Letters to the Editor: President Trump should call ‘Camp David 2.0’ summit to find ways to curb gun violence

Don’t panic, but those recent mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, could happen at Chapman University, Fashion Island, the Huntington Beach Pier or during any of Laguna Beach’s summer arts festivals.

Places of worship, movie theaters, schools, shopping malls and the streets of America have become national shooting galleries where the disturbed randomly wound or murder people nearly every day. In just the last two years, thousands of innocents from Gilroy to Chicago to Parkland, Fla., have been shot or killed. In some cases, it has happened to people twice — first in Las Vegas and then in Gilroy.

The easiest thing for President Donald Trump to say is these acts of extreme violence are matters for local law enforcement. The hardest thing for the president to do is solve the problem. Clearly, thoughts and prayers aren’t helping to curb these shootings everywhere in this great nation of ours.

What is the prescription for solving this horrific carnage? I believe the answer lies at Camp David. That is where former world leaders — President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin — forged a peace treaty more than 40 years ago. Despite all the turmoil in the Middle East since, their historic handshake still symbolizes the peaceful relationship between Egypt and Israel.

So why not organize a Camp David 2.0?

I urge President Trump to convene a gun summit at Camp David with the likes of the National Rifle Assn., 2nd Amendment proponents, parents of children gunned down at school and the American Civil Liberties Union in attendance. Make them bunk up and eat together for however long it takes to find common ground on three or four basic, yet meaningful changes to federal law.

If old warriors like Sadat and Begin could find a path to peace at Camp David in 1978, then surely today’s firearm antagonists can find ways to curb gun violence now.

How many more innocent Americans need to be shot or killed before the president and lawmakers finally admit their approach to curbing gun violence isn’t working? Don’t wait another day, Mr. President. People coast to coast have become walking targets for the deranged. It’s time to convene a gun summit at Camp David.

Denny Freidenrich

Laguna Beach

Trump should look in the mirror

President Trump nailed it when he said that the perpetrators of the mass shootings were a bunch of crazies. These people have bigoted views, crackpot ideas and do much to harm our country, especially when they inspire each other via tweets.

One of them happens to live in the White House.

Lenard Davis

Newport Beach

Petrie-Norris has already had positive impact

Freshman Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach) has made a dramatic impact serving her district — supporting community events, meeting with constituent groups, advocating important concerns in Sacramento and representing the 74th much better than her partisan Republican predecessors.

While it is unsurprising that her leading Republican adversary in the 2020 election, Diane Dixon from Newport Beach, is critical of the Democrat-controlled state government, how exactly would she be able to effect local change and improve representation?

Previous cardboard conservatives have been partisan warriors and obstructionists but have done little for constituent services in their districts. Assemblywoman Petrie-Norris has a long list of accomplishments in her first six months in office.

Dixon’s criticisms ring hollow as Petrie-Norris brings home the bacon to her district that only influence in Sacramento can produce. She is beloved by her constituents and successful in raising support in a district that is still heavily Republican in terms of voter registration. She must be doing something right.

While I guess the Republicans should receive some credit for running a woman against Petrie-Norris (noting the 2018 election results) they should know that not all female opponents are created equal. I’m sure either Diane Dixon or Kelly Ernby will find that out next year.

Tim Geddes

Huntington Beach

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