Losing hope that gun violence can be solved

Cross Currents

Th ese past few weeks have been brutal with regard to the violence, tragedy and extinguishing lives of especially the young people who have been victims of gun violence. With every new shooting so many of us ask “when will this

We have been hopeful. We have prayed and asked for direction. We have supported needed legislation to do a variety of things including banning assault weapons and establishing red ag laws. We have walked in protests and lobbied for change. Some change has taken place both at the state and national level. But it always falls short of what is needed as more and more shootings take place.

Each year sets new records for mass shootings and the total number of casualties and injuries. Even if Congress did enact all of the

Letters To The Editor

Truth or emotion?

Applauding the Westminster Window’s Mission, Vision, and Integrity I would like to make a suggestion to better achieve those goals. While you have accurately reported on the raw emotion and harsh words spoken at Westminster City Council meetings, both during citizen comment time and by council members to each other, I have not seen any reporting on the validity of any accusations. I’m not talking about the validity of opinions because opinions cannot be held to a truth test, but facts in accusations can, most times, be proved true or false.

For example, take my accusation that a lie was told by the City of Westminster in 2018, made through City sta , as reported by this newspaper, claiming that ows in the Big Dry Creek Sewer Interceptor had increased by 40% over the previous 10 years. is claim attempted gun restrictions, I do not think it would resolve the fundamental problem.

We acknowledge the premise that mass shootings cannot be solved with any single solution. Plus, front and center there is always the mantra of the Second Amendment being cited whenever there are attempts to make change for the better. Personally, I cannot think of any law, Constitutional Amendment or Bible verse more misinterpreted than the Second Amendment regarding the right to bear arms.

The new American norm

It seems the whole gun crisis in America is continuing to escalate while at the same time our nation is more divided over gun control than ever before. Where is hope? What is our future reality going to be like? Now, we have teenagers and young 20-somethings going to the wrong address, driving up the wrong driveway in an unfamiliar part of town or young cheerleaders getting in the wrong car and all of them are getting shot. It is not served as the reason City Council placed a moratorium on building in a majority portion of Westminster and then was used as a reason to raise the water rates that ended with landscape water at $8.15 or $12.88 per kgal. Fact checking is both straightforward and easy. e validation of truth or falsehood of the 40% increase is held in the city published ACFR documents.

In the most recent incident of harsh words reported by this paper (April 27, 2023), it was reported that I was of accused of lying and not following protocol. While that was accurate reporting, I do not consider merely repeating those accusation to be good journalism. Good journalism would require inclusion of the validity of those accusations? You still can do that. I think the Public would be most interested to know if the accusations were based in truth or in emotion.

Bruce Baker,

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com solely a racial issue.

Americans have become such ardent gun bearers, it is scary. You never know if someone is going to pull out a gun and do who-knowswhat. Local police are hesitant to pull over speeders for fear of getting shot by the driver who has a rearm at his side. More and more youth have access to rearms with gangs “packing heat” to guard their territory or take on another gang or individual who got cross ways with them.

Drugs are playing a larger and larger role in shootings. How often do you hear on the news about a drug deal going wrong and a shooting has left one or more victims.

Mental health is at the core of some of the shootings and mass murders. How in the world do we resolve that issue on a national basis? When will it end? How can it end? Who can get it to end? More and more, it seems that gun violence has become “the American way” or the “new normal.”

Hope to resolve gun violence is gone I hate to say it, but I have lost

Westminster

Zoning is authoritarian

Mayor Pro Tem David DeMott said, “ e idea of someone at the State Capitol deciding what we’re going to build, how we’re going to build it, and where we’re going to build it is dangerous.” (See Westminster in strong opposition to Land Use bill, Westminster Window, 04/13/23). I agree. However, equally dangerous is someone at City Hall deciding what we’re going to build, how we’re going to build it, and where we’re going to build it.

Only the landowner should decide what to build on their land, how to build it, and where to build it. It’s their land, and they should have full control over it. e State, the County, the City, and busybody neighbors should butt out because it’s not their land.

Zoning should be abandoned

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com hope regarding the American people and its leaders solving the horrendous gun problem we have. It has become a disease.

It seems too many Americans are blind to the growing trend of gun violence or have become numb to the outcome of so many guns being in the possession of Americans.

For the longest time, I truly believed there was a solution. Although I knew it was a complex, multi-faceted set of solutions which would take years if not decades to resolve, I no longer believe such an approach is realistic. Too many people have too many guns. Too many people are mentally unstable. ere is too much racism and hate. Too many young people have grown up around guns and now they possess and will use guns to harm or kill people. ere is too much drug use and drug dealing which inevitably involves guns. Too many citizens believe that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives them to have whatever kind of gun they want and as many

SEE CHRISTOPHER, P13

altogether because it violates landowners’ property rights, and it’s the leading cause of the housing crisis. e government has no legitimate role in land use decisions over privately-owned land whatsoever.

So, if zoning is abandoned altogether and landowners’ property rights are respected, how does one keep an industrial park, a re nery, or a skyscraper from being built next door to homes? Contracts. Landowners are free to enter into contracts with willing neighboring landowners. Sometimes these contracts are covenants or homeowners associations.

Instead of dictating land use from above via authoritarian zoning laws, civilized free societies determine land use by peacefully and voluntarily entering into land use contracts for mutual bene t.

Chuck Wright, Westminster

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