Send your letters to The Herald-Sun to letters@heraldsun.com.

Send your letters to the editor to letters@heraldsun.com.

After reading the news recently, I am left with the impression that only two parties exist in the debate on gun ownership: the NRA and everyone else.

Common sense would say that if you make life hard and long for criminals in prison, they won’t want to go back.  If so, why do we have a recidivism rate of about 70 percent?  Could it be long prison sentences in such a restrictive and rule-based world actually help take away the initiative that many inmates entered with?

With comments made to March 12 letters in mind, one should look no further than the wasteland of the Garden State as an example of what to expect from Gov.Pat McCrory's approach of bringing businesses to North Carolina (and when I say wasteland, I "ain't" talking Hurricane Sandy).

There is an old saying that “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”   Allowing people to vote without photo identification has served America for over 225 years.  There is virtually no proof of voter fraud in our state.  With so many real problems, why waste so much time and money attempting to solve a nonexistent one?

In January, I received the Durham County Tax Office's newly assessed value on our 1976 Chevy pickup truck. They increased the assessment from $500 to $10,800!

When I watch the news now, I am perplexed by a term used over and over by our president and his loyal Democrat followers.

I know this will fall on deaf ears, but it does bear repeating. It’s not a revenue (insufficient taxes) problem, Judy, it’s a spending problem! We just experienced a banner year of tax revenue pouring into our nation’s coffers – way up and over expectations. It won’t do any good. Why? Because we have a sending problem. Those we send to Washington continue to outspend income. It’s no way to run a business, a railroad or a country. Redundant programs by the hundreds. Knee deep in waste. Let’s get real.

For years, Durham has been under the gun to comply with expensive Perdue D)-era regulations for Falls Lake, but has had no success in getting them reviewed. This week, Mayor Bill Bell (D) and other city leaders announced they’ll soon be looking for some relief from Gov. Pat McCrory (R). The mayor called the new governor “a smart man” who “could figure it out”.

As a UNC student and member of The Can Kicks Back (TCKB), I feel it is time the “children and grandchildren” the politicians talk about, stand up, speak out and fight for our future.  So, recently I traveled to Washington, D.C., for a constructive dialogue about the nation’s debt problems with Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including members of North Carolina delegation.

This month’s opening of the Durham Courthouse is a remarkable achievement and a tribute to the citizens of Durham.

I hope the Democrats do not give in this time. The Republicans have them between a rock and a hard place. If the sequester continues, the most needy will be hurt, and if the Republicans get their way, the most needy will be hurt, so why give in?

Why does your recent article, “Religious leaders protest license markings,” gloss over the facts that the recipients of these licenses are not U.S. citizens, and should not be entitled to a N.C. driver’s license?

There is much ado about gun control and the Second Amendment these days.  Those who oppose responsible gun control hide behind the Second Amendment and the twist they put on it says they haven’t read the amendment. Opponents of gun control also pick and choose the parts of the amendment that suits them and take them totally out of context.