26 Candles and prayers at DDI tonight.

Merry Christmas Charlton Heston.

blackcatwhitecat

26 Candles and prayers at DDI tonight.

Definitely, we can even pour libations to their spirits

I had a post for this week
But Like Betty my heart suddenly just ain’t in it
In fact that sucker is damn near broke again
Kids damn it. What kind of sick individual shoots down Kids in cold blood
Words and solace cannot bring the dead back and are in fact on days like today hollow and meaningless
I am filled with rage and a feeling of impotence at a society that cannot even Protect it’s Children
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.
The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.
When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

In the past, I have withheld comments on my feelings about reasonable gun control until the day was over.

That all changed today given the Oregon shooting just this last Monday had already been forgotten about...

The rabid righties scream and howl about events and living conditions in the Middle East while we can't even protect kindergarten children in our OWN country for Christs SAKE!

Hope you don't mind my use of the space you left below Betty. Like I said i had another post planned but in light of the present circumstaces my heart just ain't into fun today so I thought I'd try something that may do some good.

Hope you don't mind my use of the space you left below Betty.

Floyd,

You are always MORE than welcome to any space of mine!

I was so looking forward to celebrating NDD's grand-daughter and Seeking Sanity's Birthday, now my heart is heavy and my stomach sick...

Those babies were only 5 YEARS OLD for cryin out loud...

Unfortunately we'll be lighting 27 candles. I truly feel numb and I keep questioning how many times this has to happen before we take the necessary steps to stop it.

The NRA and the far right have to realize they are a big part of the problem - reading PART of the 2nd Amendment and hanging their arguments on just THAT PART - to hell with the consequences. There are TOO MANY guns in the US.

When the young NFL player shot his girlfriend then himself, I heard something amazing. The next day 7 NFL players willingly turned in guns to the security personnel at their teams - saying they needed to make sure they didn't do something foolish in the heat of the moment. Adults - they acted like adults and took responsibility for what MIGHT happend in a weak moment.

It's too bad others aren't as responsible and don't see the problems guns - no matter who owns them - present. How many have to die before it's TOO many?

Feisty - I couldn't celebrate tonight after the events of today. We'll do it another time. I want to curl up with a blanket and lighted candles and try to make some sense of the day. I don't believe I will but I have to try. There has to be something EACH of us can do to make these senseless shootings stop. My heart is broken for the little ones that will never get to truly live.

Birthdays and Newborns have to wait Betty we will get to them in all good time. Today we are all doing the best we can to deal with those for whom time has become irrelevant. This is one of those times when I wish my words were up to the task of expressing just how broken hearted I am.

This is one of those times when I wish my words were up to the task of expressing just how broken hearted I am

Floyd,

Take solace in knowing the wisdom of your redneck words have brough me much comfort this afternoon...

I want to curl up with a blanket and lighted candles and try to make some sense of the day.

Seeking,

Me too! My emotions alternate between numbness, sorrow and rage that something like this could happen...

Too many our happy times are being marred by tragedies, too many innocents lost and now this diabolical act. What kind of person would shoot his own mother and then turn to kill her tiny students, those little innocents for whom their world was just opening up.

My heart aches for the pain their families must endure for many years to come. The holidays will forever be a time of great grief. Those little lives held such great promise how much we will never know.

Hold your loved ones extra tight when next you see them as life is so precious and so so short.

To all my friends at the DDI, love and hugs at this very painful time.

I am in agreement with all of your lovely and heartfelt posts. This tragedy touched all of us. The loss of innocence for those that weren't killed is seriously breaking my heart. I was listening to the President's statement while driving to an appointment and I had to pull over because when he started to cry, I did as well.

Love and hugs to you all ...

In the end, it is The GOP that will be hanged on this Fiscal Cliff-Hanger...after making their controlled-part-of-the government into a political Weapon of Mass Dissatisfaction (WMD).

The Connecticut tragedy proves that real terrorism is so close to home.

It is now being reported that the shooter was 20 and has had serious mental problems for some time. The person first named as the shooter is his older brother - in New Jersey - not involved at all. My heart breaks for him too. He's lost his mother and his brother. No matter what his brother did - it was his brother. Plus, he'll be scarred as the brother of "that" killer.

I am sad for the families of all involved. Having said that:

The call to eliminate assault weapons will not solve anything. How many mass killers have used assault weapons?

The most common thing involved is mental illness. How do we deal with this?

How do we say Americans need to hand over our guns while the mental patients running Iran and North Korea are allowed to build nuclear weapons with the intent to kill us all?

old fat guy ....

Stopping cuts to funding programs for mental illness will help. I work with agencies that provide those services and they need funding. Because of Obamacare, the agencies are now starting to "talk" to each other, i.e., if you go into an Emergency Room at a hospital, they can access your diagnosis from the mental health clinic down the street. I also think that enforcement of requirements to get a gun would help as well. However, in this case, as it was the mother's gun, more gun safety classes?

I just don't know, truthfully, but something has GOT to be done. Too many lives cut short. Too many First Responders taking care of things they never thought they would have to (my prayers are for those that had to walk into that classroom ... dear God ... that image is going to be seared on their heart!).

I would suggest that those with guns that want to keep them propose something. I don't have a gun and never will so I don't understand the value of having a firearm at the ready.

Oh no!

Fox Psychiatrist Ablow Wishes Newtown Principal And Kindergarten Teacher Had Been Armed

Fox News' crackpot psychiatrist, Dr. Keith Ablow broke away from his column, called Tragedy in Connecticut: How do children, parents move forward? in order to gratuitously advance his position on gun control and take a swipe at those who disagree.

read more

http://www.newshounds.us/fox_psychiatrist_ablow_wishes_newtown_principal_and_kindergarten_teacher_had_been_armed_12142012

This tragedy has left me frustrated with grief for those little kindergarteners and their families, and anger at another senseless act of gun violence.

What can be done? This young man apparently had emotional problems, yet his mother kept several weapons in her house. Why?

The description of the shooter as shy but super-intelligent was eerily reminiscent of the Aurora shooter. He was apparently on medication. Did his mother really not know he had violent tendencies?

How can we identify these dangerous individuals and keep weapons out of their hands?

Why do so many Americans keep deadly firearms within reach of disturbed individuals, and why is it so easy for a killer to buy weapons and ammunition?

Is this ever going to get better, or do we need to start wearing kevlar whenever we go out?

Prayers for the families and all the children... to lose your little child this way, especially right before Christmas, is simply unimaginable.

Fox Psychiatrist Ablow Wishes Newtown Principal And Kindergarten Teacher Had Been Armed

Dr. Ablow needs a psychiatrist, Bev!

What, was the kindergarten teacher supposed to wear a gun in a holster at her hip? And the principal?

They probably knew the shooter. His mother was a teacher at the school, and he had likely been a student there himself.

The solution is not more guns, it's fewer guns. It's getting guns out of the hands of violent crazy people.

Ablow ought to have his license revoked.

Hey, K-B Toys (upstairs #1.20), why should you be surprised by this Dr. Ablow. See my post yesterday for the other stream - An emotional Obama: 'They had their entire lives ahead of them'

This is a society that glorifies gun ownership, starting with the Supreme Court conservative majority in McDonald v. City of Chicago. The Supreme Court majority argument is...violent things will always happen, but if these school children in Connecticut are properly armed, they can have self-defense. So to the Supreme Court, the only problem here is that those kids are not properly armed for self-defense...their first class in school should be a 'shooting lesson.'

#1.34 - Fri Dec 14, 2012 3:24 PM CST

.

Time for some gun control!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How do we say Americans need to hand over our guns while the mental patients running Iran and North Korea are allowed to build nuclear weapons with the intent to kill us all?

When that missile armed with a nuclear warhead is bearing down on your house, please let us know how successful you were shooting it down with your Glock. What an asinine comparison.

I have three kids that are the age to go to this school, six altogether. I find this scary. But then I remember to never live in fear. While I don't own a gun(Main reason being said children) I don't believe there should be any gun control at all.To me Liberal means liberty. The constitution says that the right to bear arms "Shall no be infringed", it doesn't say anything about" Oh well if you are a felon you can't own one etc." Now don't get me wrong this dude should not have had access to a gun , because he should have been in a psych ward( Yesterday and at least the day before)...One thing that can be done is if any one you know be it family or friend that is acting truly crazy then it is your responsibility to alert the proper authorities as in the local hospital and or police...Let's see how many more times this happens if people are given proper treatment and if not there will be dollars to pay by police or others who ignored pleas for help...I am not saying we need to ramp up systems to keep people locked-up, you see that won't be needed if the potential shooters are given someone to talk to...BTW this can't be done with GOP budget cuts for mental health...

kaybeetoys

Dr. Ablow needs a psychiatrist, Bev!

The solution is not more guns, it's fewer guns. It's getting guns out of the hands of violent crazy people.

Ablow ought to have his license revoked.

kaybeetoys

Fox News' needs its license revoked. Remember FAUX NEWS is helping to lead the right-wing media charge against NBC sportscaster Bob Costas after he brought up the issue of gun violence during halftime of a Sunday night's NFL telecast.

Christina-Taylor Green, 9-year-old killed in Tucson, remembered, mourned
Christina-Taylor Green's short life was pinned between two national tragedies: She was born Sept. 11, 2001, and she died as a gunman apparently targeting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) shot 20 people in Tucson.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/09/AR2011010902186.html
Roberto Lopez Jr.
Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is requesting the public's help in identifying the suspects responsible for the shooting death of an innocent 4-year-old child.
http://lapdblog.typepad.com/lapd_blog/2009/01/young-child-is-killed-in-drive-by-shooting-.html

Kenyatta Kendrick
ECLECTIC, Ala. (AP) - Three men have been charged with capital murder in the death of a 6-year-old girl who was killed by gunfire as she slept at her home in rural Elmore County.
The child, Kenyatta Kendrick, was killed when shots were fired into her house at Eclectic early Tuesday.
http://www2.alabamas13.com/news/2011/jan/05/child-killed-drive-shooting-ar-1305159/
Maria Del Carmen Menchaca
Funeral services were held today for 7-year-old Maria Del Carmen Menchaca. She's the little girl who was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting on Sunday. She was caught in the middle of a gang-on-gang shooting.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=3722452
Jenica Cade
A 4-year-old girl was shot and killed on a street in Harlem last night when two men drove by in a car and opened fire, the police said. The girl's pregnant mother, a 17-year-old youth and another woman were wounded.
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/23/nyregion/child-killed-3-others-hurt-in-drive-by-shooting.html
________________________________________________
I can think of no more egregious example of how extreme Rhetoric and Hyperbole has been used to stifle Debate and the Search for solutions to the Tragedy that is being visited upon innocent children thru out our land. The President has on several occasions attempted to point out the Fallacy of giving into the siren song of defining your position by bumper sticker slogans, logic and phrases. For the last 30 years we have allowed this type of rhetoric to burrow so deeply into our conscience and divide us that many times it seems we are incapable of the rational thought that it will take for this Tragedy to be addressed in any meaningful manner. We should all be ashamed of this and we should all set down and take a long hard look at whether or not we are contributing to the problem rather than offering as much of positive solution as possible under the present circumstances. We owe these children and many more like them no less than our best effort.
Our friends of the more Liberal persuasion need to come off some of their Rhetoric. Responsible folks that own firearms do not “cling” to them to the exclusion of other considerations. Last fellow I knew that clung to the 357 under his pillow had a bad dream one night thereby hastening his conversation with Saint Peter. It is also not an ingrained cultural thing among rednecks and backwoods men and women. You need to look no further than the cross section represented by our Military to realize that isn’t true. It is true that there are cultural differences but we should not present these cultural differences as a negative. Why don’t we look at the difference as a more positive instead? How about facilitating some of the more practiced among us and our returning Military heroes in passing on some of the skills and ethical training that we have received. If we can convince one group of people that opening the window on a car and spraying a curb or a house indiscriminately is inherently a cowardly and reprehensible act and has no place in a civilized society then we will have contributed positively.
Our friends of the more right leaning persuasion have got a bunch of rhetoric they need to come off of too. First the conversation that we need to have doesn’t have a doggon’ thing to do with the “Gubment” and those pesky “libruls” wanting to gather up Old Betsy in some kind of ‘ism plot to deprive you of your freedoms. Seriously let’s get real here friends and neighbors you don’t really believe that horsepucky do you? You’ll know and I know that the vast majority of you would no more take up arms and seek “Second Amendment Solutions” against your fellow citizens than there is a man in the moon. So quit letting the extremists and their rhetoric define you as being something you aren’t. You are better than that and you are smarter than that. Instead of supporting some d@mn fool waving his firearm around in the Park and spouting a bunch of nonsense that is going to p!ss off 50% of the society that you claim to be an integral part of why don’t you set down and do a little soul searching and come up with a positive contribution for your expertise and knowledge in this area. The vast majority of us would look much more favorably upon positive input and it would contribute greatly to uniting rather than dividing.
Folks we have a bunch of problems to deal with nowadays. Mainly because we have let Extreme Rhetoric become too large a factor in our National life and to shape too many of our National Discussions and used as an excuse by our Leadership to avoid Workable Solutions to the Ills that Plague us. We owe these Children and the Pain that has been inflicted upon their Families our best effort at a workable solution to heading off just as many of these Tragedies as we can.

Why can't common sense prevail on gun-control?

Why can't the US join the rest of the civilized world on gun control?

Why have we had to get stuck in this uncivilized logic of jungle rule?

.

Long live the souls of those little darlings in Connecticut.

Mr. President
It seems like to many times since your inauguration it is with heavy heart that We the People ask you to make a sad and sorrowful journey and to speak on our behalf. Today Sir you are neither African- American, Caucasian, Latino nor Eskimo. You are Us.Today Sir you are neither Republican, Democrat, Independent nor any other Political Party. You are Us. You are every Parent that has lost a Child to accident, violence or incurable illness. You are every Child that has lost a Parent to accident, violence, incurable disease or has simply succumbed to ravages of time and moved on to a better place.
Mr. President
These are our everyday Heroes and Children. These are the people that live and work in all our communities across this great Nation. They are the very fabric of Us. They went in one brief moment in time from being the innocent Children, Teachers and Administrators of Sandy Hook Elementary School to America's Children and the Selfless Heroes that made the ultimate sacrifice to protect them. There but for the Grace of God go any of Us.
We the People know in our hearts that words and expressions of sympathy will never be able to fill the rents in the fabric of life that result when Heroes and especially Children such as these are ripped from their loved ones and Us. We know that mere words will not heal the grievous wounds inflicted on the families of the fallen. the families of the survivors, the survivors themselves, and the witnesses to this Tragedy.
Just as you did in West Virginia, Fort Hood and Tucson thank you for your best effort to at least bring whatever solace and comfort you can on our behalf to our fellow citizens and their loved ones. It is my fervent wish that We do not have to call on you to make any more of these sad and sorrowful journeys.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

IR ...

I've sang Amazing Grace at the burial of my twin and my Grandmother. The song is very powerful to me as I believe that we are all saved and that we are all loved.

Your post above touched my heart. We are all parents. We are all family.

I wish, alongside you, that we do not have to call on the President to make any more journeys to deal with tragedies such as these.

Thank you.

God Bless.

I was going to offer to buy drinks at the Dew Drop Inn this day in honor of my beautiful new granddaughter, a cherub who is as beautiful as she is serene. I am heartbroken at the loss of those babies in that kindergarten room, a special place in HELL is reserved for a monster capable of such a thing, and the NRA who continues to bully everyone so that they can have a gun in their hands, which they believe they need since they lack manhood in any other way.

I do have a question: Folks who said they were from ACORN stopped by to meet my granddaughter and remind her to register to vote. Anyone know anything about that? We assured them that she is a baby Lib, since she has descent from Old Hickory himself.

What oh what have we learned? Apparently nothing. Children died. And for what?

I want to thank all of you who posted good wishes to my granddaughter! We appreciate the friendship and kindness.

To my granddaughter, and in memory of those babies who died today, an Irish blessing.

May you always walk in sunshine

May you never want for more

May Irish Angels rest their wings

Beside the nursery door.

Feisty, don't know what to say, but will join you in that silence. May God forgive us for continuing on with this insanity of guns, guns, guns.

Newday, Please give that new grandbaby a great big hug from all of us. My heart is truly heavy today.

NDD,

Like you, my heart just isn't in a celebratory mood...

Here is my favorite Irish blessing for the innocents who perished needlessly;

May the road rise up to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
And the rains fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

PS: Your little "peanut" it simply precious! Talk about a head of hair! lol

NewDay, I'd meant to give you my congratulations on your new grandbaby yesterday, but the opportunity never arose. With this horrible news from back East, which I'm just getting now, I would like to send, along with my congratulations, an earnest wish that peace and security should surround that child every single day of her life.

Best wishes, FoxTrotsky

Thank you all of you for the good wishes! I agree with you Fox. I hope to God that all children are safe, and especially my precious baby. God. You shouldn't have to be afraid to send your child to school.

Thank you for the lovely thoughts Fox, and lisa,

May the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight....... Best I can do today Newday but know if you don't know nothing else the Cherub always has a Friend and Protector on the Hill. Till the Mountains fall into the Sea.

I wonder if some day an armed gun nut will come after my wife and her classroom full of wonderful little children. Or maybe she will be at a high school and a teen comes in with a gun from his overly-armed home and chip on his shoulder. My boss was two cars back on Wednesday when the armed bank robbers crashed their getaway car into an innocent driver during a police chase in Fullerton. I was about 5 minutes ahead of him. Peace on Earth!

Ricardo98 - you can't think that. We all have to find a way to stop the senseless killings that are happening all to frequently. We HAVE to.

I know that IR. And you will always be her favorite uncle.

Fun fact about my granddaughter. She was born 12/12/12 at 12 minutes to 12.

NDD ... Congratulations on your sweet angel. I'm sure looking at her sweet face will help fill your heart with love while it aches over this senseless tragedy.

Ricardo, on my way home last night I had to redirect my route as there was a shooter taking pot shots at a police officer three blocks from my house. Senseless and stupid and I live in Utah in a very suburan neighborhood. Horrible things happen everywhere unfortunately. We as a people need to let our voices be heard that these senseless acts need to be addressed. How to go about it, I don't know but I will back whatever bill, policy, etc., that will help these actions cease.

Thank you Layton. Prayers for those lost and those that they were stolen from.

Newday: Congratulations, and thank you for your Irish poem. It was posted in my mother's home. I needed a good thought.

I think everybody in America lost a child in Connecticut today. May their memories be a blessing.

Save Our Kids.

Thank you Exito! I appreciate the friendship I find here.

Pigotry, if you don't mind, I rather think it is Save our Souls.

And if we do nothing about guns and the bullying of the NRA, our souls, and more of our children will be lost.

I appreciate the friendship I find here.

More than you know, NDD, more than you know...

Over the years, we have celebrated the highs together and mourned the lows...

Through it all, we have had each other to lean on...

I cherish each and every one of you for that...

Fesity, newday and the rest of you - being able to come here and mourn and vent means more than you will ever know.

"over the years, we have celebrated the highs together and mourned the lows" - but I don't think ever as low as today. I hope this is the LAST mourning we will do for a very long time.

Each of you is special and makes a difference in my day - every day! Thank you!

We have been so lucky to have met here, Feisty and Seeking. I never forget that.

I can't tell you what having all of you FR posters in my life means. Having people that think like me, feel the way I do, and with such massive hearts for this country and those that reside in it. I care for each one of you. Have a lovely weekend and hug and hold all of those you love.

Dear newdayDAWNING, my deepest congratulations on the birth of your granddaughter.

12-12-12. Isn't that something.

It is such joyful news to hear and again - congratulations to you and your family on this wonderful wonderful event in your life.

Oh, Pat, thank you so much.

Look...I get that we want to be respectful of the victims and all that and we want to give room to those who are in mourning but, with apologies for my choice of vocabulary...

HOW MUCH LONGER ARE WE GOING TO PUT UP WITH THIS @!$%#???

Columbine ... Aurora, CO ... Virginia Tech ... Binghamton, NY ... Northern Illinois University ... Fort Hood ... Tucson ... Oak Creek, WI ... Clackamas Town Center, OR

How much more do we need to see before we decide to do something?

Look, I am not going to proselytize and tell you what the answers should be because I don't know what the answer is. I do, however, know what the answer is not...and it is not sitting back and throwing our hands up in despair.

(We have, however, gotten damn good at that.)

I am horrified and saddened by this tragedy but even more saddened to think that nothing will ever change in our politics about guns. The NRA owns politicians on both sides of the aisle and no one will take them on.

I'm with you, Noid, and thank you for saying it more effectively than I might have done.

NO. MORE. GUN DEATHS.

As the immortal Molly Ivins, alev ha'shalom, once said:

"You want protection? Get a dog."

Yes you were S&W and you were also born with the responsibilty to use them wisely not recklessly and when to use them and when not to use them..But you knew that Didn't You?

s&w 9mm

I was born with the right to own my guns and im not giving that up.

No, you were born into a nation with conflicting interpretations of the 2nd Amendment. The current legal interpretation although in your favor is still open for debate. It is not an inalienable right.

I was born with the right to own my guns and im not giving that up.

And I guess none of us were born with the right to NOT be shot up by a mentally ill person wielding a gun. It seems anyone so married to a gun that they will die to keep it qualifies as mentally deranged, and should be denied gun ownership.

Isn't that the scary part Left. You send your precious little 5 year old to school, they are so excited about their day at that age, and that Christmas is coming...and then this.

God help us all.

Pat,

I'm sorry about your hateful e-mail. I really am. I would suggest that those that want to keep their guns propose something. How to keep them and keep them out of the hands of those that want to use them to gun down babies.

Pat,

You are one of the kindest posters on this board I am sorry you received some of the mail you did. Many seem to be unable to disagree or make their point without becoming hostile, especially when hiding behind the anonymity afforded by an internet discussion board. Don't often agree with your politics, Pat, but if your posts are any indication you are a fine person. You did something last week that struck me as very classy - you and a poster who identified himself as military overseas were not exactly seeing eye-to-eye. Near the conclusion of the discussion, out of the blue, you asked him if there was anything he needed.

I have been disgusted by a lot of the posts I have read here today and yesterday. I am hoping a lot of it is keyboard bravado and nothing more. Had a lot of responses drafted but deleted them all except for this one, some times it is better just to be quiet.

sorry, double post. delete.

Pat,

Sorry to hear about the hate mail.

I little word of advice from someone who used to receive a TON of them, once I started publishing them in their unedited entirety here on First Read, they dried up faster than a grape in the AZ sun...

They no likey when their hatred is exposed to daylight, perferring to hide behind their keyboards in the darkness...

Hang tough my friend... it's well past time we have an honest open discussion about reasonable gun control!

Don't often agree with your politics, Pat, but if your posts are any indication you are a fine person.

Mark,

I feel the same about you...

Always look forward to reading what you have to say, your an island amongst the sea of insanity coming from the right these days...

Pat, hang tough. We are a circle of friendship and humor and it will not be broken by spite.

Thank you all for your comments.

I posted what was emailed to me to put a light on what we're up against. As Layton pointed out and I agree 100% with, now is the time when we all have to work together and that means working side by side with gun owners as well as gun lobbyists to come up with some answers so that this tragedy doesn't continue to become a way of life here in America.

This is our responsibility as citizens and as adults - to protect our children. They are depending on us to do just that.

Looking to other countries and how they successfully deal with this issue is a good start. I wonder if Washington DC is willing to lift a finger to stop the madness.

Potential victims' rights are the issue here. Mental illness as well is the issue.

It's not about politics, it's about saving lives and changing our culture. And the sooner DC hears that message, the sooner we can kick down the doors and do something concrete.

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." - Winston Churchill

Pat,

In regards to other countries and guns, I was in Finland a couple weeks ago. A Russian friend of mine told me "FInns like guns as much as Americans." Indeed, some of the off-business chat with my Finn contacts was about guns. Apparently Finland is one of the most heavily personally armed countries in the world, yet gun crime is low. The process to acquire firearms in Finland is more stringent than the US. I suspect Finland gun owners are much more oriented toward sport than self-defense.

I will never use the idiotic, simplistic "guns don't kill people, people kill people" rationale. But Americans seem to have a much more dangerous relationship with guns than people in other developed countries. I used the Finland example, I also know there are a lot of guns in private hands in Switzerland and again the rates of gun crimes are nowhere near the US.

The irony is that the NRA could be a leader in the fight against gun crime in the US, and in doing so have no effect upon responsible gun owners. They choose, however, to base their platforms on paranoid absurd premises and actually end up encouraging irresponsible and dangerous behaviors.

Pat, you mention changing our culture and that is key. How does a person get to the point to be able to commit an act that to you and I is utterly unthinkable? By the time the trigger is pulled the gun is merely a tool, it is too late. I think it is not addressing the full question to simply put the emphasis upon denying access to the tool. Even more to point, as individuals how to we look out for each other? Could this awful tragedy have been prevented?

Feisty,

Thanks. Lots of us right-leaning folk do possess a functional brain! That makes it difficult these days......

Mark i SoCal - Lots of us right-leaning folk do possess a functional brain! I'm not sure I'd got with "lots"... only kidding.

Your post is well-thought out and has merit. It just seems that guns are far to easily obtained - by the wrong people here in the US. I realize we have a problem with those who have mental issues and that has to be addressed. Many of the homeless on the street have serious problems and should be in facilities where they receive care. And, many who have homes need help. We need to do a better job of idenifying those individuals and seeing they get the help they need.

But, we also need to make sure guns are not easily accessible by those who would do harm to others. Do I know the answer? I wish I did. But, we are far past the point we HAVE to find it.

I was moved to tears when I saw the photos of crosses on the beach in Brazil, representing the victims of the shootings and a woman placing flowers at one. And, children in Pakistan with a sign telling how they are grieving for the loss of the children as they know we would do had it been there. This is pain that cuts to the core of any normal human being - no matter where they are.

It cannot continue to happen.

Here is just a CLUE for ya as well , That solves a LARGE part of the homeless problem as well .

I knew there was something I liked about you, LOL!!