White men, red flags

Understandable outburst: Parkland father rudely interrupts President Biden. Was he wrong? | Another voice, July 14

This Miami Herald editorial suggests that a ban on assault rifles will help stem the problem of mass shootings. Although I believe that it should be much harder to obtain such weapons, they are only part of the problem. When a mass shooting happens and they don’t yet have the perpetrator, where does your imagination go to as to what he looks like? You’re thinking white male between the ages of 18 and 22. You’re also thinking loner, with a dark social media presence. There are just as many assault weapons available to women, to Black people and to Hispanics, yet they, mostly, do not carry out these vile acts. I don’t have the solution, except to seriously red flag white males with these characteristics. This would be to help them in addition to preventing disasters. These red flags are needed whether or not they attempt to purchase a gun. If we simply ban assault rifles, the real troubled folks will likely still find a way to get them or other deadly, high-powered weapons.

David Hagan, Tampa

A duty to go in

Uvalde’s new anguish: Footage shows police waiting in hallway | July 14

If a person robs a 7-Eleven and his partner kills a subject, the one who did not pull the trigger can be charged as an accessory to murder. Using that as an example, can’t the officers in Uvalde, Texas, who were trained, armed and paid to stop the carnage be charged as some kind of accessories? They avoided the shooter, hid in the hallway and used the hand sanitizer as 17 children and two teachers died, at least some of them due to their inaction. And we’re supposed to be believe that police in the schools make a big difference.

Richard Wilke, Port Richey

An expensive 15 minutes

Rapid bus line opening in October | July 14

Spending $41 million in tax dollars to save bus riders 15 minutes in traveling from downtown St. Petersburg to the beach would have been better spent on low-income housing or infrastructure needs. I am sure the downtown residents will enjoy watching all the bus passengers walking around downtown in their bathing suits.

Bob DeGraaf, St Petersburg