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To the editor:
With the current gun culture in America linked with the ability to get instant fame/infamy via the Internet, the possibility of violence lurks around every corner. The attempted assassination of Donald Trump by someone who was not known to have any criminal record or violent tendencies may seem like a one-off, but many have realistic fears that this, the shooting of political leaders and celebrities, will become more frequent.
Guns and the Internet are an explosive combination, and for very angry individuals or those who seek the celebrity of a John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, John Hinkley or a Mark David Chapman, the ability to get a high powered gun may be a very tempting way to release their anger or become part of American history. From a nobody to a name and face known around the world is something that a lonely, insecure person who desperately wants recognition may not be able to resist. That copycat incidents are possible, or even likely, is obvious.
But do we need to be reminded that it was Trump who encouraged and failed to try to stop the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, the imminent threat to then-Vice President Mike Pence and the deaths of five police officers in connection with the riot? Do we need to be reminded of Trump talking about “Second Amendment solutions” if political things didn’t go his way?
Or about Trump saying that General Mark Milley should be executed, and also his mocking of Paul Pelosi, who was almost beaten to death?
Thank God that Trump wasn’t killed, but his hands are not clean.
Michael J. Gorman
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Excellent except for one thing. I never mention the name of John Lennon's killer when I talk about his assassination and I wish that others would not either. It was necessary when he was initially arrested, tried and convicted. But now there is no reason to give him more of the attention he craves. Fame was his only motive. He wasn't lonely. He had a wife so loyal that she still remains married to him after all this time. Let's give him the obscurity he truly deserves. Also, it's a disgrace when once every couple of years he's up for parole. The penalty for murder should be life without the possibility of parole, not only for Lennon's murderer, but for anyone guilty of murder.
Wednesday, July 17 Report this