< Previous page

John Posthill

Chapel Hill

Playing on emotion

In response to the April 16 article "Gun protesters mark Virginia Tech anniversary," I am concerned to see Eve Carson and other recent local shooting victims' names mentioned. I am disappointed that these protesters would use the anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings to try and bolster their political message and further attempt to draw in Eve Carson and these other shootings.

Obviously, this anniversary combined with the still recent events of local shootings draws a lot of emotion into this issue. Any organization that relies on emotion rather than reasonable arguments to get points across should be considered with heavy scrutiny.

Combine this with the fact that the majority of the protesters' proposed solutions have nothing to do with the VT shooting (the guns used in the VT shooting were bought with a background check at a gun store and not at a gun show) and even less with these local shootings, and you have an organization that is using the deaths of these students to play to the advantage of its political agenda. It bothers me that a nonpartisan public university official would take such a major role at an event disguised as a memorial but clearly a political protest.

Stephan Hudson

Chapel Hill

Gender and violence

As a UNC-Chapel Hill student, I want to thank Duke President Richard Brodhead and UNC Chancellor James Moeser for their April 16 Point of View piece in which they addressed the importance of stricter gun laws.

I feel it is crucial, however, to call attention to what they did not mention: gender.

The overwhelming majority of interpersonal violence -- 95 percent to 99 percent -- is perpetrated by men against women and by men against men. It is not just people or students committing the crimes cited by Brodhead and Moeser, but men. It is not youth violence; it is men's violence against women.

Investigating the deep systemic problems in our criminal justice system is absolutely a must, but we must also face the deep systemic problems in our social constructions of what it means to be a man, and the grievous repercussions this has for the women in our lives. Many men do not commit acts of violence against women, but all men are part of the system of masculinity.

We cannot end violence if we do not acknowledge the role sexism, power and dominance play in our reality and how each of us perpetuates these norms by not naming the perpetrator.

Megan Rolfe

Chapel Hill

Spinless sources

I am writing in response to the April 15 letter "Fighting with facts," which suggested three Web sites where one should seek statistical information regarding gun injuries and death. Predictably, all these Web sources were agenda-driven (anti-gun) sites, the most-glaring of which was the "Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence."

In reality, the only sources I would consider to be without "spin" are the various local/state/federal law enforcement agencies. These sources provide raw statistical information, which lends itself to interpretation free of bias. In addition, the metrics provided annually by the National Safety Council, National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Department of Human Services can often be helpful in providing the perspective necessary for comparing the numbers of firearm deaths (both accidental and intentional) with all other causes.

Brian Sorber

Wake Forest

< Previous page

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.