NEWS
December 6, 2011
I just read Rosalind Ellis' recent letter regarding the expansion of Beans and Bread ("Neighbors right to worry about Beans and Bread," Nov. 2). It is obvious to me that Ms. Ellis does not personally know anyone who is homeless or out of a job and on the verge of homelessness. She states the "many who came to Our Daily Bread were drug abusers, shoplifters and aggressive panhandlers" and that the "filthy tent city housed criminals who broke into cars and shoplifted throughout the area.
NEWS
March 5, 2013
The belly laugh of the past week came from Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden's comment, "You can get a gun quicker than an apple or an orange in my community" ("Senate OKs bill to curb firearms," March 1). He should have added "if you are one of our neighborhood criminals who steal their guns or buy or borrow them from other criminals. " What hyperbole and an outright lie. From my own experience, buying a pistol in Maryland legally is not easy and requires jumping through many hoops. Criminals don't use shotguns or long rifles except in the movies.
NEWS
April 5, 2010
I am befuddled and confused about the the responses to Police Commissioner Federick H. Bealefeld III's referring to criminal as "idiots" and "morons." What is the problem with being honest? What would you have him call the people who commit crimes, use guns and destroy property and lives? "Idiot" and "moron" are not racially inflamatory words, nor are they politically incorrect. They are the descriptive adjectives one uses when you are fed up with ridiculous behaviors. Rest assured that if one of Bealefeld's detractors was the victim of a crime, the perpetrators would not be called "idiots and morons" but rather something much more obscene.
NEWS
July 25, 2012
There he goes again. The foolishness periodically advanced by Dan Rodricks that more stringent gun laws will somehow cause a reduction in gun crimes ("Adapting to the newest form of gun insanity," July 24) is belied by history, common sense and the real world. Even Draconian gun control regimens imposed by governments of all kinds since the invention of gunpowder have failed to make a dent in the acquisition of arms by those intent on criminality, be they drug traffickers in Mexico or East Baltimore, madmen in Norway or Colorado, terrorists in almost every country in the world, insurgents, justified or not, of all kinds, and those motivated by more mundane factors - lust, greed, envy, revenge, etc. Very few of the huge number of public shootings in Baltimore each year are committed by those who acquired their weapons legally.
NEWS
March 10, 2012
In your editorial "Attack on Md. gun laws" (March 7), you state, "Maryland's high gun violence rates ... warrant strict regulations on handgun permits. " But the criminals who are creating the high gun violence rates don't have permits, nor are they concerned in the slightest about getting one. Restricting permits does not affect them in the least; in fact, to some degree it benefits them by telling them that their intended victim is probably unarmed. The restrictions on our Second Amendment rights only affect those of us who want to protect ourselves from these unrestricted criminals.
NEWS
February 14, 2011
The talk of possibly eliminating the death penalty in the state of Maryland shows that justice is simply a joke and once again the criminals will be emboldened to rape, maim and kill knowing they get to spend the rest of their lives not having to worry about being executed for the horrors of the crimes they committed ( "Death penalty moratorium leaves survivors, convicts in limbo," Feb. 13). Families of victims will get no closure as well as no justice knowing this sad fact. A life snuffed out and taxpayers having to foot the bill for the criminals who may live 20 to 60 years in prison is simply too much to bear!