Readers React: The Real ID mandate makes no sense as a weapon in the fight against terrorism

To the editor: Let me get this straight: If I want to fly in an airplane or enter a federal facility after 2020, I will need my passport. Or I could visit the DMV with that same passport and my Social Security card and a utility bill just to renew my driver’s license under the federal Real ID mandate.

Clearly this isn’t about validating my identity, since the feds consider the passport enough for that. Instead, it’s about government overreach.

The whole ID-checking idea is ludicrous; it assumes we have a complete list of the bad guys. The shoe bomber wasn’t on that list, nor was the underwear bomber, nor were the San Bernardino terrorists, nor was the Pulse nightclub attacker, nor was the Parkland, Fla., shooter.

Trying to build such a list is a fool’s errand, which is appropriate since the system appears to have been created by fools.

Geoff Kuenning, Claremont

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To the editor: I just renewed my license, and it took no longer than a regular in-person renewal. I made an appointment and completed the entire Real ID process in less than 60 minutes, which included the written exam I needed for my renewal.

Real ID will protect us further because it associates an address, a photograph and a fingerprint with an individual. As for the requirements, birth evidence is straightforward. Op-ed article writer David L. Ulin claims a passport is expensive, but you can’t get one without a birth certificate.

And as for the Social Security card, tax return or pay stub, no one at the DMV scours or makes a copy of the records. If you need proof of residency, the list of eligible documentation is extensive and extends to medical and insurance documents. Go to the DMV website and you can step through the process.

Ulin merely politicizes the Real ID requirement that he disagrees with.

Vic Miranda, Agoura Hills

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To the editor: If you think getting a Real ID license is hard for you, try being a married woman.

I went into the DMV to renew my license with all the proper documents, including my marriage license to show my name change. After filling out forms, waiting for the proper window to be available and so forth, I was told that my 46-year-old marriage license was a souvenir document and therefore not acceptable.

This license had been accepted by my employer and to get my passport, among other things.

I think I’ll just get my passport renewed. It will cost more money, but it will be less time and hassle. Or, I could just stay off airplanes. This 71-year-old lady is just too dangerous.

Elaine Sarnoff, Manhattan Beach

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