Voters, dump the incumbents
The founders of our country did not put term limits in any founding documents because they didn't expect any elected official to ever consider it a full-time job -- at the time of inception it was considered citizen service and temporary.
Unfortunately, most congressmen and congresswomen now consider it a full-time occupation. This full-time member gets very intrenched in having the power and all the benefits they can vote for themselves, and instead of serving "WE THE PEOPLE," they serve themselves and their big donors.
There is no way that Congress will ever vote in term limits for themselves, and just like all the other things they have exempted themselves from, i.e. Obamacare, Social Security, etc., that the taxpayer gets to pay for. Citizens need to start voting out any incumbent running for office. Until that happens there will be no change in any legislative body.
-- Aileen Herring
Anchorage
Assault weapons need not be in the hands of the citizenry
For gosh sakes, people, no one needs an assault rifle except the military when they're fighting one of our numerous wars. Between conflicts, the guns should be locked up in an armory.
I've been a hunter and a gun owner most of my existence, and I've never needed to inflict numerous bullet holes in any moose or caribou I've shot. Rather, I try to put one well-placed shot in each animal in order to ensure destroying as little precious meat as possible. Assault weapons are only meant to kill people! The gun collectors will cry that they need them to complete their collection. Go collect baseball cards or Barbie dolls.
Guns are items that are made to be used -- in hunting, target-shooting or war. What about protection you say? You mean you feel more protected by having a loaded 100-round assault rifle in your house than any other alternative??
CONGRESS: Please pass the ban on assault weapons and their multiple bullet magazines; and, in addition, go get and give to the military all those that are in the possession of the gun "nuts" who "collect" them.
-- Dick Palmatier
Willow
Voters don't elect lawmakers to become part of a coalition
Gov. Sean Parnell is absolutely correct in his effort to break up the non-productive, fence-sitting Democratic controlled Senate coalition in Juneau. The voters who elect our legislators have a fundamental right to expect direct representation, not a coalition whose first responsibility is to the coalition instead of their constituents. Without a coalition the House accomplished many things in the last session. The Senate coalition sat on their hands and accomplished nothing by stopping what the House had started. The House worked with bipartisan cooperation; the Senate coalition is not bipartisan, rather it is controlled by the 10 Democrats who force the six Republicans to vote or not vote the way they dictate. I can't think of a better reason for voters to elect a Republican majority than the pitiful do-nothing example the Senate coalition demonstrated to all Alaskans in the last session. Gov. Parnell is showing true leadership by stepping out in front of this issue (at great political risk I might add) to let all Alaskans know that we could have a truly productive legislature if the Senate coalition was broken up by the voters. Now it's up to the voters. -- Bob Lewis
Wasilla
Listen to Thomas Jefferson on the question of gun laws
In regard to Bill Press' commentary July 27, I refer to the quotes of the great Thomas Jefferson: "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. ... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
"The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."
President Obama reports that he will not ask for stronger gun control. Well, he doesn't have to because he's letting the United Nations do it for him. Fortunately, the U.N. failed at the recent attempt.
-- Roberta Townes
Anchorage