Letters to the Editor: Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapons ban saved lives. Honor her by reviving it
To the editor: Sen. Dianne Feinstein was an exemplary public servant for more than 50 years. While she may be best remembered as San Francisco’s first female mayor and California’s first female U.S. senator, one of her greatest legacies was the federal assault weapons ban she wrote. (“Dianne Feinstein, the first woman to represent California in the Senate, dies at 90,” Sept. 29)
Mass shootings in which six or more people were killed fell 37% from the preceding decade during the period when the assault weapons ban was in effect from 1994 to 2004. Those killings more than doubled during the decade after it expired. Clearly, Feinstein’s ban saved many lives.
It is incomprehensible that, even after the massacre of 20 6- and 7-year-old children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 and countless mass shootings since then, Congress has failed to revive a similar ban.
Stephen A. Silver, San Francisco
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To the editor: On Saturday’s front page, the clash between the major parties was clear.
In one of many tributes to Feinstein, her 2017 quote jumped off the page: “That’s what we need — people who understand working together isn’t a bad word and achieving together isn’t a bad word. We do need to compromise and that is not a bad word.”
Lower on the page, Donald Trump, precedent-setting in his own way for four indictments and two impeachments, rallied the crowd at the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim. He said the following to great applause: “We will stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi who ruined San Francisco. How’s her husband doing, by the way?”
The loss of a legend breaks my heart, as does the cult that has mushroomed around a very cruel man. Where is the courage and honor in today’s GOP?
Patricia Farrell Aidem, Valencia
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To the editor: For 31 years, Feinstein strove to serve Californians from every corner of the state. Having grown up in Humboldt County, I say this with true conviction.
California’s far north often receives little attention compared with the state’s largest urban centers. To Feinstein, though, we were still her constituents, despite our multiple attempts to secede and form the State of Jefferson.
Feinstein visited my hometown of Eureka several times while first campaigning for the Senate. Always engaged in local topics, she would meet with fishermen and other industry leaders.
Her efforts to federally protect the Headwaters Forest Reserve just outside Eureka were perhaps one of her greatest achievements for the far north. Originally the largest privately owned collection of old-growth redwoods, her actions ensured the forest was open for all, forever.
Feinstein was dedicated to serving all in the Golden State, even those in its far reaches.
Jack Hill, Los Angeles
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To the editor: If fair and balanced reporting is to be respected, the encomiums for Feinstein must be accompanied by the less savory aspects of her political career.
Feinstein was an enthusiastic supporter of the U.S. government’s widespread spying on its own citizens. She called Edward Snowden’s revelation of the extent of this surveillance an “act of treason.”
In her San Francisco office in 2019, she snarled dismissively at young climate change activists: “You come in here and say it has to be my way or the highway.”
Publicly she complimented then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) after the Amy Coney Barrett hearings in 2020: “This has been one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in, and I want to thank you for your fairness and the opportunity of going back and forth.”
In view of that performance, Feinstein was pressured by her fellow Democrats into stepping aside from chairing the Judiciary Committee should her party win control of the Senate.
By 2018, her esteem among California Democrats had so eroded that the state party declined to endorse her for reelection.
So please, in fairness, let us remember Feinstein, warts and all.
William Smithers, Santa Barbara
