Letters to the Editor (June 9)

Thanks for your support

Editor:
We would like to thank the following for donating to the Jay Torrez Memorial Scholarship:

Graham McWilliam, Ferhat Ahmet, Janet Yates, Frank Gurule and Cindy Otero

Brenda and Selena Sanchez, Jane and Terry Murray, Glenda Baca, MaryAnn Chavez, Martin Romero, Ret. Capt. Helen Smith, Marty and Lisa Chavez, Michael Sanchez, Hub Furniture

Ursula Sanchez, Marti Perry, Mannie Garcia, Mike and Tanya Doyle, Gerard and Anita Sais, Pam Cordova, Kandy Cordova, Mike Melendez, Sharon Cordova, Michael and Lynn Sanchez

Jeff Aragon, Santos and Camille Griego, John and Patty Preston, Elias Barela, Rudy Ramirez, Rudy’s Downtown Recycling; Roberta Cordova, Crystal Cordova, Gilbert Aragon, Pete Rael and Lydia Piro Rael

Therese, Adela and Antonio Garcia, Dennis Gabaldon, Gilbert and Beverly Romero, Diana Y DeBaca, Es Unico Mi Via Waiver; Laurie Kelstick and Naithan Gurule.

Additionally, we would like to thank the Valencia County News-Bulletin and editor, Clara Garcia, for announcing scholarship information.

This year’s recipients are: Darren Maes, LLHS; Eliana Barela, LLHS; Elizabeth Layman, BHS; Annastasia Nichols, BHS; Jace Martinez, BHS; Sonja Lopez, VHS; and Annalicia Sena, SODA.

Congratulations, students!

Regina Chavez and Mary Torrez, MD
Los Lunas

We are not powerless

Editor:
As I sat in church service yesterday, I was hoping for some encouragement, some answers, even some calls to action to help do something, anything, to stop the carnage that we tolerate in the United States every day.

We prayed and sang songs of praise. We implored and vowed to push human leadership to try harder to protect us. We sang “I’ll Fly Away,” vowing to praise our Savior all day, every day. We prayed the Lord’s Prayer with intention.

On Thursday, May 24, precious children in Mrs. Irma Garcia’s class had just celebrated the end of school year, after a wonderful morning receiving accolades and awards with their parents and grandparents cheering them on, snapping what would be the very last pictures of their happy, intact children.

In what has become a familiar nightmare, by early afternoon, Mrs. Garcia and most of her class and Mrs. Eva Mirales, were dead or dying, likely taunted and then violently blown to unrecognizable bits by an 18-year old male who reportedly enjoyed torturing animals. Extreme carnage is our brand, isn’t it?

We tolerate the craven cruelty and injustice of gun violence and even call it a right. Do people not also have the right to live? Are children not our best hope?

The ripple effect of these horrific deaths by gun violence should give us all pause and force us to face the truth. The police state they are outgunned. However, the type and amount of guns used is actually irrelevant. Access to guns is the key.

We know that 60 percent of all mass murders have domestic violence and/or animal cruelty in their backgrounds. Regardless of how you feel about a right to own guns, it should be inarguable that people who are violent should not be allowed to obtain them.

We are not powerless, but we are slow to complete the assignment. In 2020, the governor signed a red flag law. However, it was missing a key component that did not get out of committee in 2021. According to a KRQE report by Annalisa Pardo in 2021, “One police chief from rural NM … officers repeatedly went to one house where there were threats of gun violence and they felt that this was a serious situation … ultimately there was a murder-suicide at that house … an example where a law enforcement officer could petition a judge …,” which could have saved lives.

We are not powerless if we keep the momentum of our outrage going. Close the loopholes and help law enforcement get these guns out of the wrong hands once and for all. Lord help us find our way.

Michelle Tafoya
Los Lunas

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