I opened Saturday morning’s Herald to see plastered across the front page three terrorized faces of people trying to escape a carjacker whose crime saga stretched from Lake Stevens to Mill Creek. The look on the face of the smallest child in the picture tore at my heart. That the carjackers were willing to use a gun indiscriminately during their spree tells me that they have no regard for innocent lives.

As I read the article, I see that one of those SOBs was shot multiple times, resulting in non-life-threatening injuries. This tells me our cops need bigger guns and/or more target practice. When the circumstances of a crime allow officers of the law to justifiably use their weapons, let’s make sure they get the job done. Not only would it save the taxpayers a lot of money to remedy the situation on the spot, but it would save future victims. We read of calls to 911 where officers are unable to promptly respond to burglars attempting to enter homes. Let’s reduce the criminal population when possible.

As we all know, our state is soft on crime. Also, our state has a very inefficient death penalty. We’ve seen relatives of victims settle for life in prison rather than being subjected over and over again to the trauma of trials, not being able to go forward with their lives. We continue to read over and over again about criminals being released from prison (after serving only for plea deals and having their sentences unfairly reduced) and harming or killing innocent children, and adults.

I’d be more willing to pay taxes to buy the guns and fund the target practice than I would for all the touchy-feely programs that we provide the criminals, which result in very unsatisfactory returns.

Ginni DeLeone

Lynnwood