After Kansas, multifaith calls to end hatred: Your Say

Letters to the editor:

The recent shootings at the Jewish community center and the Village Shalom Jewish retirement center in a suburb of Kansas City in Kansas, which killed three people, demonstrate that you don't have to live in the Middle East to witness violent anti-Semitic behavior. The suspected gunman in both shootings, who was arrested, was a bearded man in his 70s who was not from Kansas and was uttering anti-Semitic remarks. When will hatred and prejudice ever end?

Kenneth L. Zimmerman; Huntington Beach, Calif.

Once, during the time of the prophet Mohammed, a funeral passed by him. When he stood up for the deceased, the people around him said the funeral was for a Jewish person. Mohammed turned to them and said, "Was he not a human?" Last Sunday, when channels carried the news of a person opening fire at a Jewish community center, I realized that there is still persecution based on religion in our society. As a Muslim, more specifically as an American Muslim, I find this act of violence not only extreme but shameful. I condemn anti-Semitic violence and am especially sympathetic to my Jewish brothers and sisters due to shared reverence for our Israelite prophets.

Sheheryar Ahmad; Lynnwood, Wash.

I grew up in a Michigan family of responsible hunters. We harvested only what was sustainable. I served with the 1st Marine Division in Korea, but shortly after I got home, I sold my guns and have not used one since. I recently saw a picture of a Georgia legislator celebrating the passage of a very liberal gun-carry rule.

This happens while the graves of the most recent victims of a senseless shooting are not yet cold. As a former member of the NRA, I know that gun safety is a priority for them. Why isn't it far and away the No. 1 issue? Who knows more about gun safety? Stop screaming Second Amendment and show us how to end mass shootings.

Fred McKee; Bettendorf, Iowa

Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

This shooting is sad for the individuals senselessly murdered and their loved ones, and it's sad and shocking that someone let his own beliefs become so clouded that this behavior was acceptable in his mind.

Placing personal opinions and beliefs before the integrity and dignity of human life can bring deplorable results, no matter what side of the fence you're shooting from.

— Tenley Borchman

So this killer's intention was to kill Jews, but he ends up killing Christians instead?

My guess is he'll try to justify those deaths by saying the Christians were "mingling" with the people he so hated.

This just proves how blind people become when they see nothing but their own prejudices.

— Glenn Weintraub

Attorney General Eric Holder's plan to use $15 million to train law enforcement to respond to active shooters is not the answer. The answer is to find out what is making people hate and restore a sense of fairness and justice to American life. Every unbalanced headline, every irrational decision that flies in the face of common sense, contributes to the mental illness of an entire nation.

— Kevin J. Tremblay

Isn't law enforcement already supposed to be trained to deal with mass shootings? And people want the American public to stop buying firearms for personal protection?

— Luke Postma