Basic rights abridged

Effective August 1, the Alabama Legislature agreed to provide Concealed Carry Permits (CCP) free of charge to all military retirees residing in the state. That is a good thing. I believe all U.S. citizens (especially veterans and military retirees) have a right to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights. As a 17-year resident of Russell County, I acknowledge that the office of Sheriff Heath D. Taylor has shown nothing but complete support for military retirees and veterans. I have nothing but praise and respect for the governing and legislative authorities of Russell County.

I shared the recent CCP fee changes with former military buddies of mine. One of them resides in Lee County. He was able to receive his free CCP for only one year, whereas I received mine for five years. The excuse the Lee County Sheriff's Department clerk gave him was "Things change and politics change, so we're only going to give you your free CCP for one year. Who knows whether this will change in the next couple of years or not?"

I'm painfully aware of politics and the anti-gun hysteria running amok in this country. Most military retirees are veterans of at least one war/deployment. Through their selflessness, patriotism, and personal responsibility during war/deployment(s) they have earned the right to bear arms (concealed or otherwise). Alabama counties imposing their single-year CCP fee-waiver restrictions place an unnecessary repetitive process on military retirees desiring CCPs.

I'm petitioning Lee County and all other Alabama counties to stop regulating provisions previously made by Alabama. You're entitled to your hatred of guns. However, your irrational fears should not be able to impact privileges and rights already bestowed upon Alabama military retirees.

Insult to both vets and police

Donald Trump's denigrating of Gold Star Mothers and the mother and father of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan is just so over the top, and continues, said the Columbus commander of the Greavu-Blackmon American Veterans Post 9.

"Georgia veterans and police officers cannot support any candidate for public office who espouses views like Donald Trump's attacks against our men and women serving in our armed forces and our public safety agencies. AMVETS Post 9 members and officers will not condone the criticizing our veterans and police officers or their family members for exercising their rights under the 1st Amendment of our Constitution."

Old and stubborn

This is in response to a recent letter which stated, "Mr. Trump appeals to white, uneducated class of people." Well, I am a physician trained at Tulane University with a B.S. and M.D. degree and consider myself very well educated. I am voting for Mr. Trump!

Old people set in their ways voting Democratic should consider their vote. There is no doubt they would vote Democratic even if Mickey Mouse was their presidential nominee!

Hillary Clinton and her husband are two of a kind. She has destroyed Libya, lied about Benghazi, her e-mails and so on, and will pander to any group to obtain votes. Her husband lied about his escapes degrading the office. They are only interested in money. Just look at the Clinton Foundation.

Vote for the person who can get us out of the hole Mr. Obama has put us in. I can understand voting for him the first time, but certainly not the second. Does being a lifelong Democrat mean it does not matter who the nominee is — just hold your nose and vote for her?

I realize you are set in your ways, but there is still time for you to think "out of the box."

ID isn’t bigotry

Another recurring controversy rears its ugly head, coming to the front in North Carolina. Just how is requiring a photo ID for voting interpreted as being discriminatory? Against whom does it discriminate?

As far as I know there are provisions for anyone to get a free photo ID if they can prove they need one and can’t pay. You have to have a photo for your driver’s license, regardless of who you are or the color of your skin. The only ones if may discriminate against are the illegals who aren’t supposed to be able to vote anyway. Call me old-fashioned, but I fail to see the problem, except for those individuals who, so I’ve heard, round up a bunch of people and drive them to the polls with instructions to vote a certain way. When I first heard that power bills were an acceptable form of ID, I was incredulous. Do some people go out of their way to find a source of something they can label “discrimination”? I suspect the answer to that is “Yes.”

All polling places should require a photo ID — I always have to show my driver’s license to vote. One time at the driver’s license bureau they refused to accept my military ID as one of the three forms they said they needed (that has a photo), but they would accept a passport or Social Security card (which does not have a photo). I still can’t figure that out. I wonder if they would have accepted my Sam’s Club card. Go ahead — require a photo ID. We need it!

This story was originally published August 4, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Basic rights abridged."