Newsday letters to the editor for Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017

I’m sickened by the devastating carnage in Las Vegas [“Massacre on Vegas strip,” News, Oct. 3]. Once again, we are in shock, and we wonder how people among us can be so evil.

When are we Americans going to learn? We are ridiculed and considered repulsive by other countries as a nation obsessed with violence. I have relatives in Ireland, where police rarely carry guns!

I know the stale line by the National Rifle Association that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. We need to stop this obsession with and easy access to guns.

In most cases, if deranged people and those who resort to violence every day in this country didn’t have guns, how would they commit these acts? With slingshots? Remove the guns from the hands of these maniacs, or it will not end.

Terry Sherwood,Farmingville

When scores are killed and hundreds hospitalized, it’s tempting for Americans to overreact by trying to prevent such atrocities in the future.

Thankfully, I can rely upon the Republican Party to defend my constitutional right to see those I love massacred with assault weapons. Hold the line, President Donald Trump!

Jonathon Schilpp, Glen Cove

I’m sick about news reports of a deranged gunman killing many people. The Republican Party claims to be the party that best represents Christian values. However, regarding gun control, the party falls flat.

The party apparently finds it more important to accept money from the National Rifle Association than to protect people’s lives. The way many Republicans respond to these tragedies leads me to think they do not value human life very highly.

I’m not against owning guns; I’m against how easy it is to obtain a gun. There is no way one person should own more than 40 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

There must be a national registry that keeps track of gun ownership and how much ammunition a person buys. We do it for medicines — why not for firearms?

To the Republican Party: Which is more important, money or human life?

Roger Kaufmann, East Northport

I’m sad because once again our nation has experienced the horror of a gun massacre. I’m tired of hearing the same post-massacre platitudes of sympathy: prayers, thoughts for grieving families, moments of silence, bells tolling. Yet we do nothing to prevent future slaughters.

Deirdre M. Hensen, Miller Place

We need solid and sound-minded gun control now. We don’t need Congress to alter gun laws so that people can easily purchase silencers, which is being considered. Silencers would further threaten public safety. In Las Vegas, silencers might have made an already catastrophic situation worse.

Arthur L. Mackey Jr., Roosevelt

Editor’s note: The writer is senior pastor at Mount Sinai Baptist Church Cathedral in Roosevelt.

The question is not who or why — who is a madman or why he was a madman.

The real question is how we allow, in a so-called modern society, anyone to have legal access to military-grade weapons and to obtain thousands of rounds of ammunition.

More than 1.5 million Americans since 1968 have died as a result of guns.

The real why question is, when we will take real steps to stop the carnage? Our members of Congress must enact national legislation.

The real when question is, when will we ever learn?

Peter Hanson, Massapequa

Another huge tragedy with a terrible loss of life, and President Donald Trump expressed sympathy with no mention of gun control.

What does it take to stop the National Rifle Association from wielding such ridiculous power over our country?

School shootings haven’t done it, movie theater shootings haven’t done it, shootings at malls haven’t done it. What is with America’s love affair with guns? Many countries in the world restrict gun ownership.

Our people will be afraid to go anywhere while this Wild West show continues. Now it is possible to attach a device that will transform a semi-automatic into a gun that can just keep shooting.

Our Second Amendment is as outdated as the horse and buggy. It was put in place at a time when loading muskets took time. It’s a huge embarrassment to our country that this amendment is interpreted as it is.

We get more craziness in a country we like to think the world looks to for inspiration!

Sylvia Essman, Plainview