A letter-writer from Raleigh, in writing about the U.S.’s $71.6 trillion debt recently, wrote in his second column that we’re passing this debt on to future generations.

This is true. It’s equally true that we don’t really care about the future generations! What we care about today is living our “lives of quiet desperation” with our Smart Phones and iPods and iPads and Kindles to play with 18 hours a day.

The world of our grandkids and great-grandkids is irrelevant to most Americans. In another letter, the letter-writer referred to me as “a local pundit” and mentioned the letter I had written on teaching self-defense to teachers.

He’s right that you can’t stop a “madman blazing away with an assault rifle in a crowded classroom” with gentle self-defense maneuvers. But if these weapons are banned, madmen won’t be able to get them to kill people, will they?

No American needs a rifle that can fire 40 bullets in a couple of seconds around the house just because of the Second Amendment. And if the rifle’s kept locked up for safety, what good is it for stopping an intruder?

JERRY GILL
Hertford