To the editor:

During the past two weeks, murders of an abortion doctor at a church in Wichita and of a security guard at The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., have attracted much concern regarding our citizens taking the law into their own hands and executing innocent people. I am aware of the constitutional amendments allowing free speech; however, some extreme TV and radio commentators have continually advocated their opinions that “something must be done to stop these people.” A great danger exists when unbalanced, mentally ill persons are willing to commit hate crimes as instigated by unwitting media commentators. Some constitutional restrictions need to be in place to tone down inciteful hate speech.

This radical political preaching action against a person or race of people has the potential for some rabid or mentally unbalanced persons to act out their hatred and commit murder. Some 40 years ago, we witnessed the deaths of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. by men who had different opinions. This hatred is mostly the extreme, rabid political differences taken to the extreme.

A minor comment of which I have become increasingly aware is the description of a murderous killer as, “the gentleman.” I have become aware that many reporters, policemen, political commentators and even senators and congressmen have addressed the perpetrators of these latest murders as “the gentleman.” My dictionary defines gentleman as, “a courteous, gracious man with a strong sense of honor.” How can that term be used to describe these murderers?