Haven’t we seen enough violence?

I’m writing this letter to voice my objection to the article in Saturday’s Valley News article regarding “Gun safety bills” blocked by the House (“Gun safety bills blocked by House” by Rick Green of the Keene Sentinel, Page A2).

In particular, my concern is the omission of safe firearm storage in a home, especially with children living there. All 14 Republicans voted against it and all Democrats supported it.

The other issue was a ban repeal on possessing or selling blackjacks, slingshots and brass knuckles. None of which is remotely used in hunting. I hunted for many years; these are for hurting or killing people.

We have laws and a police force for sorting out issues. Like it or not that is our system of government. We don’t need a vigilante crowd keeping armed to the teeth keeping track of anyone. Haven’t we seen enough violence on TV in recent times?

James Duffy

Lebanon

The definition of insanity

We often hear a witticism attributed to Einstein — doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results — but aren’t New Hampshire’s GOP legislators demonstrating insanity by passing cuckoo bills right and left?

National, state and local media all repeat stories about increasing mass murder and gun mayhem targeting schools, but the March 11 Valley News reports (“Gun safety bills blocked by House” by Rick Green of the Keene Sentinel, Page A2) that the New Hampshire General Court has again defeated gun safety measures (tighter background checks; no guns in school zones; no red-flag law; and blocking New Hampshire enforcement of federal gun statutes) — isn’t this an example of insanity?

If New Hampshire voters care about protecting schoolchildren, preventing mass murders anywhere in our state, and reducing suicides by gun, clearly GOP candidates must be defeated, because they are not serious about protecting New Hampshire residents from gun violence.

On the humorous upside, when’s the last time you read about the danger of brass knuckles? Now hear this: Our GOP just voted to remove the ban on them in New Hampshire, according to the same Valley News story, so let out a big exhale and feel safer!

Michael Whitman

Lyme

The House Freedom (Sedition) Caucus is our enemy

Seditionist and U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman stated that the only way Rep. Kevin McCarthy would ever get his vote for Speaker of the House was if he promised that he would hold the debt ceiling hostage and default on the public debt of the United States. McCarthy made his promise and that’s what we can expect. And worse — because Norman, and the other crazies in the House Freedom (Sedition) Caucus, want to hurt Social Security, defund the Affordable Care Act, defund the environmental provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, and undo the progress made by the 117th Congress. For some, the overarching goal is to destroy the government.

So, what if the first Freedom (Sedition) Caucus wish is granted and the U.S. defaults on its debt. How bad would it be?

Let’s begin with the personal things:

■The Treasury Department could likely prioritize some payments, which would require the department to pick from millions of payments, which could create operational and legal hurdles.

■Federal employees, including military personnel, would not be paid.

■Reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid providers would be stopped.

■Payment on all government contracts would stop.

Social Security payments would be reduced or stopped if the default <sbull value="sbull"><text xmlns="urn:schemas-teradp-com:gn4tera"></text></sbull>extends over a month.

National and international system impacts would include:

■Devastating consequences to investors in U.S. Treasury bonds

■A run on the Treasury as holders of Treasury Bonds tried to cash in their bonds.

■Borrowing money would become more expensive because the national credit rating will be downgraded. That could ripple through the economy, setting off a recession and raising costs for consumer loans.

The House Freedom (Sedition) Caucus is our enemy, as dangerous to our freedom and well-being as any that ever attacked us with guns or bombs. That will become increasingly clear in the coming months.

Steve Gehlert

West Newbury, Vt.

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