Millions of civilians armed with guns don't make our country safer

I am writing in response to the letter in the Sunday, July 28 edition from Michael C. Flynn, a retired Chicago police lieutenant, on the Second Amendment. Let me begin with the entire text: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

The U.S. Armed Forces are comprised of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and National Guard. They possess guns (of various types and lethality), ammunition, fighter jets, aircraft carriers, missiles, tanks, nuclear weapons, etc. With all of that firepower, why does the U.S. need a "well regulated militia" or millions of armed American citizens?

Mr. Flynn says these armed Americans “are willing to lay down their lives to defend our great country.” So far, all I’ve seen are those guns being used by civilians to shoot 7-year-old children, high school students, worshipers in churches and synagogues, shoppers at grocery stores, people at music concerts or nightclubs, road rage encounters and as a way to resolve minor disputes.

I don’t see them being used to defend my country. I see them as terrorizing the rest of us and making us afraid to be in public places, at the store, church, temple, music concerts, nightclubs, and worst of all, for our children to go to school. So no thanks Mr. Flynn, I’m happy to let the armed forces of our great country defend me and mine. For those of you with all of those guns, keep them in your homes and away from the rest of us.

Susan Lovell, DeKalb

Get big money out of politics

For years Donald Trump has ridiculed electric vehicles, but now says, “I’ve driven them and they are incredible.” Trump said Elon Musk has pledged to donate $45 million a month to his campaign. Musk denies this contribution statement. Who is right? Shouldn’t the American people know who big donors are and the amounts they contribute?

These huge contribution amounts mean one donor can buy more political speech than tens of millions of ordinary people combined.

Democrats also have multimillion-dollar donors. Whether Republican or Democratic, these huge donors often do not have the same outlook as ordinary members of their parties on labor unions, job creation, world trade, taxation, minimum wages, retirement and the affordability of health care, education and housing.

History shows that working people made the most gains in wages and working conditions when they had strong unions. Then, productivity gains were shared with workers and the middle class was expanding. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and most Democrats support unions. Musk, Trump and most Republicans oppose unions.

As in Musk’s case, other huge donors also gain powerful influence on politicians, helping them get richer while so many ordinary people struggle. All too often in our system, logic, merit and the public interest lose out to big dollars.

The super-wealthy already had a big advantage in contributions before unlimited contributions were permitted by the Supreme Court’s 5 to 4, precedent-overturning, 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC, with the five justices in the majority appointed by Republican presidents.

If we want our system to work for everyone and not have a built-in advantage for big donors, we must get big money out of politics and have public funding of election campaigns, which is working well at state, county and city levels.

Richard Barsanti, Western Springs

Don’t take J.B.!

Please don’t choose our Gov. J.B. Pritzker for VP. I’m not alone in being selfish by not wanting to lose him to our White House. An intelligent, learned, compassionate administrator. Pulling Illinois from the debt hole that Bruce Rauner and others buried us in with inexperience, party/self over state and our well-being. Pritzker is a keeper-for Illinois.

Barbara Tomko, Edgewater