Dear editor, President Joe Biden is continuing to try and manufacture momentum for an assault weapon ban where none exists, even though he still knows nothing about guns or gun deaths. Speaking at a candlelight vigil organized by the Newtown Action Alliance, Biden boasted of an assault weapons ban that “we did it before.” He claimed that “it worked” and “we can do it again.” This comes on the heels of Biden claiming last month he would “start counting the votes” on a ban and that “I’m going to try and get rid of assault weapons.” Aside from the fact that the assault weapons ban Biden is referring to did not “work” in any real way, this debate is pointless anyway. There are not going to be the votes to enact an assault weapons ban before Republicans take control of the House in January. And, even if there were, such a ban would solve nothing because Biden and much of the Democratic Party don’t know anything about how guns work or which guns are used most in homicides. In 2019, 10,258 people were killed with guns, and just 364 (3.5%) were killed by rifles, which would include the “assault weapons” Biden wants to ban. The Democratic Party’s gun control agenda would do next to nothing to affect gun deaths in the U.S., especially when the party has also made it a point not to punish criminals who use guns in several Democratic-run states and cities across the country. Biden himself proved that Democrats know nothing about what they want to regulate when he asserted that he wanted to ban semi-automatic guns, which would be nearly all handguns. The White House then walked back. If Biden can’t tell the difference between calling for a ban on “assault weapons” and calling for a ban on semi-automatic weapons, he has no business talking about either. The same is true for the Democratic Party, which thinks that the lethality of a gun comes down to how scary it looks and that AR-15s are somehow magically more dangerous than any other semiautomatic rifle or handgun. As is too often the case, many Democrats know nothing about this issue, and yet they think they should be able to control it entirely.
Signed Mr. Harry L. Hall USAF Veteran Retired Police/Sheriff Lt.
Honoring the Employees
Dear editor, Last Friday, the City of Grants put on a Christmas Luncheon for all the City Employees. It was held at the Senior Center and was an amazing get together! The Mayor and members of the City Council were there to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and thank employees for their hard work to make our City a better place to live! Jessi Ramirez from the City Pipes Department was named 'Employee of the Year'. This was a well deserved honor for a humble, hard working man who never complains and always has a smile on his face!
Everyone brought their favorite dish and a beautiful luncheon was provided to celebrate the season! Ellen Baca and Barbara Wesley were on the front lines serving food. Suzette DeArmond and her staff came up with the idea to host party at the Senior Center and it looked beautiful with all the decorations! Many door prized were donated by local businesses! A giant thank you to Diamond G, Homestake Mining, Colonial Life, Councilman George Garcia, GFD, Four Corners Welding, Evoqua, Animal Care Center, Ben E. Keith, C&E, Air Pros, ABC Roofing, Palateria Lucas, Mt Taylor Coffee, Chavez Plumbing, Smith Engineering! Mark Teshima passed out the door prizes and has a future as a game show host!
Our City employees do work hard to serve our community. They fix broken pipes in the middle of a cold night, clean up the City, patrol the streets, put out fires, provide shelter for homeless animals, fix and repave our streets, provide meals and programs for our seniors, programs for our kids and plan for the future of Grants! We are grateful to the residents of our communities that serve and pitch in. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas! May the Lord's blessing be upon our City, our County, our State and our nation always.
Robert S. Windhorst Milan, New Mexico
Respecting Marriage Equality Act
Dear Editor, Every person should be able to marry the person they love, and the federal government has a responsibility to protect this fundamental right. In a concurring opinion in the Dobbs decision, Supreme Court Justice Thomas made it clear that that fundamental freedoms and rights to privacy could be on the chopping block in addition to reproductive rights – including the right to same-sex and interracial marriage.
The right to marry the person you love is a fundamental human and civil right. Love is love, and I am proud to pass the Respect for Marriage Act to ensure every state recognizes marriages of other states and repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. As this critical legislation makes its way to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law, we know that the Supreme Court’s recent decision places other fundamental rights under attack. In Congress, I will continue to fight to defend our rights to make decisions about our own bodies and protect our privacy.
US Representatives Melanie Stansbury
Two Good Stories
Dear editor, Last month I fell and went to the ER at Cibola General Hospital. I was taken very good care of from doctors to nurses to room cleaners. And then they sent me a thank you note from the staff. Well, this is my thank you note to them. They did a great job; I am doing a lot better.
Also, today I was at a luncheon at my church and ended up falling again. The parishioners got me up, they were great too.
I’m at the falling down age. Good thing there were so many great people around.
RebeccaAshton, Milan