Be thankful
Welcome Chesapeake by CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post, any shooting of four people (not necessarily killed) and you qualify for the mass shooting category along with a hashtag special character.
Chesapeake joins Virginia Beach, where 12 were killed in 2019. Surprisingly Norfolk hasn’t jumped on the “Norfolk Proud” hashtag after five people were shot downtown this past spring.
From January 2009 through mid-May 2018 there were 288 school shootings, according to CNN.
No use hoping that the Second Amendment can be changed; because as long as the National Rifle Association is funding the politicians to make or amend laws, it will never change. Again, I don’t want your personal protection weapon, just commonsense laws.
I am cold to the newscast of another mass shooting, or a single human shot in Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth or Elizabeth City. If I failed to mention your city, sadly you may still qualify for the definition of “Blank Proud.”
After three mass shootings — 14 empty chairs for Thanksgiving dinner — look around your dinner table and be thankful for those who safely made it.
Robert Horst, Virginia Beach
Rethink privacy
Re “We don’t have to live with gun violence” (Our Views, Nov. 28): Blaming the Second Amendment for intentional acts of criminal violence is a fear-based response. There are two main populations driving the gun violence in America: common criminals and dangerously deranged lone killers. Dealing with these two populations will require two different approaches.
Government already has all of the law enforcement tools necessary to deal with common criminals. Unfortunately, government in the past 50 years has shown itself unwilling to fully use those tools thereby losing control of the streets and allowing an explosion of violent gun crime that is racking up more than 13,000 homicides a year. Many of those homicides are not citizen-on-citizen crimes. Many of the “victims” are casualties of gang turf wars, and the people caught in the crossfire of gang wars and simple street violence.
Dealing with the lone killers, such as the suspect in the University of Virginia shooting and the suspect in the Walmart shooting, will require not only a major step-up in mental health care but also a complete rework of our concept of “privacy.” In the past 60 years, civil libertarians have invented an impenetrable bubble of privacy that prevents government intervention until after a crime is committed. Addressing the issue of “privacy” will be difficult, and may even require a constitutional amendment, but this issue will need to be resolved in order to address the danger of lone killers stewing in their own juices inside their bubbles of privacy.
Brian Bloedel, Accomac
Prosecutorial issues
Re “Missteps plague top Norfolk prosecutor: Ramin Fatehi under scrutiny for mishandled cases, rejected plea deals” (Nov. 19): In October, I was a juror on a first-degree murder case in Norfolk. We found the defendant not guilty on all charges.
What was shocking to me was the lack of evidence from the prosecution team and the fact seemingly obvious questions were not being asked of witnesses by lawyers on both sides.
It was an unusual case, but it seemed like a waste of taxpayer money to even come to trial.
Viewpoints
The story on problems in the prosecutors’ office gave great context to my experience.
Steve Gunn, former editor-in-chief of The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk
City Council
The new district voting system in Virginia Beach produced a more diverse and fairly elected City Council. The city of Chesapeake has an at-large system with the most vote-getters in the top five winning. This did not elect representation from parts of the city where others reside. There’s time between now and the next election to make this happen.
Ray Patel, Chesapeake
Rudee Loop
Re “Parks or hotels?” (Your Views, Nov. 29): Rudee Loop needs to be a place where Virginia Beach city residents can bring their families, in an affordable manner. It would be a mistake to add more hotels, as it would completely wall off any view that local residents might have of the Oceanfront. If that was to be done, the new nickname for the resort strip should be, something like: “The Great Wall of Virginia Beach.”
Many people have moved to the city because there really is a beach. So, how about making sure that local residents actually have access to, and views of, that beach? Simple amenities could include: benches, restrooms, simple parking in the background (i.e., not parking garages), food trucks by the parking lots, etc. One could look at the amenities of Norfolk’s Sarah Constant Beach for ideas, as its parking is separated from the beach by a green space of trees and plants indigenous to our beach. That is a beach that was actually built for that city’s residents and their families. Virginia Beach doesn’t have anything like this. We need something like this, to avoid creating a sterile beach experience.
Ted M. Vergakis, Virginia Beach