Letter to the editor: Address gun issue now

As the new year opens afresh, ask yourself: What must change in 2019?

A new legislative session is about to commence in Pennsylvania. Our representatives will start the new session by acting for us — “We the people” — and voting accordingly. If not, democracy is extinct in our land and is merely a theoretical concept.

We must address legislatively the gun culture plaguing our society. Mayor Bill Peduto and Councilman Corey O’Connor desire to enact a municipal ordinance to restrict guns in the City of Pittsburgh. I support their efforts and you should, too.

Now’s the time to call your state representative and senator and demand political action at the state level to appropriate funds for and enforce any municipal ordinances that get passed.

To members of Congress and the General Assembly: We want a bill at the federal and state levels to eliminate bump stocks, require universal background checks and ban assault weapons — now. Don’t sit on this until June when budget time rolls around.

The state and federal taxes we pay become your paychecks tomorrow. We will march, protest, badger you and shut you down if you refuse to help our city’s elected leaders enact common-sense gun reform. Our representatives (Doyle, Kelly, Reschenthaler, Scarnati, Turzai, Corman, et al.) were duly elected by us to represent us, not the NRA. Will you refuse to act by hiding behind archaic documents, by referencing the state and federal Constitutions?

Is the gun culture we have allowed to be created representative of the civil society that the framers envisioned?

George Karpacs

South Park Township

The writer is a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 37th senatorial district special election.