Gun safety

We all agree that we need a safe community to live in. Anthonio Delgado, Democratic candidate for New York’s District 19 seat in the House of Representatives, respects the Second Amendment, but realizes that gun violence has become a public health crisis, with more than 35,000 Americans killed every year. Congress, in thrall to the NRA, has refused to fund research of this health crisis by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. John Faso, District 19 incumbent, proud of his lifetime “A” rating from the NRA, has readily accepted their generous donations to his 2016 and 2018 campaigns.

Faso is also proud to be a member of the Shooters Committee On Political Education (SCOPE), which aims to inform its members on gun-control legislation. But the group opposes any attempt to limit gun use including safe storage of weapons, background checks and requiring a coding system for gun identification. SCOPE also calls for the repeal of New York’s SAFE Act, which, in 2013, instituted some the most comprehensive gun-safety policies in the country, including background checks and prohibition of bump-stocks.

Although Rep. Faso has no time to hold town hall meetings in his “very large” district, he did find time to speak at a July 21 SCOPE “rally” in Delhi, NY, where he enthusiastically told the group that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (also endorsed by the NRA), if confirmed, would be strong on Second Amendment rights.

Delgado pledges to take no NRA money. NRA has blocked, with their money-backed influence, even the smallest commonsense changes that most Americans support. Delgado is a Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense candidate and was just endorsed by Gabrielle Giffords and Capt. Mark Kelly’s “Giffords” organization [giffords.org].

Mary Lynn Kalogeras

North East, NY

Dumping on America

The entire world looks to America for our standards for a healthy environment. The days of smog-filled skies above our cities, or the threat of fire from chemically-ruined rivers are over. We and our children live longer because we are not poisoned by the water we drink, air we breathe and food we eat, grown in questionable soil.

During his tenure at the EPA, Scott Pruitt dismantled many rules and regulations that protected our air, water and soil quality from pollution. Moments before he left office, Pruitt, as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, granted a loophole that will allow a major increase in the manufacturing of a diesel freight truck that produces as much as 55 times the air pollution as trucks that have modern emissions controls.

The Trump and GOP are determined to free industry up so they can make more profits at the expense of our children’s health. We live here in Pike County because we value the purity of our air and water and soil. When you drive behind a big truck spewing black smoke into your lungs, or see garbage in our many streams and lakes, or find your well water contaminated, you can thank Trump and the GOP.

Dixie Rich

Milford, PA

[Editor’s note: In a July 26 memo, acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler reversed Pruitt’s rule on diesel truck emissions that allowed manufacturers to equip new semi-trucks with old, super-polluting diesel engines.]