Once again, Schumacher has it all wrong
To the editor:
In his Sunday column, the Review-Journal's Geoff Schumacher claims that allowing everybody to carry a firearm would be catastrophic -- that we would have shootouts all the time, everywhere ("Dangerous stupidity epidemic in Las Vegas"). He also cites an example of two stupid drivers shooting it out on the side of a road in Las Vegas.
The problem with his claim is that it is backed by anecdotal evidence: two idiots who used their guns on each other for no good reason. Mr. Schumacher did not consider the possibility that even in this one example, the driver who started shooting might have shown some restraint if he knew that the other guy had a gun and was likely to respond.
But if we look at the larger picture, it is easy to determine that the claim is bogus. In Vermont, people can carry concealed guns without a permit. Mr. Schumacher would expect the corpses to be carted away at the end of the day in large trucks. The fact is that Vermont has one of the lowest crime rates in the nation; with an unknown number of armed citizens around, there are no shootouts. It is true that there are idiots everywhere, but if we treat everybody like idiots, they eventually will start behaving like them.
The opposite is also true: Washington, D.C., prohibits handgun ownership, with the sad result of it being the crime capital of the nation.
The same is true about Mr. Schumacher's other two concerns: children drowning in swimming pools and dangerous dogs. We should hold people responsible for what they do, but not try to legislate good and reasonable behavior. Parents who can't be bothered to supervise a child near a swimming pool will not change their ways just because a law says they should. Owners of dogs that prove to be vicious have to be held responsible, but don't try to legislate how to select a pet and how to train it. That way lies a Nanny State and, ultimately, dictatorship.
It is also a fact that legislating good behavior doesn't make it so. Idiots are idiots, and the only thing that will eliminate them from society is their own stupidity.
Nachman Kataczinsky
LAS VEGAS
Special treatment
To the editor:
I read where casino magnate Steve Wynn attended a hearing at the Regional Justice Center to observe the proceedings of two of his dealers trying to reverse his tip-sharing policy ("Tip-rules switch broke pacts, labor lawyer says," April 8 Review-Journal). But did he enter or leave through the front door, subject to a search like you and I would?
Nope. He entered "the 17th-floor courtroom at the Regional Justice Center through a side emergency exit door ... then took a private elevator primarily used by judges and their staff to exit the building."
Why was he accorded such preferential treatment? Can anyone do the same if they ask? Nope. I'm sure such accommodations aren't available to the common citizens who overpaid for this edifice.
This special treatment personifies what is so wrong in so many circles of this city, county and state. It's this air of self-assigned sense of superiority and aristocracy and the old "who you know" that determines your entitlement and treatment. That and a lack of a sense of fairness and equal treatment among this self-important upper class.
Michael A. Dimmick
LAS VEGAS
Olympics bid
To the editor:
Reno-Lake Tahoe's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics would be a great achievement for the whole state and should be enthusiastically supported by Southern Nevada (Friday Review-Journal). Southern Nevada is the economic engine of the state, but Northern Nevada could use an economic boost that would pay dividends to future generations.
Seven years of preparation, and then the legacy of the venues would establish the area as a premier winter sports destination. It is especially important that the politicians of Southern Nevada embrace this idea and realize that the state goes beyond the border of Las Vegas. They need to get over the us-verses-them mentality that paralyzes this state in so many areas. It would unite this state and provide two economic engines for the future.
Good job Reno, and count me in.
Russell Davis
LAS VEGAS
Memorial
To the editor:
Some people have asked for the sidewalk memorial to slain Palo Verde High School student Christopher Privett on Alta Drive, near Pavilion Center Drive, to be removed. This memorial was established to honor the life of this young man. I'm saddened to think that some consider it an eyesore.
I believe Summerlin should give Palo Verde students an opportunity to devise a lasting memorial to be erected on the spot where the February shooting occurred. It doesn't have to be anything ostentatious. It just needs to honor this young man. I think this is the least we can do.
Carole Clarke
LAS VEGAS
