Letters to the editor Aug. 12
Bear spray
How sad that one of the last female grizzlies in the Cabinets has been shot dead by backpackers. Instead, a couple of cans of bear spray could have allowed her not only to survive, but also to learn a valuable lesson for the future.
—Steve Barrett, Kalispell
Challenge to gun sellers
Once again two mass shootings! And once again I hear that the victims and families are “in our thoughts and prayers.” And once again, I ask myself what I can do to stop this senseless killing of helpless innocent children and adults.
I am directing this letter at the gun manufacturers and the companies that sell military-style weapons to the public. Perhaps these most recent killers didn’t purchase their weapons from your store, this time, but will you recognize your contribution to the killing of innocents if, next time, yours is the establishment that sells a killing weapon to accommodate a mega-clip that holds from 30 to 100 rounds of ammunition?
I have two shotguns and a rifle. I grew up hunting birds. We have a federal law that states that if one is hunting waterfowl (duck and geese) you can only have three shells in your shotgun. But if you want to hunt and kill your fellow man, the current laws allow you to have a magazine that will hold 100 rounds. Does any hunter need a magazine that will hold more than five or six shells?
I am not against gun ownership. But I am against military-style weapons being sold to the public. When the Second Amendment was written, the guns were muzzel-loaded. Assault weapons did not exist. The majority of American citizens are against the sale of these killing weapons, but the simple fact is that the NRA has control of Congress. Even though their membership totals only about 5 million, the 2018 Census reports a U.S. population of over 300 million.
My question to the manufacturers and sellers of weapons with clips that hold 30 to 100 rounds of ammunition, designed to kill people, is do you really have to sell this kind of killing device to make a living? How will you feel when the next mass-killing device comes from your store? Please, sell shotguns, sell hunting rifles, sell handguns, but stop selling military-style weapons and mega-clips.
I challenge all Flathead Valley gun stores to stop selling these kinds of weapons that hold 30 to 100 rounds of ammunition.
—Keith Palmquist, Bigfork
Green New Deal and more leftist lies
Dem Diva Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) has issued an ominous warning that we need a “Green New Deal” (GND) to stave off a planetary catastrophe due to “climate-change.”
What’s the GND? First, it would cost around a $100 trillion or a whopping five times our current GNP.
Second, curbing carbon-emissions would require such draconian measures as eliminating automobiles and fossil fuels, abolishing air-travel in favor of nonexistent trains, “retrofitting” all buildings in the U.S. to make them “eco-friendly” and even levying massive fines on farting cows!
The time frame? According to AOC, just 12 short years.
This pronouncement sent shockwaves through the ranks of the 2020 Dem-presidential-pretenders. And more than half of them eagerly endorsed the plan. But later, AOC said she wasn’t speaking literally about her dozen-year doomsday-deadline.
Does any of this sound familiar? It should because in 1975 our government was warning of “global-cooling” and the “coming ice-age.” We were all supposed to freeze-to-death!
Fast forward to the present. Now we’re relentlessly harangued by the left on the dire perils of “global-warming.” So, apparently, we’ve escaped the cruel fate of being frozen to death only to fall prey to being fried to death!
But the left has stopped using the term “warming.” Why? Because the scientific data wasn’t showing enough of that to suit the climate-crazies. So, instead of “global-warming,” we’re now being threatened by a new menace: “climate-change!”
But the name-games belie the left’s true objective. It’s not really about “climate” or the “environment” at all. It’s really about power and control and the left’s fashioning a new-socialist-order under the spurious pretext and clever subterfuge of “saving the planet.” Indeed, AOC’s ex-chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, has even admitted to this!
But, since socialism is so repugnant to most Americans, lots of lousy leftist lies are being told to help deceive an unsuspecting public.
—David Hadly, Kalispell
Trail maintenance appreciated
I would like to thank Flathead County Weeds and Parks, Rails to Trails of Northwest Montana, Montana Department of Transportation and the many businesses and individuals for all their efforts to mow grass, control weeds and address graffiti and other vandalism along the valley’s bike/pedestrian trails this year. These trails are a tremendous community asset for recreation, fitness, tourism and non-motorized transportation. Providing regular maintenance is critical to ensuring they remain attractive and useful. Please thank these crews when you see them along the trail.
—Kip Smith, Kalispell