Letters to the editor June 12

Social disorder of Roe v Wade

The recent letter by Wendy Williams endorsing privacy rights makes not a single mention of the biological certainty that human life begins at conception. Nor does she mention the secondary and devastating cultural effects of a pro-abortion mindset.

Rather than being self-empowering, abortion is the single most disrespectful act a woman can do to herself and her nature.

There are profound consequences to those omissions which highlight the misplaced reasoning of Roe v Wade, its 50-year legacy, and our antecedent and accelerated willingness to divorce conjugality from its natural procreative intent. We are witnesses to the social disorder that has resulted from this on a daily basis, including poverty, misogyny, drug abuse and violence.

The oft-quoted figure of 65 million abortions since that fateful decision is misleading as these are only those procedures that are reported. When the unreported as well as abortifacient figures are included that number could well be tripled in this country alone. Is such carnage what you truly envision when you declare a right to privacy?

Reflect deeply on these numbers and their personal and societal implications as you consider your next vote in favor of pro-choice candidates at the federal and state levels.

By not upholding the inherent maternal instincts of protection and love that begin with the helpless unborn and are integral to the promotion of the family and responsible male behavior, the state is promoting a self-destructive culture. For the result is the devaluing of human life, the nuclear family, and the strong loving paternal role necessary for child rearing.

You can lift the veil on your misperception and ignorance. We can overcome this callous disregard of the truly innocent, the truly dependent, the truly helpless, the truly unloved, the truly unwanted and rescue ourselves from this downward spiral. Let us orient ourselves to the reality that life begins at conception and create a better culture based upon that principle.

— Michael Boharski, Kalispell

Gun safety

Firearm manufacturers in our community: What are YOU doing to ensure that your product is not used to murder children, teachers and grandparents? How are YOU part of the solution?

Do you advocate for safe storage of your product? Do you advocate for firearms to be locked up and stored separately from ammunition? Safe storage saves lives. It would prevent me and my other pediatric nurse colleagues from having to care for kids at the hospital who present with intentional or unintentional gun shot wounds.

Do YOU advocate for background checks on all guns sales, which nearly 90% of ALL Americans support? A background check could have saved my sister's life. She was shot to death by her ex-husband who was not required to have a background check prior to purchasing the gun he used to kill her. A background check would have alerted the seller of the restraining order she had against him.

Do YOU advocate for Extreme Risk Protection Orders? These can help to keep firearms out of the hands of someone in a mental health crisis who may pose a threat to himself or others. An ERPO after the killer in Buffalo made comments about wanting to complete a murder/suicide would have prevented his access to firearms for a period of time, and thus that tragedy may have been avoided.

We wear seat belts even though they can't save us in every car wreck. These gun violence prevention measures may not prevent all horrific incidents of gun violence, but WHY wouldn't we put them in place anyway, even if to save one life?

What is YOUR company doing to be a part of the solution? Will YOU put lives before profits? If you are going to sell these deadly products, you MUST be part of the solution.

— Emily Casey, Kalispell

Absurd and disgusting

This is absurd. Republicans in Congress didn’t bat an eye when asked to vote on spending $40 billion to help protect the people of Ukraine. We are sending that money and it is good, a humanitarian response to Putin’s invasion.

But when these Republicans are asked to strengthen our nation’s gun laws, to protect our own citizens and children (read Uvalde, Sandy Hook, Buffalo, Parkland, ad nauseum) the same Republicans are unable to muster the backbone to pass, or even consider, strengthening gun laws; laws that would cost us nothing, yet save the lives of many of our own.

It is absurd and disgusting — absurd that an 18-year-old can buy two assault rifles, disgusting that we are even selling guns which, as the name implies, are designed for killing people.

Congressional Republicans are cowards and don’t deserve to represent us. In fact, they don’t represent the majority will. They represent the NRA, and the delusional, right-wing “patriots” of their party.

I believe the Republican Party has fallen off the rails. It’s no longer the party that made America great; it’s the party that would return us to the Dark Ages. And worse, today’s Republican Party threatens to undermine and potentially destroy the foundations of our democracy, that which actually does make America great.

— Leo Keane, Whitefish