Letter: Americans are living in a war zone

Graphic by Lori Deaton

I read Asheville news every day here in Vegas because I miss my hometown. What I am writing here applies to Asheville as much as it does here. Asheville has a violent gun problem now. People shot every week.

Same thing here. When I went to my local 7-Eleven yesterday to get a couple of things, I realized that every time I go out in these times (not a lot because of the 110-degree heat), I am watching for active shooters in cars, especially at a location like 7-Eleven.

Every insane person with a gun and livestream on social media seems to be primed to go off on anyone. A legendary investigative reporter was just stabbed to death here in Vegas, and arrested was a Democratic Party elected official who was upset about his reporting.

We are becoming like Mexico more and more every day, and Ukraine and Syria are not the only war zones now. We live in one here in America.

— John Penley
Las Vegas

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13 thoughts on “Letter: Americans are living in a war zone

  1. Taxpayer

    Maybe because we opened the borders to allow them to all come here? What did we expect would happen, only the nice, kind people would pour in?

    • Prospect Joe

      The people that are shooting, beating, and robbing our fellow citizens in Asheville have never been to a border town, and in most cases probably have never left of the state of North Carolina. Nice try.

      • Taxpayer

        The OP is in Las Vegas talking about being afraid to walk to a 7-11. Nice try.

  2. El Gordito

    Vegas has far worse crime than Asheville. In fact, it was built on and survives on criminal activity. If you are so worried about gun violence, perhaps we should reconsider our ridiculously lax gun laws across the nation.

    Have fun out there with your prostitutes and mobsters!

      • El Gordito

        Certainly. I’m just tired of hearing how dangerous Asheville is. Gimme a break.

  3. Shultz!

    Living here I can say overall it’s quite pleasant – honestly nowhere I’d rather be. Yes, there are problems – homelessness, drug issues, poverty, some crime – but by and large folks are friendly, the streets are safe and it’s a great place to raise a family. Case in point, I let my young teens ride the bus to downtown so they can hit their favorite shops & eats – I certainly wouldn’t do that if it were truly a ‘war zone’.

    Some news media make money by stirring up feelings of fear, and some have even resorted to stirring up hatred – take them all with a grain of salt. Things are way better than they’d have you believe.

  4. Enlightened Enigma

    Asheville has achieved the general level of utopia that pleases the evil democrat party of control and oppression.

  5. John Penley

    An early morning shootout in west Asheville left a car with people inside riddled with bullets on Saturday, police said.

    The driver returned fire after two or three men unleashed at least a half-dozen rounds into the car around 1:30 a.m. in the 1000 block of Patton Avenue, according to an Asheville Police Department news release on Facebook.

  6. John Penley

    Off-duty officer among multiple dead in ‘active shooting’ in Raleigh: reports are just now coming out.

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