Letters for December 17, 2015

RIP, Matthew Caquelin

Re “Gun violence claimed 62 lives in Sacramento County this year” by Raheem F. Hosseini (SN&R News, December 10):

Sadly, my nephew, Matthew Caquelin, age 26, is mentioned in this article. Our family is trying to raise funds to cover expenses at www.gofundme.com/c3cn4sfd. I know our family is in shock and grief over the tragic loss of my nephew's life. But I don't think you can blame the Second Amendment. Guns don't just kill someone without a heinous individual behind the trigger. We need to get to the root of why so many people have no respect for another human life. The end result is the destruction of two families, the victim, and when captured, the killer. Except the victim's family can never see their loved one again in this world! Miss you and love you, Matthew!

Geoffrey Caquelin

via email

Gun-control questions

Re “End the end-around” (SN&R Editorial, December 10):

Your editorial fails to define what exactly you mean by “assault rifle.” Could you please outline the differences between a common ranch rifle and an “assault rifle”? Are those differences mainly cosmetic? Aren’t all guns sold today pretty much semi-automatic? You note the AR-15 style weapons used in San Bernardino were “modified,” but you fail to note there is already a law against that. What additional specific legislation are you supporting that would be both constitutional and effective in stopping what happened there? Do you really think that the bad guys of any stripe give a rat’s ass about gun control laws? Thank you.

Christine Craft

Sacramento

More substance, please

Re “The dinner game” by Nick Miller (SN&R News, November 2):

In Miller’s article, he is obviously trying to connect with the foodies of Sacramento, because peppered throughout are terms like “farm-to-fork spirit” and “Instagram foodie pics.” Now, while I think the idea for this piece is great, I find fault with the article’s ability to do anything of substance for the people of Sacramento suffering from hunger. If anything, all I think this piece accomplishes is to give Miller a boost in his readership, and maybe give him some semblance of an idea of what people on food stamps go through.

I think in the future, if you are going to publish pieces like this, they should show more respect to the subject at hand and not seem cobbled together at the last minute. Miller laments how hard it is to live on food stamp budget, which consists of only $5 a day, but in the end only asks people to make changes in the coming year. Miller doesn’t say how this experience has changed him, what changes this experience has inspired him to make and most importantly what his readers can do to help. At the end of the day, what is the point of this article? It does nothing for the people of Sacramento on food stamps and only makes Miller look good.

Sophie Sinclair

via email