GOP alternative facts [Maynard and Stagg letters, Village News, 8/11/22]

And now we see Mr. Maynard doing what he does best: denigrating the Democratic Party and its constituents. As I have noted, he never speaks of the great things the Republican Party has done, only of what great ideals it has. And he never has to cite any sources, since he’s only presenting his opinion, which of course, he is welcome to do.

I will not speak ill of the Republican Party’s constituents. I want only to say they have been sorely misled, but otherwise ignored, by their leaders. The recent abortion referendum in Kansas confirms that. The Republican leadership has been relentless in pursuing total abortion bans. Kansas is a decidedly red state, yet its voters voted 58 to 42 to retain abortion rights.

The Democratic Party and constituents very much want to retain our democracy, where every adult citizen has the right, and obligation, to vote. We came that close to losing that right just seven months ago, on Jan. 6. Then-president Trump led an abortive bloodless coup in an attempt to overthrow our government and our democracy and reign as ruler for life. If he had been supported by the army or other armed force, you wouldn’t be reading this letter.

Mr. Stagg asks: “did you know that people are 4x more likely to be killed from a knife than they are from a gun?” No, we don’t know that, because it is not true. However, it might be interesting to note that there were four times more homicides by knife than by rifle. Still, homicide by firearm is more prevalent by far, with 12,892 victims in the United States in 2020. For citation, search on “Statista Number of murder victims in the United States in 2020, by weapon used.”

He also states: “The mainstream media wants to hide the fact that armed, American citizens stop over 2 million crimes yearly.” There’s no national agency that collects data on this topic, so this is merely an opinion. For citation, search on: “npr How Often Do People Use Guns In Self-Defense?”

Here’s a statistic he didn’t mention: In 2020, firearm related injuries became the leading cause of death for U.S. children and teens. For citation, search on “US News Guns Are Top Cause of Death for Kids in 2020.”

John H. Terrell