Arizona gunman, reusable bags, ethical oil, helping seniors, inequality and more

Re Gunman’s Rampage – Jan. 10: I wonder how many of the hundreds of American mourners bowing their heads in silence today over the mass shooting in Arizona are packing a gun? After all it’s their constitutional right to do so, isn’t it? So we have a mass killing every few weeks in the land of the brave and the home of the free. That’s no reason to ban guns. They need guns to protect themselves from violent people. And anyway it must have been all that violent political talk that set off the gunman. It’s not his fault that he happened to have a gun handy when he lost his temper. Jim McDonald, Dundas, Ont. ... Just how many bullets does a semi-automatic hold? Am I the only one who finds it ironic that the U.S. is preoccupied with weapons of mass destruction in the hands of foreigners and yet is dead-set (almost by divine right) on allowing its own citizens to possess – and use them? Jerry Reed, Qualicum Beach, B.C. ... Sack of choice If reusable bags are environmentally unfriendly (Bag Woes – Jan. 10) because they are shipped from China, contain lead-based ink and require significant energy to be produced, well what are the alternatives? Shall we use the single-use bags, that have been manufactured and shipped from how far, cost how much energy to produce, and end up either in the landfills or in the stomachs of many dead land and marine creatures? Or if recycled – cost yet more energy to melt down and recycle into another use. Consumers should check where their bags come from and choose environmentally responsible sources, of which there are many now. Why throw the baby out with the bathwater? Sona Mason, Pearl River, N.Y.