Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/611901
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Thisweekapairofgunmenstormedthe Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California dressed in dark tactical gear and heavily armed with hand guns, assault-style weapons, and explosive devices. They killed 14 people and injured 17 others. Itwillgodownasthedead- liest mass shooting since the massacre at Sandy Hook El- ementary School in New- town, Connecticut claimed the lives of 20 children and 6 adults in 2012. That is, until another one takes its place. It could take days or weeks, per- haps months or years, but it will happen. After all, there have been more than 1,000 mass shootings since Sandy Hook. At least 1,312 people have been killed and another 3,764 have been wounded. In 2015 alone, there have been more mass shootings in the U.S. than there are days in the year. Statistical numbness sets in after hearing such sad num- bers following these incidents. Meanwhile, after each shooting we are treated to a familiar loop. President Obama and Congressional Democrats call for sensible gun safety legislation. Conser- vatives and Congressional Re- publicans try to pin it all on mental health. The National Rifle Association trots out board member and 70s rock has-been Ted Nugent to say "[i]f it was up to me, if you ut- tered the word 'gun control,' we'd put you in jail." or some- thing equally offensive. Fox News devotes wall-to- wall coverage of the incident — if it can be tied to some- one with dark skin. And we all make sure our friends on Facebook and Twitter know our "thoughts and prayers" are with the victims and their families. Then nothing. The media stops discussing the story, the politicians start talk- ing about something else, the NRA pats itself on the back when Congress fails to act, we move onto sharing the lat- est grumpy cat GIFs on social media, and we wait for the next mass shooting to begin the loop anew. This vicious cycle is often colored with tired political rhetoric. In 1959, Fred A. Roff, Jr. then president of the Colt Pat- ent Fire Arms Company, gave birth to the granddaddy of gun-nut spin when he told the Associated Press, "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." It is a phrase that has gone on to become wildly popular among those opposed to even the most basic gun safety measures. Even so, roughly 90 percent of all Americans — includ- ing 88 percent of gun owners and 86 percent of NRA mem- bers — think all gun buyers should be required to "pass a criminal background check, no matter where they buy the gun and no matter whom they buy it from." Similarly, more than 80 percent of Americans support "renewing the federal ban on assault weapons" and nearly 75 percent are in fa- vor of banning "gun clips that hold more than 10 bullets at a time." Confronted by such lop- sided support for gun control and such startling Congres- sional inaction, I would take Roff's sentiment a step fur- ther: Guns don't kill people, complacent liberals do. It is easy to blame the NRA and Republicans in Congress. They deserve the lion's share of the culpability but point- ing the finger in their direc- tion changes nothing. Look- ing in the mirror and recog- nizing our own complacency may be uncomfortable but the real change we are after will never come to fruition if we fail to evaluate our own role in this massive failure of pub- lic policy. We tell pollsters we sup- port sensible gun safety leg- islation and then we can't be bothered to show up and vote unless President Obama is on the ballot. We express horror every week — often daily — when another mass shooting shakes another American neighbor- hood and yet we do not vote. We blame Congress for doing nothing to stop these shoot- ings from happening and when push comes to shove we do not show up at the polls to hold them accountable for their dithering. President Obama was elected in 2008 and 2012 while Democrats lost 12 gov- ernorships, 69 House seats, 13 Senate seats, and more than 900 state legislative seats during the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections. If Obama's coalition turned out during these important cy- cles when the President is not on the ballot but state legis- lative and Congressional con- tests are, passing sensible gun safety measurers would not be the hopeless quest it has become. Yes, the NRA is powerful but they are only successful at perpetuating this bloody status quo because we do not vote when it really matters and it always matters. Just ask the families of the 12 thousand men, women, and children who lose their lives to gun violence each year. KarlFrischisasyndicated columnist and longtime political strategist. You can join his email list and connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube at @KarlFrisch. Karl Frisch Guns don't kill people, complacent liberals do Cartoonist's take Fedsshowno regard for salmon Editor: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Rec- lamation have again shown that they have no regard for salmon in our Sacramento River. Once again, the river levels have been dropped after the salmon have spawned, leaving many redds high and dry and killing millions of salmon eggs. During the peak of salmon spawning 5,500 to 6,000 cu- bic feet per second of water was being released from Kes- wick, now the release is just 4,250 cfs. As further evidence that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation have no concern about one of our last remaining natural re- sources, they leave the lights on all night at the Tehama Colusa Canal intake facility. It is well known that leaving the lights on creates an enhanced predatory environment. Young salmon are likely devoured at this point by squaw fish and other species as they pass by on their way downstream. You can see the large bank of lights on at the canal inlet any early morning or evening by driving on Interstate 5 and crossing the river just north of Diamond Avenue. If you think this is new information to the Bureau or the USFW, it is not. It has previously been re- quested that they turn them off. Those lights do not seem to serve any purpose and can be turned on if needed. This is es- pecially distressing as this is happening right in the back- yard of the Fish and Wildlife office on Tyler Road, the office of the Project Leader. One has to assume that they just don't care. — Ken Robison, Red Bluff Outlawing guns won't stop violence Editor: Another mass shooting has rocked our society. As hei- nous as this brutal attack was, I ask those who believe in gun control, will this violence end when guns are outlawed? If anyone truly believes gun control will stop killings, I do have a bridge to sell you. — Vickie Linnet, Corning What's happening to our country? Editor: What happens when good people remain silent, when they should be speaking out? What happens when our ed- ucational system, K through 12 and beyond, is taken over by educators with a liberal, social- ist, anti-Christian and often a radical hate America agenda? What happens when stu- dents K through 12 are not taught to pledge their alle- giance the American flag, are not taught patriotism, to be proud of their country and re- spect the men and women who fought and sacrificed for it? What happens when a presi- dent, Bill Clinton, lies so much and gets away with it because the liberal biased media sup- ports him and lying becomes acceptable for liberal Demo- crats? What happens when the es- tablished politicians in Wash- ington DC in both Democrats and Republicans becomes the ruling class of cronies? You get worldwide chaos. You get a president that was elected by the color of his skin rather the content of his char- acter and will raise the na- tional debt to $20 trillion by the end of his second term. A president whose accomplish- ments were achieved by lying, yet people believe he is a Chris- tian because he says so after he bows to Muslim leaders and turns his back on the Israeli leader. You get a Secretary of State responsible for the deaths of an ambassador and three other Americans and lied about it, kept an unsecure private web- site where classified e-mails were stored sacrificing our na- tional security and lied about it. Hillary Clinton should be in jail but no doubt, if not in- dicted on criminal charges, will be the Democratic nomi- nee for President of the United States of America. Reminds me of Sicily and the Mafia. We are a nation that is sup- posed to be ruled by a major- ity, yet it seems to a casual ob- server we are ruled by the minority. Case in point; low in- formation, politically correct college students are demon- strating on college campuses across the country making de- mands from ousting mem- bers of the college administra- tion to getting slave retribution and free everything else. This is what our education system is turning out. If a private business, cor- poration or blue collar trades- man, carpenter, plumber, elec- trician, butcher, baker, me- chanic to name a few would turn out such sloppy work they would go broke or be out of a job. However, the educa- tion system keeps turning out college graduates that boast a 3.7 grade average that have learned a lot about nothing and will continue to vote for the politicians that lie, cheat and steal and then brag about. The LGBT community rep- resents a group of people that are proud of a lifestyle that they should be ashamed of. They and illegal immigrants represent a small minority but through protesting and lobby- ing, politicians are willing to give in to their demands. Tax- payers pay for sex change op- erations and illegal immi- grants get welfare, Medicare, rent subsidies given freely by politicians while denying our wounded warriors the proper care for their recovery, often dying in the process of a dys- functional government. It would appear most of the "refugees" are economic jihad- ist males between the age of 18 and 45 years old. They have re- cently arrived courtesy of Pres- ident Obama, Secretary Kerry and the State Department. It is the age group 18-45 from Syria that terrorized France and murdered its citi- zens. How many terrorist at- tacks will we have before Obama will call them terrorist attacks? — Les Wolfe, Red Bluff One language for prosperity and peace Editor: With people throughout the world interacting more than ever through Internet and phone communication, wouldn't it be better if we all spoke the same language? If we did, religious, racial and cultural obstacles to peace and technological advancement would dissolve, thereby en- abling everyone to live happier, more-productive lives. But what language would we speak? With rampant and un- controlled immigration from Mexico and Central America, and since it seems we're head- ing that direction anyway, should it be Spanish? Every language has strengths and weaknesses, but according to a 2010 Univer- sity of Lyon study, English is the most efficient of the most- widely-used spoken languages. However, before the world starts transitioning to English, it should be streamlined by a panel of expert linguists to re- duce the inconsistencies and inefficiencies it does have. Once that's done, an official New World Dictionary should be published and made acces- sible to every person on Earth. Then governments should re- ward their constituents for learning English and prov- ing their mastery and use of it. Such rewards might include tax breaks and social privileges like better parking and choice seating at concerts and sport- ing events. — Nathan Esplanade, Rancho Tehama Letters to the editor We blame Congress for doing nothing to stop these shootings from happening and when push comes to shove we do not show up at the polls to hold them accountable for their dithering. State and National Assemblyman James Gallagher, 2060Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530895-4217, http:// ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator.nielsen@sen- ate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capi- tal Building, Sacramento 95814, 916445-2841, fax 916558-3160, governor@governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa, 507Cannon House Office Build- ing, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415393-0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Francisco 94111, 510286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Your officials OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, December 5, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4