Mass shootings: ‘Helplessness’

As much as I appreciate Danny Westneat’s columns, I think he’s wrong about “The numb avoidance of mass shootings” [Jan. 25, Northwest].

It isn’t numbness that characterizes the public’s reaction to these tragedies, it’s helplessness.

When a man walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012, and shot down 20 children and six adults, and absolutely nothing changed, I gave up writing letters to legislators, signing petitions and donating to gun control causes, and devoted my efforts elsewhere.

The sad truth is that as long as one of our two major political parties values the votes of National Rifle Association members more than the lives of our people, the shootings will go on. And on.

Kenneth Brown, Brier