Editorial voices from elsewhere

Editorial voices from newspapers across the United States:
If you ever wondered how so many guns get into the hands of felons and other would-be criminals, look no farther than the unlocked vehicles in your neighborhood.
For some strange reason – one that even a genius couldn’t logically explain – lots of folks with guns in their vehicles leave them unlocked.
It’s counterproductive to purchase a weapon to protect yourself from crime only to leave that weapon in an unlocked vehicle where it is stolen and then later used to commit a violent crime.
Maybe those who tote a gun around in their vehicle should consider how that gun could be used in a violent crime against one of their loved ones. What if a thug stole a gun from your unlocked vehicle and then used it as protection while breaking into your home?
What if you or someone in your home confronted that now armed burglar?
Too many people in Northeast Arkansas are far too careless about gun ownership, but there doesn’t seem to be a will to remedy this dangerous situation.
It is disturbing, but all too easy in today’s political climate, to picture the reality Illinois state Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez recently found herself in.
A spectator yelled “We hate you” at Jimenez, her husband, 4-year-old twins and mother as they walked in the Illinois State Fair parade.
One of her sons asked his grandmother if the man hated him; she downplayed the incident, and the boy theorized perhaps the man was upset because he didn’t get any candy.
That may pacify the child now, but as he hears more insults hurled at his mother, how do his parents explain that a growing number of Americans have enthusiastically embraced the misplaced notion that incivility toward an elected official is a duty?
Politicians are not immune from critique.
We should demand they be transparent and hold them accountable when they are not. Constituents have the right to discuss with their elected officials their concerns. But it can be done with respect and in the proper venue.
We fear this need to belittle those now perceived not just as opponents, but enemies, will lead good people – those who truly could make a difference – to not seek public office.
Politics has never been perfect, and perhaps we are waxing nostalgic, but it seems there once was a desire to come together in bipartisan compromise on the majority of issues to benefit the most citizens. Is that too much to ask for?
Harmless jokes or examples of a threatening culture of sexual assault?
That’s the key question when examining the off-campus signs seen in Manhattan, Kan., during Kansas State University’s move-in day.
One read: “Freshman girls drop-off.” The other said: “Hope you’re 18!!”
The temptation for those hearing about the signs will be to take the first option.
Unfortunately, lived experience suggests the second is closer to the truth.
Manhattan psychologist Sarah Wesch wrote a widely shared Facebook post about the signs. She noted that in her experience with K-State’s Counseling Services, many freshman women reported being raped at the beginning of the school year.
A culture that encourages young men to prey upon young women can’t and shouldn’t be encouraged or sustained. Universities have a role to play. So do the parents and friends of the male students.
So do the male students themselves, who have no excuse for making light of such a serious problem.
All students should take responsibility for themselves and their actions. Law enforcement and the judiciary should take prompt action to hold perpetrators accountable.
All of us should be mindful of the messages we send to young men and women, and we should demonstrate respect in our own lives.
Ending rape culture won’t be easy. But it is a moral imperative.