(Joe Kline/Bulletin photo)

Is Guandolo an Islamophobe?

I am writing regarding the guest column by Paul deWitt and Sam Carpenter, published by The Bulletin in response to Julia Shumway’s article on John Guandolo’s presentation to a number of local Republicans.

If Mr. deWitt and Mr. Carpenter truly believe the facts will prove Guandolo’s claims about Islam and Muslims to be reasonable, why didn’t they share these facts in their opinion letter criticizing the coverage of Guandolo’s presentation to local Republicans? Personal attacks against a reporter and appeals to the speaker’s military service are not sufficient to prove whether Guandolo’s claims should be taken seriously. Military service doesn’t automatically make a person always right; just ask the spouse of any serviceman or -woman you know.

If the attendees of Guandolo’s Feb. 20 presentation are worried their fellow Central Oregonians might think poorly of them for attending or agreeing with Guandolo’s points, perhaps they can clear this up by publishing the talking points, transcripts and any recordings from Guandolo’s talk, so the rest of us can judge for ourselves whether Guandolo’s claims are reasonable, or whether the Southern Poverty Law Center is correct to label him an anti-Muslim extremist. Unless, of course, Mr. deWitt and Mr. Carpenter fear that Guandolo’s words alone are enough to prove him an Islamophobe in the public’s eyes, without the convenient defense of journalistic bias.

Sarah Walker

Bend

Stop the bleeding

I am a retired interventional cardiologist who worked for Kaiser Permanente in Portland for 27 years, recently retired. The American Medical and the American Nursing associations have been strong advocates of legislative gun control measures to protect American schoolchildren. Progress is being made, but legislative changes take place slowly.

Nearly half of all shooting victims die of exsanguination. If a victim is unfortunate enough to be shot in the head, heart or aorta, death comes quickly. However, if they are shot in the legs or arms, they do not have to die. If the bleeding can be stopped, almost all such victims will live.

The Bend Fire Department is teaching Stop the Bleed first-aid classes for free this calendar year of 2018. These classes teach laypeople how to assess traumatic bleeding victims, and how to apply combat tourniquets and dressings to extremity wounds. When a tourniquet is applied properly to an extremity wound, that patient now has six to seven hours of time to reach definitive medical therapy, as opposed to bleeding to death in a few minutes.

Traumatic bleeding first-aid kits, which contain tourniquets, dressings supplies, and protective gloves for the first responders are very inexpensive, especially compared to a dead child. I feel that all Bend-La Pine public schools should be equipped with such bleeding control first aid kits, and that the teachers and school administrators at each school should be trained how to use these kits.

Such training will save many lives if the unthinkable ever occurs here in Central Oregon.

Phillip Au

Bend

Gun laws save lives

I can’t decide whether Stephen Cramer’s guest column about guns and schools is defeatist or simply in favor of the NRA’s continuing madness. He favors metal detectors and limited access to schools, saying guns are here to stay and that no legislation is possible to end access to (presumably any of) them. This kind of thinking is the very root of our country’s problem. Gun laws can, and do, save lives. Australia is a case worth examining. After a 1996 massacre of 35 people by a gunman with an assault rifle, the country banned semi-automatic rifles, installed a 28-day waiting period to purchase a gun, and instituted thorough background checks. There have been NO mass shootings since. What is the problem here? These measures work. If we had similar laws, no one with a justifiable reason to own a gun (for hunting, or even for self-protection — a reason Australia does not allow) would be denied his or her gun. The Second Amendment? It was drafted before we had a standing army (or navy, or coast guard …), which we now clearly do. The idea that each citizen has to arm himself to the teeth for lack of “a standing militia” is simply ludicrous. No other affluent country on earth has this problem, thanks to their sensible gun laws. Enough of these and all other excuses for inaction — or kids will just keep dying.

Mary Depew

Bend