OPINION:
When Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980, the world was shocked. How could a mentally ill man do that? It was so unusual. Lennon didn’t even have security.
Today, it’s not out of the ordinary (“Accused attacker of Paul Pelosi had zip ties, wrote a blog with fairy rantings, extreme screeds,” Web, Oct. 31). Psychos are running wild in San Francisco, terrorizing the city while authorities look away. The guy who broke into the home owned by Nancy and Paul Pelosi did so at 2:30 a.m. armed with a hammer. Had the 82-year-old Mr. Pelosi had a gun, he might have neutralized the intruder who fractured his skull. But the Pelosis don’t believe in self-protection.
They also don’t even consider public safety. The man charged with the attack, David DePape, is allegedly a drug addict who lives on the streets of Oakland. There are tens of thousands of Bay Area people in the same circumstance. Authorities don’t care — and that includes House Speaker Pelosi. Dangerous street people are allowed to do what they want.
It looks like there is a political component to this story; the attack may have been ideologically motivated. And the terrible truth is that political hatred in America on both sides has reached critical mass.
Some people were actually happy when the news broke because they despise Mrs. Pelosi and, by extension, her husband. That is not a good mental state.
BRIAN GOLDENFELD
Oak Park, California
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