Opinion roundup June 17, 2016: Trump, Orlando, guns and remembering Charleston

Impressions Of A Showman (Greensboro News & Record column) -- Donald Trump spoke for about 50 minutes in Greensboro yesterday. The man can deliver an unbelievable amount of nonsense in that much time.

After Orlando, Let’s Get Logical About Guns (Charlotte Observer) - Lawmakers will consider measures that extend background checks and prevent terrorists from buying weapons; If the idea is to protect Americans, more can be done.

Seeking Good Gun Laws (Greenville Daily Reflector) -- Last week the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that there's no constitutional right to carry a concealed weapon. The court upheld a provision in California's gun law that requires applicants to present a good cause for wanting a concealed-carry permit.

Malcolm Graham: Year After Charleston, No Fewer Guns – More Pain For My Family (Charlotte Observer column) -- One year ago Friday, this country witnessed an attack on a race of people, an attack on humanity. The crime was hate. The crime was racism. It happened in my hometown of Charleston, at the church where my siblings and I sang in the choir as children. On June 17, 2015, in this church, my sister Cynthia Graham Hurd and eight other innocent people were shot dead because of the color of their skin.

Fountain Odom: Burr Wrong, Truth About Deborah Ross And Sex Offender Registry (Charlotte Observer column) -- Sen. Richard Burr has recently and falsely attacked his opponent, Deborah Ross, saying she fought against the creation of a sex offender registry. The attack is a total misrepresentation of the facts – and I should know since I wrote the law.

Big Trends Herald Big Transitions In Schooling (EdNC column) -- Dramatic developments — in the demographics of classrooms, in the world of work, and in research into the process of character formation — signal an important moment of transition in our schools. Just as the schools of my generation of early baby-boomers had to respond to post-war industrial expansion, the civil rights movement, and the Soviets’ launch of Sputnik, so our schools now face pressures from fast-changing digital technology, new forms of work, and a more interconnected world.

Wade In Our Waters (Greensboro News & Record) -- Wade in the water; Wade in the water, children; Wade in the water, God’s gonna trouble the water. -- That well-loved and often-sung old spiritual obviously didn’t have state Sen. Trudy Wade in mind. In the last several years, however, it could be her theme song — with a wicked twist to its meaning. The Republican state senator from Greensboro is, yet again, pushing more poisonous legislation that would trash critical protections for North Carolina’s groundwater and reservoirs.

Hold The Line For The Future Of Cape Fear Water (Fayetteville Observer) -- The state of North Carolina should not allow utilities to withdraw water from one river basin then return the treated wastewater to another river basin.