In Memory of the Children
To the editor:
Thank you for the articles on guns [June 2, pages A1 and A10] that put the full ghastly story together and link it to our own towns. The New York Times couldn’t do better. I’m so grateful for your reporting — you are showing what local journalism can do in a time when so much national journalism falls short.
Treating guns exactly like cars in terms of licensing and insurance would save thousands of lives, but even that will be blocked by Republicans, who are gladly using this issue to tear people, families, towns, and finally the culture itself apart.
W.H. Auden wrote, in a time like this one: “the seas of pity lie/ locked and frozen in each eye.” While we keep working to change laws, we can also work to repair our culture, to turn away from the harsh, punitive attitude we often fall back on toward forgiveness and generosity.
The wish to own a weapon whose only purpose is to kill humans is an illness. It has been encouraged by gun manufacturers and used for political purposes, but it thrives and grows in an angry “I’ve got mine” world. When we act to support each other, by acts as simple as making sure everyone gets enough to eat, we knit families and communities closer and make them stronger. So many Democratic policies are directed at exactly this change, with the awareness that one kindness begets another. Until we can get enough Democrats in Washington, we can all make progress toward it day by day in our own towns and lives, maybe in memory of the children who’ve been lost and the families who grieve for them.
Heidi Jon Schmidt
Provincetown
Tom Cotton Republicanism
To the editor:
When I read in the May 19 Independent that one of the challengers for Julian Cyr’s state Senate seat considers herself a Tom Cotton kind of Republican, I decided to look into Mr. Cotton’s voting records, found in newspaper archives and on the website votesmart.org, to see what a Tom Cotton kind of Republican might mean for people on Cape Cod.
A short list follows.
Mr. Cotton voted No on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.
Mr. Cotton opposes restrictions on gun purchases.
Mr. Cotton voted to limit EPA oversight to allow mining and overfishing.
Mr. Cotton supports offshore energy production.
Mr. Cotton supports Repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Mr. Cotton strongly opposes increasing taxes on the wealthy.
Mr. Cotton strongly opposes prioritizing green energy.
Mr. Cotton voted No on the Freedom to Vote Act.
Mr. Cotton voted No on Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021-2022.
Mr. Cotton believes that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided by the “unelected judges” of the Supreme Court, and that life begins at conception.
Mr. Cotton voted No on Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Mr. Cotton voted against establishing a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Cotton voted against impeaching Donald Trump for inciting insurrection against the U.S. government.
Frank Barringer
Provincetown
