Editor, Gazette-Journal:

At 71 years of age, I speak from experience.

When I was young, dad would take us kids to a farm, where we would set up cans to shoot at with a 16 gauge shotgun. I don’t recall those outings spawning a desire to shoot up a school or other institution with the old gun, nor had I heard of such an event in that period—or for years later. If I misbehaved, corporal punishment was to be expected.

It seems that the wheels started to wobble during the 1960s after prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, Easter and Christmas were no longer observed in the classroom. People started to disregard the teachings from the Bible (a positive, life-learning tool in my humble opinion), liberal policies vilified parents for trying to discipline and fortify their children with the “armor” needed in life to cope with the inevitable disappointments, rejections and failures that life has to offer. Without this “armor” to help them cope reasonably, young people resort to murderous ra...