Guns and election conjecture

After attending the last two political debates that involved Derek Skees and Will Hammerquist, candidates for House District 4, I left both meetings feeling disappointed. I wanted to hear about real issues that affect the residents of Whitefish.

I’d like to hear their positions regarding responsible growth, trail systems that unite our community with not only our fellow residents but also our stunning surroundings, clean water for my family, and most importantly jobs to keep our populous healthy, happy, and prosperous.

Instead, I left both debates feeling just plain sad. Many of the questions asked and issues addressed are not likely to be addressed by state legislative candidates during their tenure in our capital city, such as second amendment rights, obtuse ideas regarding bringing in big business and manufacturing to Montana without any pragmatic steps to do so, eugenics, and corruption in government. At the most recent debate on Oct. 20 at the FVCC campus, the topics were again drug into federal issues, but this time I feel a personal urge to speak out against Republican candidate Derek Skees.

I have lived in Montana for 12 years, and I understand, appreciate and share the strong, independent streaks all of us Montana residents share collectively. We’re used to cold weather, deep snow, mega-fauna in our backyards and being off the big-city radar. I may not personally care to own a gun, but I believe in our constitution and my fellow residents’ rights to own and bear arms.

However, I was shocked and appalled at the lengths Mr. Skees will go to protect that right. During the Oct. 20 debate, Will Hammerquist stated his desire for there to be public areas that are “gun free,” which include schools, places of worship, and our national parks.

While Mr. Skees did agree on churches and other places of worship being gun-free, he was firm on the fact that guns should be allowed to be carried and possessed in our schools by adults. Mr. Skees stated that bringing in more guns into our schools would have prevented such acts of violence such as what occurred at Columbine and the Virginia Tech campus.

As a parent, I will protect my daughter’s right to a public education (in elementary school, high school and our public universities) in a safe, healthy environment. In my humble opinion, answering violence with violence is not the solution. Furthermore, as a parent and a taxpayer, I will fight for the safety of my daughter while she is in the care of our public educators.

Even if weapons carried into schools are kept in locked desk drawers, or concealed on the person owning them, they are not safe from being stolen and misused. Guns simply do not have a place in our elementary schools, middle schools, high schools or universities.

And, as a daughter to a college professor and first-grade teacher, as well as a sister to an elementary school principal, I will also fight for the right of my family to have a safe workplace free of concealed weapons.

Please join me in voting for Will Hammerquist on Nov. 2. Mr. Hammerquist will fight for our children’s safety and health through keeping guns out of schools, keeping our water quality high, creating new jobs and revitalizing our economy through commonsense, practical methods grounded in reality, not theory.

Rebecca Edwards lives in Whitefish.