Reader fears citizens won’t care enough to demand prosecution for Jan. 6 insurrection

Will we act?

Unless citizens listen, consider and act, democracy will not prevail. The Jan. 6 hearings are confirming election fraud claims were false and the insurrection was a direct result of those claims, claims the former president continues to make. The Committee’s single purpose has been to investigate the origins and purpose of the insurrection, an event that had been planned to thwart the cornerstone of democracy, the peaceful transfer of power.

Although the Committee has no authority to prosecute the former president, the evidence collected creates an indisputable case for conviction of federal crimes.

Voters must care enough to voice concerns and contact elected officials to insist the nation’s attorney general prosecute the former president of federal crimes. In a democracy, an elected leader has no executive authority to assert false claims and seize governmental authority as a dictator would.

In 2016, in Sioux City, Iowa, the former president asserted, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any votes.”

As Dr. Seuss’s Lorax cautioned, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot/ Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

Sharon Leff, Charleston

Try Canada’s way

Why doesn’t the U.S. license guns and gun owners like we do motorized vehicles and drivers? When used improperly, both have the potential to harm people and property, and guns are even more lethal than motor vehicles, particularly the “weapons of mass destruction” used in recent mass murders in churches, schools, shopping centers, and supermarkets.

We can still honor the Second Amendment while requiring qualified people to obtain a license to use a gun prior to owning one. By requiring all guns to be licensed, law enforcement would be able to determine ownership of a firearm similarly to the way vehicle licenses are used to determine vehicle ownership in the event of improper use.

I believe that the U.S. should employ the Canadian model for gun control. Canada has significantly fewer gun murders than the U.S. Canada requires a license to own a gun and ammunition and buyers must pass safety tests. Licenses must be renewed every five years.

An applicant for a firearm license in Canada also must pass background checks, which consider criminal, mental, addiction and domestic violence records, according to the Library of Congress’s review of Canada’s laws.

Helene Stoller, Bluffton

Thank you

Thank you to the Brays Island community and all the Beaufort supporters who made our 2022 AMIkids Croquet Picnic a rousing success.

This was the first time since 2019 that we held the event due to pandemic cancellations. With the help of many friends and with the gracious hospitality of Brays Island, we met our annual fundraising goal for the event and, to date, have netted $103,000.

We help young men separate a troubled past from a bright future and have been doing so since the mid-1980s in Beaufort County.

AMIkids Beaufort campus provides not only education, but numerous hands-on vocational opportunities, treatment and behavior modification. We have a nationally-recognized welding program and recently earned our third YouthBuild federal grant to help our students learn construction skills.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this event a success.

John C. Williams, Beaufort

Many have served

I take exception to a recent editorial titled, “Chief’s failure wasn’t the only one in Uvalde.”

Though the writer doesn’t excuse the lack of action by the school’s police chief, he does attempt to partially justify it by asking, “Have you ever been jarred from the routine of an ordinary day and suddenly been called upon to make a complex life-or-death decision that tests the very limits of your courage?”

The answer to that question for thousands of first responders and others in fire and rescue is a resounding, “Yes.”

We may be eating lunch or deep asleep when we’re jarred by the sound of an alert indicating we have a call. As a former assistant director of EMS on Hilton Head, I saw time and again the bravery and knowledge used to save countless lives.

First responders didn’t wait for instructions. They did what they were trained to do without hesitation.

Chief Arrendondo isn’t the only person who’s been jarred from an ordinary day. He just failed to fall back on his training, not to mention failing to carry his radio.

Glenn Brodie, Hardeeville