Another school shooting today

[Tia]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...necticut-elementary-school-official-says?lite

Twenty-six people were killed, including 18 children,

 

[Passepartout]

Heartbreaking. When will something be done????? How many more must die????? Call it a contentious issue. Call it what you must. It HAS to end!

 

[Zac495]

I hate guns - I realize it's the person pulling the trigger, but without the gun, there wouldn't be 26 dead this "easily." GUN CONTROL will help.

 

[SueDonJ]

This is heartbreaking, makes no sense at all in our society. God's blessings on everyone in that community. I can't imagine their grief.

 

[Texasbelle]

Too late smart

There may be a legitimate use for guns, but automatic, repeating guns have no good purpose. Criminals have them now, but why keep selling them?

 

[TUGBrian]

I hate guns - I realize it's the person pulling the trigger, but without the gun, there wouldn't be 26 dead this "easily." GUN CONTROL will help.

How so, schools are already gun free zones, meaning its illegal to carry guns there. Its also illegal to shoot innocent people and children.

 

[Sandi Bo]

How incredibly sad. Prayers and sympathy to the families and community don't begin to express my feelings.

Since being illegal isn't a deterrent, we need to make it harder for guns to get into the wrong hands. What does the shooter care if fines are doubled - he's dead?

I understand the argument, that people kill people, but how else are we going to stop this? I cannot understand anyone needing an automatic gun or rifle.

 

[gjhardt]

Perhaps more a mental health issue than gun control

My first instincts went to our broken mental health system not guns.

 

[Passepartout]

How so, schools are already gun free zones, meaning its illegal to carry guns there. Its also illegal to shoot innocent people and children.

True, Brian, but so far this has proven to be unenforceable. So how do you ensure that existing laws in a country awash with handguns and semi-autos be enforced? I doubt people and parents will tolerate swat teams walking the corridors of grade schools. And please, the answer is not to arm more people.

Carrying guns to schools, theaters, and places where innocents gather has become the M.O. for the unbalanced to go to commit suicide and get their moment of misguided fame.

Jim

 

[Phydeaux]

My first thought went to our corrupt and failed judicial system, not guns. When will people stop blaming the tool, and start placing blame on an obviously flawed judicial system? And forks are responsible for obesity too, right?

 

[hypnotiq]

If only the government had made narcotics illegal before they started the war on drugs, we would have no drug problems.

Why haven't we banned airplanes yet, I mean they are responsible for how many thousands of deaths on 9/11??

I can go on and on.

Fine, take away everyone's guns.

What are you going to do when the crazy person drives a car through a crowded playground? I mean cars are pretty easy to come by.

What are you going to do when the crazy person puts a bomb in the middle of a crowded area? Any idiot with google can get the steps to build one in less than 90 seconds.

The problem is not the tool and to focus on the tool will only produce a pyrrhic victory.

 

[easyrider]

Its not the guns, its not the justice system but a total lack of values and common sense. In the past at public schools and still at most private schools people are taught values and discipline from day one. Most of what a child learned was from adults, not video games, smart phones, internet and technology.

Many of the best selling video games are very violent. Many of the shows kids watch are violent or sexual. There is no discipline or enforcable structure at many public schools. How can a teacher compete with a smart phone or video game ?

Anyway, I really feel bad for the folks involved in these type of situations and have prayed that things get better for them.

Bill

 

[Sandy VDH]

And now they are reporting both his father in NJ and his mother in CT are also both shot dead.

He apparently has a brother who they are picked up for questioning as well.

Randon craziness is so hard to protect against.

 

[ricoba]

I personally agree with President Obama's press secretary Jay Carney, today when he was asked by reporters about the event,

"Today's not ... a day to engage in the usual Washington policy debates, that day will come, but today's not that day."

To me, today should be a day of grief and reflection.

 

[SueDonJ]

The way I see it we'll never be able to completely eradicate gun violence in this country. And it's true, there does appear to be enough restrictions already legislated that should prevent mass shootings.

Every gun begins as a legal gun, at the point of manufacture. But obviously there is a disconnect somewhere in the chain that is making it far too easy for guns to end up in the wrong hands and/or be tricked out to the nines where they can no longer be considered legal. That disconnect is what we need to focus on and try to eradicate.

But as long as the NRA is as powerful a lobby as we've allowed it to become, we're never going to be able to legislate gun restrictions that are enforceable within the current police/legal/mental health systems as they exist. As long as the gun lobby continues to espouse the mantra that every attempt at gun control is nothing more than a forced first step in a slippery slope toward gun eradication, we're never going to be able to reach a reasonable discourse, nevermind a workable solution.

We should not be so willing to sacrifice our children and other citizens in the name of protecting Second Amendment rights. We just shouldn't. It's not humane.

 

[SueDonJ]

I personally agree with President Obama's press secretary Jay Carney, today when he was asked by reporters about the event,

"Today's not ... a day to engage in the usual Washington policy debates, that day will come, but today's not that day."

To me, today should be a day of grief and reflection.

I used to think that way, that it was more respectful to the victims and their families to save the gun control discussion for another day. But when is that day? It never seems to come while the mass shootings are happening more and more frequently. So now I think that the rest of us, those of us who are not victims today, are doing a disservice to the victims and their families by not focusing on the much-needed discussion while our shock and horror and grief is immediate.

 

[ace2000]

No matter how far you go with the gun laws, it still will not prevent these types of episodes from occurring in the future.

P.S. I hope I'm wrong about that, but I just don't see a solution. The gun lobby is too strong and too well funded. We're a society that is just waiting for the next incident to occur, and then we all get upset all over again the next time.

 

[Passepartout]

For those who seem unwilling to even discuss some kind- any kind- of restriction on anything that goes BANG, maybe we can discuss outlawing crazy?

Oh, and outlawing forks might go some distance to curbing obesity. You don't see a lot of overweight folks in societies where chopsticks- or fingers- are the dominant table utensil.

 

[Ken555]

My sympathy is with those affected by this horrible act.

However, I disagree with many of you. But, this isn't the appropriate forum, nor the time, to discuss the merits of gun control. It's a socially contentious issue, and this thread should be immediately closed.

 

[am1]

I personally agree with President Obama's press secretary Jay Carney, today when he was asked by reporters about the event,

"Today's not ... a day to engage in the usual Washington policy debates, that day will come, but today's not that day."

To me, today should be a day of grief and reflection.

Sadly sounds like politics.

 

[riverdees05]

Terrible - terrible - terrible !!!

 

[ouaifer]

This is a picture of our flagpole that stands in the very center of Newtown, CT. It is a massive "structure" where all the roads meet...one cannot pass through the town without going around this flag in the very middle of the road. It will soon be at half staff...RIP... G-d bless all involved....RIP.

If you turn toward the right around this flag...you will come to the school.

 

[ace2000]

And in today's news in China...

Knife-wielding man injures 22 children in China

http://www.courant.com/sns-rt-us-china-stabbingsbre8bd065-20121213,0,5592318.story

P.S. IMO, we need to really analyze what's happening in our society, as opposed to gun laws.

 

[Pens_Fan]

Norway has extremely strict gun laws, but that didn't keep that freak from going nuts there.

If a person wants a gun, they'll get a gun.

If a nut wants to go kill people, they will find a way.

 

[pjrose]

Mental Health screening in high school, maybe middle school as well. Help for those for whom the screening suggests.
No (legal) gun purchases for those with specific mental health concerns.
Locks on gun cabinets, trigger locks that only the owner can bypass.
Metal detectors in all public places.
Social Change to deal with the violence in our culture, though that's the hardest of all.

The discussion has to happen, and has to happen soon. Mental health professionals, Gun (or any weapon) rights advocates and safety advocates, law enforcement, media (violent programs and games?), clergy,...let the hunters hunt, let the target shooters shoot targets, let the self defenders defend themselves, let the collectors collect, let the 2nd Amendment stand...but somehow the less legitimate uses need to be dealt with.

No system is perfect, someone who is determined will find a way, yes, it could be a car running through the playground or doing something to the ketchup, but that's no reason to not start a serious discussion about how to reduce the violence.