Opinion: ‘Only the Extremists Want to Ban All Guns’

Also: Whither stevia? View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, March 28, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( Programming note. Hello. I’m away this week. My colleague Ian Prasad Philbrick will give you some reading suggestions based on the day’s news. I’ll add an item each day about a topic that I find important but haven’t found room to mention so far, given the pace of the news. See you on Monday. — David Leonhardt John Paul Stevens, the former Supreme Court justice, argued in a [Times op-ed]( yesterday that the Second Amendment should be repealed. The piece generated a large amount of reader responses, some of which [you can read here]( and [here]( (President Trump appeared to offer his thoughts on Stevens’s argument in [an early-morning tweet]( And Isabelle Robinson, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, [argues]( that treating disaffected kids like the Parkland, Fla., shooter with kindness won’t necessarily stop them from hurting others. Dispatch from David: Whither stevia? After we published [our guide to eating less sugar]( several readers wrote to us to ask about stevia: Why was it included on the list of sweeteners people should minimize? Isn’t it natural? Here are some answers: • There is no perfect definition of “natural,” but, under most reasonable definitions, many versions of stevia fail to qualify. “I know the stevia producers say it’s not artificial because it’s extracted from plants, but really it’s not,” as [Marion Nestle]( an N.Y.U. food researcher, says. “It’s mostly synthesized.” • There is little reliable information about the health effects of stevia. Makers of the product have financed several studies that found — get ready to be shocked — no harmful effects of eating it. But you shouldn’t trust industry-financed research. It has a long history of bias. “Unfortunately, we don’t have reliable evidence on stevia,” says [Laura Schmidt]( of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. • If you had to choose between a normal sweetener (like granulated sugar, honey, corn syrup or maple syrup) and a calorie-free sweetener (like stevia or sucralose), you’re probably better off choosing the calorie-free sweetener. The research is pretty clear on normal sweeteners: Most Americans eat far more than is healthy. The research on artificial sweeteners is murkier. The evidence so far suggests that they’re not as damaging — and may be fine. • But the best advice is to cut down on all sweeteners, including the artificial varieties. For one thing, their long-term effects could end up being worse than we realize. For another, eating them doesn’t help you [recalibrate your palate]( away from the sickly sweet modern American diet. “Here’s what I tell people for now,” Schmidt told me. “There is little question that artificial sweeteners keep the palate tolerant to a high level of sweetness. For those wanting to reduce sugar consumption and cravings, we want to retrain the palate to enjoy foods and drinks that aren’t heavily sweetened.” She added: “So artificial sweeteners may be best used as a temporary strategy for reducing sugar consumption. Consider them as part of a strategy for gradually stepping down off sugar, but not as a long-term replacement.” Bottom line: Stevia isn’t a magical solution. The full Opinion report from The Times follows. Opinion [‘Only the Extremists Want to Ban All Guns’]( Readers debated gun rights in response to an op-ed by the former Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment. Op-Ed Contributor [I Tried to Befriend Nikolas Cruz. He Still Killed My Friends.]( By ISABELLE ROBINSON The notion that the Parkland shootings wouldn’t have occurred if students had been kinder is deeply dangerous. Op-Ed Columnist [How Mark Zuckerberg Can Save Facebook — and Us]( By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Amazing technology that gives everyone a voice can also breed isolation and empower bullies. Op-Ed Columnist [Marco Rubio Must Be Destroyed]( By ROSS DOUTHAT Is smash-mouth liberalism the way to a majority or the satisfaction of self-righteousness? Editorial [The Trump Administration Sabotages the Census]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD For the first time in nearly 70 years, the 2020 count will include a question about citizenship — a move that could benefit Republicans Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Is China’s Version of Capitalism Winning?]( By STEVEN RATTNER As China’s state-directed economy marches forward, Washington is stuck in neutral and the American economy is in danger of falling behind. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Don’t Turn a Radical Activist’s Death Into a TV Melodrama]( By VANESSA BARBARA Marielle Franco, a Brazilian City Council member who was assassinated this month, fought racism and oppression, not “violence.” Contributing Op-Ed Writer [The Agony of Faith]( By JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN I didn’t get it until I was older: Belief doesn’t come easy. But it’s worth it. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [leonhardt@nytimes.com](mailto:leonhardt@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). ADVERTISEMENT Op-Ed Contributor [Our Increasingly Unenforceable Constitution]( By STEPHEN I. VLADECK A recent federal appeals court decision underscores how difficult it has become to win damages for violations of constitutional rights. Op-Ed Contributor [Finding the Poetry in March Madness]( By HOWARD AXELROD At Loyola, our poetry workshop was energized by our team’s win, not overshadowed by it. Op-Ed Contributor [What Trump Is Learning From Singapore — and Vice Versa]( By KIRSTEN HAN He admires the city-state’s death penalty for drug dealers. It likes his war on “fake news.” Op-Ed Contributor [Is This Dog Actually Happy?]( By ALEXANDRA HOROWITZ How Twitter and Hollywood are robbing dogs of their dignity. Op-Ed Contributor [After a Narrow Escape From Death, School Beckons]( By TYLER PAGER A student finds a future in the classroom. Opinion [Nine Reasons Not to Buy Time Magazine]( By SARA BARRETT There are other ways to spend $10 million. Editorial [Congress Resists the President, for a Change]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD In a rare act of bipartisanship and good sense, Congress refuses Mr. Trump’s most extreme proposals on foreign aid, the environment and a border wall. Editorial [The Catalonia Dispute Ensnares Germany]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Germany must decide whether to extradite Carles Puigdemont, leader of the Catalan independence movement. It’s a highly political case. Op-Docs [Sanctuaries of Silence]( By ADAM LOFTEN AND EMMANUEL VAUGHAN-LEE Discovering quiet in an ever-noisier world. Vietnam ‘67 [How Vietnam Broke the Democratic Party]( By MICHAEL NELSON The war split the left, exposing tensions over foreign policy that remained for decades. Vietnam ‘67 [My Vietnam War]( By NANCY BIBERMAN As a young woman, I wasn’t sent into combat. But I still fought the war at home. SIGN UP FOR THE VIETNAM ’67 NEWSLETTER Examining America’s long war in Southeast Asia [through the course]( of a single year. ADVERTISEMENT Letters [Ex-Justice Stevens’s Call to Repeal the Second Amendment]( Readers question whether that is the right approach to gun control. Letters [The Expulsion of Russian Officials]( Some readers are skeptical that the response to a spy’s poisoning will make any difference. One calls it “an impotent gesture.” LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. 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