun safety laws are the only realistic measures to reduce gun violence. However, you will achieve little as long as potential killers can only drive a few hours to the state line and purchase military-style weapons that are illegal at home.

Michael Caesar
Walnut Creek

Repeal the law that
protects gun manufacturers gun

The “inalienable right to life” comes first in the declaration of independence. It is important for freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

In 2021, our right to life is constantly threatened. Individuals can take it away with refusal of distance, mask, or vaccination. Mentally ailing people can easily violate the right to life of many innocent people with a “Swiss Army Knife”.

Living without legal recourse is the most glaring violation of civil rights. Our right to life must be more important than corporate / partisan manipulation in all situations. The federal law protecting arms manufacturers from lawsuits needs to be changed. We all have to declare our “inalienable right to life”.

Nancy Thornton
Unity

Passport for the People’s Law
to save our democracy

Suffrage is being restricted across the country and threatens to replace the will of the American people with permanent minority rule.

Voter ID laws that act as de facto election taxes, the twisting of districts for the benefit of the partisans, and the repeated closure of polling stations in urban, minority areas are just a few of these immoral, unjust restrictions.

The For the People Act would lift these restrictions and protect the right to vote for every American citizen. It is imperative to protect our elections and our democracy. The provisions of this bill are not partisan; a majority of voters from both parties support them.

The only thing blocking this crucial move from being passed is the obsolete, unnecessary Jim Crow filibuster. The Senate must pass the For the People Act and, if necessary, repeal or bypass the filibuster. The future of our democracy depends on it.

Daniel Farnitano
Martinez

May 6th panel
Stop the future uprising

We all remember what happened on Pearl Harbor Day on December 7th. I remember what happened on January 6th during the Capitol Uprising and the anger I felt as I watched helplessly as local terrorists tried to stop the number of delegates and kill our elected leaders.

These weren’t tourists visiting the Capitol, as some Republicans have led us to believe. Five people died. None of us should ever forget that. We need investigations at all levels of government, including Congress, to identify and convict the perpetrators of this heinous crime intended to overthrow our democracy.

It’s never too late to do the right thing. If we don’t, we give our tacit consent for them to try again.

Andrew Wise
Fremont

USA must lead UN
lasting peace in the Middle East

Let us pray that the truce in Gaza will be the last and that there will be peace and justice in the Holy Land.

It is a fact that both the Israelis and the Palestinians have suffered during the recent fighting between them, ignited by the displacement of the Palestinians from Jerusalem, where they have lived for many decades. However, the worsening situation of the Palestinians has long been a model of Israeli politics.

In order to achieve lasting peace and justice, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) must play an active role. The United States has in the past prevented the UN Security Council from taking effective action to end Israeli control of the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories, including Arab East Jerusalem, and to resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees.

The Biden government is urged to lead efforts in the UN Security Council to achieve peace and justice in the Holy Land.

Amer Araim
Walnut Creek