Letters to TIME

TIME didn’t publish my letter to the editor. I thought it wasn’t half bad, but then again, they didn’t print any letters that were too critical of their decision to glorify the Virginia Tech shooter with a photo spread. Anyway, I have copied two standout letters below because they address some of the things we should be thinking about in the wake of this shooting.

While the world can sympathize with the bereaved in the Virginia Tech killings, there seems little point in the American people getting too upset about them. Such killings are merely a form of blood tax that has to be paid for the imagined privilege of gun ownership. – Paul Eastaugh, Reading, England

I don’t know why more people can see this. It is as clear as day. There will always be nutters, but there doesn’t always need to be unlimited, accessible assault weapons.

We mourn the inexplicable, tragic murder of innocent people at Virginia Tech—the worst killing of its kind in the history of our country, we are told. Let’s also take just a moment to reflect on what every day must be like for the citizens of Iraq, where senseless killings of this magnitude have become a regular occurrence in the four years since we invaded their country. Every time we read a sidebar saying “32 killed by suicide bomber,” this is what it is like. – Paul Graff, Santa Monica, California

Let’s also take just a moment to reflect on what American families hear everyday about their loved ones dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. Put frankly, our government thinks the soldier is a dispensable commodity. I am starting to think that it will take until January 21, 2009, for our government to think otherwise about our bravest citizens and everyone in Iraq.