A uniquely American tragedy

Another mass shooting, this time in a bank in Louisville, Kentucky (“What we know about victims of the Louisville bank shooting,” April 11). There have been 146 mass shootings already this year — with many more to come. It is as if America is living the movie”Groundhog Day.”

We all are familiar with the plot: It starts with a mass shooting in a school, a bank, a college campus, a church. Then there is a massive police response, sometimes swift; several people dead, many injured. Then an area lockdown. The shooter is killed, either by the police or by their own hand. Innocent folk are slaughtered, others injured or maimed while going about their ordinary activities.

Lives, careers, hopes cut short by wanton, senseless carnage. Families shattered, left bereft with the loss of loved ones. Then statements by mayors or governors decrying the killing, hearts and prayers going out to the victims’ families. There are impromptu memorials with candles, flowers, stuffed toys. The community vows to stay strong. Angry protests follow with calls for action to deal with gun violence.

Republicans then shut down all suggestions to common sense gun reform as the same people who care so deeply for the lives of unborn children care not a whit for the lives of schoolchildren, college students and ordinary citizens lost every single day to gun violence. They push to reverse federal regulatory approval of the drug Mifepristone because it is “unsafe” despite its track record of safety over two decades of use, but will not allow a ban on assault rifles.

The rest of the civilized world watches in horror, mystified as to why this great nation stands mute, impotent to stop this recurrent slaughter of innocents.

So we will continue to relive the shock and sadness at the inevitable and recurrent spectacle of mass shootings, a uniquely American tragedy that our politicians have no interest in stopping? All we can do is to weep and join the victims’ families in their grief because surely as the sun rises every day, another mass shooting will happen somewhere in the United States soon.

— Vijay Abhyankar, Bel Air

Ah, the joys of bird watching in Baltimore

Thanks to Zach Przystup for his recent commentary, “BYOB: Bring Your Own Binoculars; it’s birding season in the Baltimore region” (April 10).

For me, spring arrives when I hear the high pitched nasal call of a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. I can’t wait for the Rose-breasted Grosbeak’s annual visit to my feeder. By early May, the whistles of Baltimore and Orchard Orioles should echo throughout Patapsco State Park’s Avalon area.

— Herb Cromwell, Catonsville

Jane Fonda’s activism was offensive

While skimming through the sports, obits and puzzles pages, I came across an ad by Stevenson University for guest speakers at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Well, as I glanced at the names, I saw where Jane Fonda will appear as part of the Baltimore Speakers Series on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, and that she is decribed as an activist and film star.

The only picture that comes to mind for me is the one of her in North Vietnam sitting on an anti-aircraft gun pointing at the sky as if to shoot down a U.S. plane or helicopter. As an ex-GI, I didn’t agree with the war either, but I certainly wouldn’t have done that.

A dear friend of mine served in Vietnam in the mid-1960s and was hit with Agent Orange many times while in battle. After coming home, he has suffered many years with illnesses. He has 15 to 20 stents throughout his body, plus many other problems with his eyes and bones. He’s constantly going to the Veterans Affairs hospital.

I always wondered if Jane rode in any of those North Vietnamese planes that dropped the tactical herbicide. I belong to the American Legion, and in the men’s room there are three urinals. The one in the middle has an 8t-inch round sticker with a picture of Jane that says “HANOI JANE TARGET.”

We stand in line to use that one so we can give proper due.

— Buzzy Sperandeo, Bel Air