Two Letters to the Editor in today's NYT are highly relevant to this discussion.

1 ' "Once again, the nation is traumatized by senseless killings by a man using an assault weapon ' this time, of eight innocent shoppers at an Allen, Texas, outlet mall. Once again, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement after a mass shooting, saying, 'Our hearts are with the people of Allen, Texas, tonight during this unspeakable tragedy.'

Time after time we hear about thoughts and prayers after mass killings. At no time in the past two decades has there been any meaningful gun control legislation in this country to curtail such tragedies.

The assault weapon and large-capacity magazine ban was the law of the land from 1994 to 2004. Data shows that during that period there was a decrease in mass killings by weapons of war. The data also shows that since the expiration of the ban, there has been a significant increase in mass killings with assault weapons.

Proponents of gun rights often comment that a good guy with a gun is how to stop a bad guy with a gun. That is simply not true as proven by what has occurred in Texas since the legislature there enacted an open-carry law that took effect in 2016.

2017 ' Sutherland Springs, 26 killed

2018 ' Santa Fe High School, 10 killed

2019 ' El Paso Walmart, 23 killed

2019 ' Midland-Odessa, 7 killed

2022 ' Uvalde, 21 killed

2023 ' Allen, 8 killed

Thoughts and prayers are not the answer in stopping this carnage. Common-sense gun control legislation at the state and federal levels is necessary."


2 ' "President Biden has ordered the flag to be flown at half-staff until May 11 to honor the shooting victims in Allen, Texas.

He might as well just leave it at half-staff permanently. We had 647 mass shootings last year."