LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Jan. 2, 2013

Jewish Food Pantry

On behalf of the Jewish Family & Children’s Service, I want to thank you for providing several stories over the past year about our expanded Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry operation and the Max and Drew Erlich Center, our new food pantry building.   Your most recent headline story was a great characterization of how our new building will serve the needs of the community for decades to come.  I would like to point out that the capacity of the building was understated.  We invested in the building after a careful analysis indicated it could serve up to 10,000 clients per month, not the 4,000 mentioned.  We are currently running at about half capacity.  Finally, no mention of our new building is complete without thanking the Jewish Federation and many organizations and individuals who helped turn our dream for this facility into reality.

David S. Weiss, President of the Board, Jewish Family & Children’s Service

 

Gun debate

Columbine, Newtown, and Aurora are absolutely senseless tragedies. No rationally thinking human being including me could imagine these acts are possible to commit. That being said I felt the need to inform the Jewish Light and the entire Jewish community that maybe now is the time to place the focus on the irrationality, as well as, the criminality of the perpetrator of these acts and not their selection of weapon. 

As a responsible gun collector, hunter, recreational shooter and yes, a Jew (Oy, what would his mother say?), it’s time to take the focus off of the gun; people have been killed and injured by maniacs wielding knives, cars, bombs  and even airplanes and place it squarely on the individual with evil intent. 

Two hundred and fifty words is not near enough for me to defend my position, and I know I will need it, judging by the editorials of the last two issues, but I am positive we don’t need more gun control; we need better criminal control. They are the actual instrument of the crime. 

I prefer my Second Amend-ment right to defend myself and my family from harm.

Steven Grossman, St. Louis

 

Allow me to first preface my remarks by stating unequivocally, I favor gun control. However, this does not mean that responsible persons who possess gun permits and undergo proper training should not be allowed to carry them as dictated by conceal-carry laws.

The recent tragedy in Newtown, Conn., might somehow have been mitigated had the teachers been armed, and allowed to carry weapons into the school. 

Banning military-style assault weapons, and other such weapons of mass destruction, enacting tighter laws regarding the possession and use of handguns and stricter and harsher penalties for violators should definitely be on the table when confronting such an insidious problem.

I would hope that any additional laws that might be passed would encourage more responsible law-abiding, upstanding citizens to apply for conceal-carry, especially among our nation’s teachers and educators. The police can’t be everywhere and protect everybody.

Gene Carton, Olivette

 

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