Newsday letters to the editor for Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018

Taking aim on guns from 3D printers

Your Aug. 2 news story “Debate over 3D guns” said, “They’re easy to make — at home, perhaps even the office. They’re cheap, comparatively speaking.” This line is misleading. Other media have reported that printers to make a 3D gun are very expensive:

CNN: “The higher-end 3D printers needed to make such weapons cost thousands of dollars and may be too expensive for most people.”

The Hill: “ . . . the high-end printers needed to produce weapons go for hundreds of thousands, or even millions [of dollars].”

It is illogical for criminals to spend thousands of dollars to create a flimsy plastic gun that’s more likely to explode in their hands than actually fire a round. It’s easier to purchase a far cheaper one on the black market.

It is within a company’s First Amendment rights to post the designs online. If you don’t believe me, you can Google how to build a gun right now, as you have been able to do for years.

Matthew Pinna, Farmingdale

I agree with Newsday’s Aug. 1 editorial, “ ‘Ghost guns’ a major danger,” that President Donald Trump’s administration should tighten federal laws and rescind its recent settlement that allowed a Texas outfit called Defense Distributed to post instructions for 3D guns online. Congressional leaders are pursuing legislation against the threat. Sensible and necessary!

I hope sanity wins. I am a grandfather of nine and was a teacher for 33 years. Our president has a dismal record on rational gun control. At various times, he has indicated support for universal background checks, raising the legal age to buy guns to 21, restricting semi-automatic rifles and banning bump stocks, but not one has been done. I haven’t forgotten. 3D guns are an issue of national security.

Hank Cierski, Port Jefferson Station

Hey, kids, now you can take your Second Amendment rights and stash them in your high school locker with your history book. 3D printers let you make illegal, unregistered plastic guns. They’ll be undetectable at airports and slip through security. Check your local internet for details.

Simply allowing this to happen in the grief-stricken hallways of our schools would be madness. How would it make our kids safer, make us better?

Debra North, East Meadow

NY’s two primaries are too expensive

In September, New York will hold primaries to select candidates for state Assembly and Senate seats. In late June, we held primaries for congressional candidates. Few people turned out to vote.

New York is the only state to hold separate primaries this year for state and federal elections. We used to have one primary day. I realize that in recent years, the federal primary was moved to June to give more time for military and overseas voters to submit absentee ballots. Then some Albany lawmakers didn’t want to move their primaries to June because they wouldn’t be able to campaign during the legislative session. So now voters from Buffalo to Montauk must pay millions of dollars for the extra primary. What a waste of money.

When are our elected officials in Albany going to consider taxpayers?

Donald E. Wagner, Greenport

Criticism of local judge was unfair

As an attorney who has appeared before all local judges for a quarter century, I was surprised to see the armchair-quarterback slaying of Judge Erica Prager by two readers in the case of a defendant she released who is now suspected of going on to kill a Queens nurse [“Judge was wrong to release suspect,” Letters, Aug. 2].

Judges rely on information provided by the courts, prosecutors and law enforcement before deciding on releasing a defendant on bail. In this case, a full history on defendant Danueal Drayton’s past felonies in Connecticut was not provided to Prager. Judges do not have crystal balls to see the future; they rely on the past when considering bail and its purpose, to make sure people come back to court.

I have found this judge to be reasonable, fair and at times very conservative with her decisions. She is an honest public servant. The courts make mistakes at times.

David Mirsky, Mineola

Editor’s note: The writer is a criminal defense attorney.

Nature trail seems way too expensive

A $10 million, 10-mile nature and hiking trail from Port Jefferson to Wading River is a very nice idea [“10-mile Suffolk trail now chugging ahead,” News, July 28]. It’ll be built on old railway land owned by the Long Island Power Authority.

So why will it cost $1 million a mile? It isn’t being developed with the latest and greatest technology. It’s a nature trail. It’s walked on! I’m no expert, but a million dollars a mile for a trail just doesn’t sound right.

Anthony Tanzi, Mastic Beach

Digital hackers didn’t target lever machines

Maybe it’s just me, but has anyone noticed all the concern about the risk of hacking voting machines [“FBI: Russian midterm threat real,” News, Aug 3]? Curiously, that was not a problem with the lever machines. Just saying.

Owen Sargent, Huntington