Letters to the editor: Jan. 22

J&C readers
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When does this madness stop at the Statehouse?

Recently, there’s been legislation introduced at the Indiana Statehouse to:

1. Get rid the requirement to have a handgun carry permit.

2. Allow handguns at public universities.

3. Make it easier for repeat alcohol offenders to get a handgun permit.

4. And the latest, a bill allowing legislative employees to carry a loaded handgun in the Statehouse.

Lawmakers are already allowed to pack heat in the Statehouse if they want. Any or all of these proposals have the distinct potential to turn our Statehouse, if not the entire state, into a remake of “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.” When does this madness stop?

In other legislative news, for the fifth time a bill has been introduced to establish the regulated use of medical marijuana. So hey, instead of madness, let’s get mellow.

Tom Topping


After all that, he did his cause no favors

After reading the recent rantings of a small-minded supporter of anything not tied to God ( “No one cares about your church beliefs,” J&C letters, Jan. 20), I was reminded that the boundaries of the spectrum are endless.

No matter how stupid, slimy, sad, pathetic, small-minded (insert your own adjective) you may think someone is, along comes someone else to make the previous person seem not so bad.

My first instinct was to be angry, but then I softened a little and began to feel sorry for someone who chose to express himself in the manner of an angry child. Perhaps he himself was LGB or T and felt he needed to carry the battle flag.

As I continued my attempt to rationalize his hate speech, I was reminded of Gollum (“Lord of the Rings” fame), the slimy, reprehensible little creature who could only think of his ring. Perhaps this letter writer was an incarnation of Gollum, but instead of doing anything for his “precious” ring, the letter writer would do (say) anything to support his “precious” LGBT causes.

Or, perhaps, I continued to muse, maybe like Charles Manson, he wants to start his own “helter skelter,” but his would be a war between believers in God and the anti-God. But no, psychopaths like Manson spend lots of time in prison, and this guy must be smarter than that.

As I grew weary of trying to rationalize or otherwise understand this pathetic creature, I drew two conclusions: 1. My first instinct was correct; and 2. He did his cause no favors.

Larry Anderson

West Lafayette

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