READERS WRITE: MAY 9

Constitution shouldn’t prevent gun-carry in all states

Before Roe v. Wade, abortion was a state law issue. Then, the Supreme Court found a previously hidden right to privacy in the “penumbra” of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, and abortion became a nationwide right. Conversely, the right to bear arms appears in the Constitution’s actual text, yet that right is disjointedly abridged by various state and local jurisdictions. Now the Association of Chiefs of Police (and others) seeks to prevent a law allowing concealed-carry permits issued in one state to be accepted in all others, thus allowing qualified gun owners to legally carry a gun in all states (“Police chiefs implore Congress not to pass concealed-carry law,” News, April 20). Odd that the Constitution’s penumbra allows a woman to take the life of her unborn child in any state, but the Second Amendment only allows gun owners to protect their lives if they happen to be in the right state.

GREGORY MARSHALL, MARIETTA

EPA’s Pruitt an example of how public servants shouldn’t behave

Thanks for your guide to the investigations surrounding Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue, but a shocking case of a public official immorally and illegally overspending large amounts of taxpayer money. One example is charging the EPA about $3 million dollars for his large security staff, which flew first class on his family trips to Disneyland and the Rose Bowl. Another is spending around $43,000 to install a soundproof phone booth. Former Republican governor of New Jersey and EPA administrator under President George W. Bush, Christine Whitman, wrote, “During Pruitt’s term at the EPA, the environment will be threatened instead of protected, and human heath endangered instead of preserved, all with no long-term benefit to the economy.”

MARTIN ROSENMAN, ATLANTA