Elko Daily Free Press from Elko, Nevada • A7

Elko Daily FrEE PrEss Wednesday, OctOber 4, 2017 A7 1 OPINION Founded 1883 a Lee enterprises newspaper 3720 Idaho elko, nV Phone (775) 738-3118 Editorial board travis Quast, Jeffry Mullins and suzanne Featherston Rural Nevadans woke up Monday morning to a tragedy that hit close to home, despite the geographical and cultural gulf that separates us from Las Vegas. Nevada is now the state with the single deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Current and former Elko residents were in the city when a gunman opened fire on the crowd of country music fans. It was a senseless act, with no apparent motive, message or link between the killer and his many helpless victims.

Like similar shootings in recent years, this one blurred the line between terrorism and mass murder. Investigators talked about performing a in an attempt to determine why someone with the background would commit what President Donald Trump labeled act of pure They will also look at possible genetic factors because of his crimi- nal behavior and diagnosis as a psychopath. For the victims, the terror is real regardless of the motivation. seemed like former Elkoan Keith Moyle told us. shooting and shooting and shooting.

A bullet hit next to me, and it sprayed rocks on my In addition to the nearly five dozen people who were killed, more than 500 were injured. Among the victims were Nevada Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Charleston Hartfield, 34, and 12 off-duty firefighters. Hartfield lived to serve the public and protect his family. He is the epitome of a said Brig.

Gen. Wil- liam Burks, the adjutant general of the Nevada National Guard. The next morning residents formed long lines at blood donation centers. Giving blood is one of the few physical ways to help victims of mass violence, but the need continues year-round. A blood drive was held in Elko on Friday, with 101 pints donated at Great Basin College.

like so many in Nevada, were devastated to hear about the loss of life and injuries that occurred Sunday said Nicole Frosini, donor recruitment representative for United Blood Ser- vices in Reno. due to donors and the tireless efforts of so many, the blood supply has rebounded and all patients can now rest assure that the blood they need will be available to Local donors will have another chance to contribute just be- fore the Thanksgiving weekend. Drives will be held at Elko High School on Nov. 20 and Spring Creek High School on Nov. 21.

While bodies lie in hospital beds healing, other people are at- tempting to deal with the emotional damage. the Las Vegas community wakes up to this tragedy, the Ne- vada Department of Education stands ready to support students, families and educators in whatever way we said Steve Ca- navero, state Superintendent of Public Instruction, in announcing an emergency hotline. Even people who were not at the scene may have difficulty processing the magnitude of carnage caused by the lone shooter. How can parents, teachers or any adult comfort children who are exposed to such violence? The mass murderer Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, may not have been a terrorist in any political or religious sense, but his actions struck terror in the hearts of everyone who has visited Las Vegas with the hope of escaping reality for awhile. Reality has struck in our own backyard.

A music festival. An airport. A nightclub. A community col- lege. An elementary school.

A movie theater. All places where we should feel safe, and all places where mass shootings have hap- pened in recent years. We make any sense out of it. All we can do is give our blood, pray for the victims, and praise those who bravely helped others out of way. Members of the elko daily Free Press editorial board are travis Quast, Jeffry Mullins and suzanne Featherston.

FIREARMS POLICY COALITION Our hearts break for the vic-tims of the heinous mass murder in Las Vegas and our prayers are with them, their families, and everyone affected by this incomprehensible act of evil. While it is impossible to measure the loss suffered in tragedy, the sting from this senseless violence will doubtless be felt for years to come. We are deeply grateful for the law enforcement officers, fire- fighters, paramedics, nurses, doctors, blood donors, and countless volunteers who stood tall and delivered aid to the in- nocent in a time of great need, as Americans do. Sadly, opportunistic politi- cians who prey on tragedies like this one have already begun to suggest that our response should be to abandon our constitutional principles in favor of policies that would ban more guns, dis- arm more victims, and further expand free spaces shielded by nothing more than invisible lines and wishful thinking. Such policies are not only irrational, but outright danger- ous.

As every attack in what was purported to be a or zone proves, there is no set of laws that will prevent evil people from monstrously plotting an effective means to harm others. In a cruel and potentially dan- gerous irony, many if not most of the same people who assert that we cannot possibly trust the government under someone like President Donald Trump also claim that it is only the gov- ernment that we should trust to safely and responsibly possess weapons like the most common semi-automatic rifle in America, the AR-15. We know that the privileged and wealthy elite will purchase paramilitary protective teams armed with the very firearms they so desperately wish to put out of the reach of the common man, but the rest of us would be left to hope and pray. That is why the Second guarantees are not a matter of convenience, nor of need, nor even of want. The basic human right to armed self-defense against unjust force is precisely why our Founders enshrined it into our Constitu- tion to protect it against the capricious nature of popular opinion, the momentum of the mob, and those who would seek to limit it to a watered-down, second-class privilege for some.

Thankfully, as the Supreme Court correctly noted in the landmark Heller decision, the enumeration of the right takes out of the hands of govern- ment even the Third Branch of Government the power to decide on a case-by-case basis whether the right is really worth insisting Nearly 15 years ago, the Ninth then-Chief Judge Alex Kozinski aptly wrote that the of tyranny may not grab the headlines the way vivid stories of gun crime routinely do. But few saw the Third Re- ich coming until it was too late. The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one de- signed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only Every day, evil people and governments around the world employ tools ranging from clenched fists to combat aircraft to perpetrate unspeakable and unjustified crimes upon oth- ers. But objectivity and reason compels us to recognize that those instruments are but the means to the end, and not the end itself.

Indeed, the span of human history shows that such arms are also used to liberate the oppressed, establish order and justice from anarchy, and defend innocent life from cruel despots. The American people will not be bullied by killers or politi- cians and neither will we cower against attacks on our most important civil rights. We reject the notion that good, peace- able people and our basic rights must suffer for the crimes of the wicked. There is no more pure a vic- tory for evil than for our society to assault or eliminate the rights of good people in response to things we did not do. And so a just world must hold account- able the writers of history for their deeds, not the mere quills through which it is written.

We law-abiding people of America do not accept respon- sibility for the evil, cowardly acts of the deranged and hateful among us, nor do we accept blame for their unconscionable and cowardly uses of instru- ments that can and do serve as instruments of self-defense and justice. A great champion of individ- ual liberties once said that if civic virtue does not reside in the people, no constitution, no bill of rights, no legislative body, and no court will be able to preserve our liberties. That is why, in troubled and troubling times like these, we are honor-bound to stand united in defense of fundamental, indi- vidual liberties, in all cases, and in spite of the incalculable grief we feel for the victims of Las Ve- gas as fellow human beings. Firearms Policy Coalition takes seriously our chartered duty to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, especially the fundamen- tal, individual Second Amend- ment right to keep and bear arms. FPC and our allies will con- tinue fighting to defend and advance our pro- tection of fundamental human rights.

Firearms Policy coalition is a grass- roots nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and defend the constitution of the United states, especially the fundamental, indi- vidual second amendment right to keep and bear arms. Reality of mass shootings strikes close to home Firearms Policy Coalition comments on mass shooting The scam Editor: I think that Ford invented or at least popularized the military grade scam when they went to aluminum alloy body panels for their line of trucks and had to find a way to market the concept. The TV commercials trumpeted aluminum alloy while fighter jets roared over a parked assortment of Ford trucks. Impressive marketing, no? Military grade means specified and tested by the DoD and used by the armed forces, right? Sure it does! But, um, what does military grade really mean in context of aluminum automotive body panels? Is it the thin aluminum alloy skin of military aircraft that is used primarily because it is light in weight, is it the aluminum alloy armor found on M-113 ar- mored personnel carriers and the Bradley Fighting Vehicles because it stops small arms fire, or is it the aluminum alloy that the Navy uses on the superstructures of frigates and destroyers? Aluminum alloy comes in many, many grades. Which grade are they talking about 5000 series, 6000 series, 7000 series? different and they have very different properties.

And oh by the way, which grade of alu- minum alloy is most appropriate for automotive use, IF ANY? Now we have flashlights and sunglasses, just to name a cou- ple. Really? What is the General Services Administration number for those flashlights? (If there is no GSA number, the government buy it and the military get it.) What branch of the military is using those sun- glasses, the civilian computer jockeys of the Acquisition Corps, or the Rangers and SEALS? The ads never ever give you sufficient information to verify the claims, and the photos are frequently not the product hawking nor the one you will get if you fall for the scam. Note that the word modifies the word These are not items of military equipment that have magically become available to the con- sumer. These are not military surplus. hopefully or more likely tary look To put it bluntly, means whatever the company needs it to mean in or- der to inspire sales.

Let the buyer beware. Always. (Especially when contemplating a Christ- mas gift.) Russ Asson, Spring Creek COUNTY AND CITY OFFICIALS Elko County Commissioners elko county courthouse, 571 Idaho elko, nev. 89801 Jon Karr 738-3926 Demar Dahl 752-3806 (home) 741-4168 (cell) Delmo Andreozzi: 934-8117 Rex Steninger: 753-6466 Cliff Eklund: 934-6912 City Council elko city Hall, 1751 college elko, nev. 89801 Letters policy send letters to daily.com Word limit: 350.

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