A26 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MAY 29 , 2022LETTERS TO THE EDITOR[email protected]MICHAEL DE ADDERABCDEFREDERICK J. RYAN JR.
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(202) 334-6000ABCDEAN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPEREDITORIALS“P
LEASE SEND the police
now.” That was the desperate
call to 911 from a fourth-
grade girl inside a classroom
at the Robb Elementary School, where a
gunman had opened fire. It was one of
more than half a dozen calls, at least two
from students, made to 911 over 78 min-
utes. They described the unfolding hor-
ror and begged for help. As many as
19 police officers were gathered in the
school’s hallway, but for more than
45 minutes no effort was made to breach
the classroom door. The incident com-
mander believed the gunman had barri-
caded himself in the room and that no
more children were at risk.
“It was the wrong decision, period,” said
Texas Department of Public Safety Direc-
tor Steven McCraw. On Friday, the state’s
top law enforcement official provided the
most detailed — and damning — account
of police response to this past Tuesday’s
massacre in Uvalde, Tex., in which 19 chil-
dren and two teachers were killed. The
new timeline confirmed doubts that had
grown about the actions of police as itbecame clear that their initial accounts
were riddled with discrepancies. It also
exploded the trope, so frequently offered
by opponents to stricter firearm laws, that
the best protection from mass shootings is
“a good guy with a gun.”
There are still questions to be an-
swered. Foremost: Did children die who
could have been saved if police had acted
differently?
But outrage over police actions — or, in
this case, inaction — should not take the
focus off the fact that the central issue
this country must confront, if it is to
prevent these kinds of atrocities, is guns.
Too many and too often in the hands of
the wrong people. Yes, it appears that
people in Uvalde made mistakes. The
incident commander who misjudged the
situation, the teacher who propped open
the door that the gunman used to enter
the school, the school resource officer
who drove right by the suspect in pursuit
of the wrong person will all no doubt
wish they had acted differently. But they
are human and — despite the myth —
training or preparation can never elimi-nate the possibility of human judgment
errors in a life-or-death situation.
We have come to view mass shootings
as inevitable, drilling our children to
look for the best place to hide and
expecting our teachers to be the last line
of defense. The gunman who shot up the
school bought two AR-15-style rifles
shortly after turning 18. He had
1,657 rounds of ammunition on him be-
fore he was killed. That’s madness, and
that’s something we can try to fix with
common-sense gun law reform. Like
strengthened background checks. Like
banning assault weapons. Like raising
the age to purchase a rifle to 21, the same
that now exists for handguns.
A small group of Republican and Dem-
ocratic senators are working over this
holiday weekend in an effort, seemingly
blessed by Majority Leader Charles
E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), to try to ham-
mer out a compromise on new gun laws.
They owe the children and teachers of
Uvalde more than their thoughts and
prayers.Keep the focus on gunsPolice mistakes in Uvalde should not distract from the central issue.KATIE CURRAN O’MALLEY,
Maryland’s former first lady and
also the daughter of the state’s
longest-serving attorney gener-
al, is political royalty in the Free State.
But having spent a decade as a Baltimore
prosecutor and another 20 years there
as a district court judge, she has never
acted the part in any traditional sense.
Rather, Ms. O’Malley has handled practi-
cally everything that passes through the
doors of a big-city courthouse, from
white-collar crime to murder, domestic
violence and truancy — an array of
real-world experience, centered on
struggling victims and offenders, that
would give her an unusually broad
perspective on the job she now seeks, as
Maryland’s attorney general. We en-
dorse her in the Democratic primary on
July 19.
Across the United States, just a hand-
ful of state attorneys general are women,
and fewer still are women who have
served on the bench, let alone for the
span of time Ms. O’Malley has. She has
earned praise as balanced, compassion-
ate, energetic and hands-on. For years
she went the extra mile, volunteering
weekly to work one-on-one with preteenchildren skipping school in Baltimore.
She was the only one of the city’s district
court judges to do so.
There was nothing remotely political
about that work. In fact, as a judge she
was barred from partisan activity alto-
gether. Yet she is no stranger to politics,
having grown up as the daughter of a
prominent Democratic politician, for-
mer attorney general J. Joseph Curran
Jr., and spent a chunk of her adult life as
the wife of another, Martin O’Malley (D),
who was governor of Maryland and
mayor of Baltimore.
She showed spine as an advocate for
state legislation legalizing same-sex mar-
riage, a cause she embraced, many be-
lieved, more passionately than her hus-
band did initially. The measure passed
and was narrowly approved at referen-
dum by Maryland voters, in 2012, three
years before the Supreme Court issued a
blanket ruling permitting same-sex cou-
ples to marry.
In the job of attorney general, held for
the past eight years by Democrat Brian
E. Frosh, who is retiring, Ms. O’Malley
would pursue an unusually detailed,
aggressive and wide-ranging agenda. As
supervisor of an office whose staffincludes 450 lawyers, she would focus
on surging violent crime, particularly in
Baltimore, whose per capita homicide
rate is second only to St. Louis.
Her platform advocates tough mea-
sures to grapple with gun crimes, includ-
ing by pushing to enable victims of gun
violence to sue firearms manufacturers.
She has sensible proposals to prioritize
environmental protection, by going after
polluters and ensuring the state hits its
targets for reducing harmful emissions.
Building on her experience as the top
economic crimes prosecutor in Balti-
more, before she became a judge, she has
pledged investigations of coronavirus
testing firms that have defrauded Mary-
landers and corporations that defraud
the elderly.
Ms. O’Malley’s primary opponent,
Rep. Anthony G. Brown, who will leave
Congress after six years, is an honest,
intelligent public servant; he would also
make an able attorney general. But his
experience, which includes eight years
as lieutenant governor, is that of a
conventional politician. Ms. O’Malley,
having been in judicial trenches, would
bring to the role a broader, fresher,
people-oriented view.Energetic and hands-onThe Post endorses Ms. O’Malley for a ttorney general of Maryland.G
EORGE FLOYD’S murder by a
Minneapolis police officer two
years ago triggered national de-
bates on all the ways in which the
United States has not fully come to terms
with its history of slavery and racial
oppression. With that came long-overdue
reconsideration of the myriad statues,
university buildings, street names and
other monuments to ex-Confederates in
U.S. public spaces — and, perhaps most
inappropriately of all, the U.S. military.
Nine Army installations in Southern
states — including iconic bases such as
Fort Benning in Georgia or Fort Polk in
Louisiana — memorialize rebel officers.
They were named during the first half of
the 20th century, often as misplaced
gestures of North-South “reconciliation.”
In fact, those who took up arms against
their own nation to defend slavery de-
serve no pride of place.
Then-President Donald Trump ob-
jected to redesignating the bases when
the idea gained traction in 2020, tweet-
ing: “These Monumental and very Pow-
erful Bases have become part of a Great
American Heritage, and a history of
Winning, Victory, and Freedom.” Con-
gress, fortunately, took a more thought-
ful approach. The bipartisan 2021 de-
fense authorization bill — a law passed
near the end of Mr. Trump’s term that he
dared not veto — established a commis-
sion to come up with a plan for scrub-
bing the Confederate stain.
For 17 months, the commission has
been studying the matter and discussing
it with a broad spectrum of interested
Americans, including those who live
near the affected bases. On Tuesday, the
eight-member panel produced recom-
mendations for nine Southern bases.
The commission proposes, for the first
time, naming bases for Latino, Black,
Indigenous and female heroes of Ameri-can military history. The commission
would rename Fort Gordon, Ga., for one
already famous figure — former presi-
dent and five-star general Dwight
D. Eisenhower. Yet it also recognized
too-often neglected spouses and chil-
dren of service members by proposing
that Fort Benning be jointly renamed for
Vietnam War hero Lt. Gen. Hal Moore
and his wife, Julia Moore, an advocate
for military families. Fort Bragg, N.C.,
would become Fort Liberty — to remind
everyone of what they are fighting for.
The contrast between the commis-
sion’s process and the haphazard man-
ner in which some of these bases were
originally named could not be greater.
Still, with so many worthy heroes to
choose from — the commission sifted
through more than 34,000 suggestionsfrom the public — its choices are bound
to disappoint some. Defense Secretary
Lloyd Austin has no reason to second-
guess the recommendations when they
are formally submitted to Congress as
part of a broader report due Oct. 1,
however; the law says he “shall” imple-
ment them. That forthcoming document
will also address Confederate names on
a wider range of Defense Department
assets, such as naval ships and U.S. Mili-
tary Academy facilities.
Nor should Congress re-litigate the
commission’s work. The commitment it
made, in law, was to “remove all names,
symbols, displays, monuments” honor-
ing the Confederacy and Confederates
no later than Jan. 1, 2024. Though far
from complete, that important work is
off to a good start.A good progress reportWork to scrub the Confederate stain from military bases is off to a decent start.CHRIS SEWARD/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A sign on Feb. 3 at Fort Bragg, N.C.10 times more likely to die by a firearm
than from covid-19 in 2020.”
Yet, year after year, the public outcry is
never enough to get a bill to ban high-
capacity assault rifles, and support “red-
flag” laws, rigorous background checks
and more funds for mental health across
the finish line. All such efforts die on the
Senate floor.
If politicians truly believed every child
deserved a fair shot at reaching adult-
hood without gun violence wreaking
havoc on their family or themselves, we
would see results. We would follow New
Zealand’s lead. New Zealand acted with-
in days to curtail assault rifles after the
rare mass shooting at a Christchurch
mosque in 2019.
The day we see similar long-overdue
action in the United States, the pontifi-
cating about the “sanctity of life” will
sound less hollow and be a little less
hypocritical.
Joan McQueeney Mitric, K ensingtonWhen I hear the “thoughts-and-
prayers” refrain after a mass shooting, it
reminds me of the joke about the drown-
ing man who rejects help from a boat and
a helicopter because he believes that God
will save him. After he drowns, he asks
God why he didn’t save him. God replies,
“What do you mean? I sent you a boat
and then a helicopter.”
We have been provided with common-
sense proposals such as universal back-
ground checks, assault-weapon bans,
restrictions on high-capacity magazines
and much more. Instead of taking advan-
tage of what we have been provided, the
right rejects them and instead returns to
“thoughts and prayers.” When they meet
their maker and ask why mass shootings
were tolerated, God will say, “What do
you mean? I gave you smart people with
common sense, proven measures and
you rejected them for political gain. I
didn’t tolerate mass shootings; you did.”
William Baumgartner, Falls ChurchWhen, one year ago, Texas Gov. Greg
Abbott (R) heralded and signed the Texas
law allowing people to carry handguns
without any training or permit, he
crowed about how the law would protect
Texans’ liberty by allowing them to
defend themselves. How sad that the
children and teachers murdered by a
gunman in the Uvalde elementary school
didn’t defend themselves.
Hollis Raphael Weisman, MarriottsvilleDan Balz’s May 26 analysis, “Biden
lament is new U.S. norm: ‘Why are we
willing to live with this carnage?’,” re-
newed my helpless fatigue at the carnage
in my country. I am a retired professor of
social work, so it is no surprise that my
leanings are progressive, but it is clear
that the left has not been successful in
putting forward solutions that a majority
of legislators will accept. However, those
offered by the right make no sense to
people like me. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.)
repeats that we should place armed
guards at the doors of schools, good guys
with guns, but the left says this has been
tried. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) made
an emotional plea for laws restricting
gun use, but the right argues that this is
hopeless against a determined shooter.
Both are right.
Why not both? We need a solution that
is culture-changing but acceptable to
both sides, something that, over time, all
will accept as the new normal.
As Mr. Balz pointed out, our country is
no different from the rest of the world
except in our calcified views about guns.
I am old enough to remember a time
when legislators of different views came
together and compromised. We might
get there by pleasing both sides — for the
good of our children.
Barbara P. Early, A lexandriaOfficials issue pious sentiments and
attend prayer vigils for communities and
families hollowed out by grief and literal-
ly walking in fear as they await the next
deadly encounter. Then our elected offi-
cials sit on their hands and do nothing to
pass common-sense gun controls they
know a majority of Americans — even
gun owners — support.
Most state and federal officials read
reports such as those by Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health say-
ing gun-related deaths in 2020 were the
highest recorded since 1968, the first
time such statistics were collected. These
same elected officials know of the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Prevention’s
“young people under 30 were nearlyGuns and the American wayThe May 26 news article on infant
formula, the Food and Drug Administra-
tion and food safety, “Lawmakers blast
FDA, Abbott over baby formula shortage,”
was excellent. I was a senior official at
both the Agriculture Department and the
FDA in the late 1970s, when the federal
government first tried to get serious about
consumer protection in the food arena
under the leadership of Carol Tucker-
Foreman at the USDA and Donald Ken-
nedy at the FDA. We hatched a proposal
that should be considered again in light of
the latest issues.
We need to create a semi-independent
agency that brings together all the food
safety, nutrition and associated science
functions in the government. It should be
headed by a distinguished public health
expert, and he or she should have a six-
year term, to ensure accountability and
focus. It should report to a Cabinet secre-
tary for budgetary purposes but be inde-
pendent in all other respects. The FDA
and the USDA both get their money
through the same appropriations sub-
committee, so this would minimize in-
fighting and enable priority setting.
Doing this would return to the model
originally made successful by Harvey
W. Wiley when he created a public health
agency in the aftermath of Upton Sin-
clair’s “The Jungle.”
Tom Grumbly, Arlington
The writer was founding president of
Supporters of Agricultural Research.How to fix food inspectionRegarding the May 26 Metro article “In
second year of new admissions system, TJ
claims more diverse offer class”:
The official admissions results for
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science
and Technology were recently released.
Based on what I know so far, there is a
serious problem with the new admissions
system.
I strongly believe that TJ admitting
more minority students will benefit TJ’s
community. However, lowering admis-
sions standards won’t do any good. Once
unprepared applicants enter TJ, they
might feel discouraged, as TJ’s classes are
far harder than what anyone’s used to; our
freshman biology class uses an Advanced
Placement textbook. Additionally, be-
cause TJ is limited to admitting 550 appli-
cants, admitting more unprepared appli-
cants will inevitably lead to the rejection
of some very well-qualified applicants.
The middle school I attended has three
eighth-graders taking precalculus, a math
class typically taken in high school; none
of them were offered admission.
Okay, you might say, but if they attend-
ed middle schools serving affluent areas,
they will probably attend a great base high
school. However, TJ offers many opportu-
nities that base schools don’t: research
labs filled with advanced equipment, four
years of post-AP computer science, a
strong community of passionate learners.
I certainly would not be who I am today if
it weren’t for all that TJ offered me — not
just academically but also socially.
So TJ admissions, bring back the old
testing format and allocate 20 percent of
admissions offers to economically disad-
vantaged students. The admissions prob-
lem is not that perplexing.
Luke Wang, HerndonTJ’s admissions problem