More guns, more problems
I agree with Wayne LaPierre, vice-president of the U.S. National Rifle Association, who, in a statement in the wake of the shootings at a Connecticut school said, “call me crazy to put armed guards in schools.”
Yes, he is definitely crazy, as are the many Americans who follow his philosophy.
Remember the high profile shooting case at Columbine high school in Colorado? There actually was an armed guard who tried and failed to stop two students from killing more than a dozen of their classmates and one teacher.
I was in the French army in the early 1960s during the Algerian conflict with France, which was followed by the war against the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale). I know a great deal about guns. This is probably why I don’t own one.
In Canada, I don’t see the need for them. More guns do not solve violence. On the contrary, more guns promote violence.
Unfortunately it seems that too many Americans love guns more than life itself. I am not against the American people, only the crazy ones like Monsieur LaPierre.
Philippe Bures
View Royal
MLA pensions only part of cost
Re: “MLA pensions saddle us with indefinite burden” (Letters, Dec. 19).
Someone once wrote that polititians are like rats: what they take for themselves is miniscule compared to what they destroy in the process.
Joe Hronek
Colwood
Alternatives to burning available
Re: “Burning a better alternative” (Letters, Dec 12)
This is precisely the attitude that I havewitnessed from burners. Strictly no alternative.
My two suggestions in the past are as follows: firstly, fill a hole or ditch with material, sprinkle a light layer of soil, let nature work and then plant something.
Secondly, spread leaves thinly, use mulching lawn mower, spread resulting wonderful product around vegetable gardens, shrubs and borders.
The letter writer makes it sound like there is a line-up of fume belching trucks just waiting to haul her debris away.
The fact that we are allowed to burn next to schools, playfields and the downtown core is absurd.
To have three guys on call with a vacuum truck starting in the fall, with a plan stating which neighbourhoods will be collected, would be a great start. I think Langford’s bankbook could cope with such a start.
I have personally witnessed what people burn: from vinyl chairs to lead-painted construction materials to all-out garbage. Again, it is not policed.
To state that I should stay indoors on burning day is precisely the ignorant attitude that some (burners) have.
Why has every other district banned it? The complete ban will come and the sooner council works to instigate some form of curbside pickup the better. Again, we are burning a valuable resource.
John V. McGuire
Langford
