America, you HAVE to do something about this!

"America sees far more gun violence than countries in Europe, and Canada, India and Australia, which is perhaps how it gets its bloody reputation among comparatively peaceful nations." --WaPo




And I refuse to listen to anyone who says "this is not the time."  When  20 grammar school children are slaughtered, it is EXACTLY the time to talk about this and to finally do something about our sick gun culture.


"I don't feel like writing about anything today in light of the unspeakable tragedy that occurred this morning in Connecticut. What is there to say? Who could pull the trigger on a five year old? It's sickening. I'm sad and angry. And I just wish I could give all those people their lives back. I wish I could fill up the hole in those parents' hearts. I wish I had any hope whatsoever that we could, as a society, do something to make tragedies like this less common and less deadly. But I don't even know if we can force the House of Representatives to hold a hearing on this massacre. I'm just feeling frustrated." --Booman Tribune



I have called my representatives here in Massachusetts and told them I want something done, and I will call the White House and do the same.  And I have been in contact with other parents and grandparents who feel just as angry and feed up as I do.

I absolutely refuse to listen to anyone who rationalizes this slaughter by saying "some crazy person will always find a way to commit murder."

I REFUSE to listen to that BS.  And it is cowardly BS.  Other countries don't have the level of gun violence that we do.

We are the ONLY country with this sort of level of gun violence, and I point my finger at the venal, evil people who run the NRA and threaten any politician who dares to speak up for stricter gun control.

We parents and grandparents will be heard.

I will work tirelessly to get stricter and harsher gun control laws passed, no matter what it takes.  And so will the people I've spoken with today.

Praying will not bring back those babies--yes, babies! More than prayers is needed.

We need action.  And resolve.

I have grandchildren who attend public schools.  The politicians don't care if they're slaughtered like helpless lambs, I DO!  No parent or grandparent should ever have to bury their little children for merely having attended school.

This is a national disgrace.


And the NRA is evil.




"Guns don't attack children; psychopaths and sadists do. But guns uniquely allow a psychopath to wreak death and devastation on such a large scale so quickly and easily. America is the only country in which this happens again -- and again and again."





 "Only with gun violence do we respond to repeated tragedies by saying that mourning is acceptable but discussing how to prevent more tragedies is not. But that’s unacceptable. As others have observed, talking about how to stop mass shootings in the aftermath of a string of mass shootings isn’t “too soon.” It’s much too late."--E.Klein


"A permissive gun regime is not the only reason that the United States suffers so many atrocities like the one in Connecticut. An inadequate mental health system is surely at least as important a part of the answer, as are half a dozen other factors arising from some of the deepest wellsprings of American culture. Nor can anybody promise that more rational gun laws would prevent each and every mass murder in this country. Gun killings do occur even in countries that restrict guns with maximum severity. But we can say that if the United States worked harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, there would be many, many fewer atrocities like the one in Connecticut." --D.Frum

More HERE from our good friend, TAO.


Why America Lets the Killings Continue By GREGORY GIBSON 
Published: December 14, 2012 --NYTimes

MY wife and I learned about the Connecticut school shootings on our way home from the cemetery, where we had just finished observing the 20th anniversary of our son’s murder. Our son Galen, who was 18, and a teacher were killed on Dec. 14, 1992, by a deranged student who went on a shooting rampage at Simon’s Rock College in western Massachusetts. 

Galen was a gifted kid, and Simon’s Rock seemed like the perfect place for him. He’d never been happier. The killer had a vastly different reaction to this environment. After run-ins with college officials, he vowed to “bring the college to its knees.” 

He bought an SKS at a gun shop down the road, and obtained oversize clips and ammunition through the mail. In the wake of Galen’s murder, I wrote a book about the shooting. In it I suggested that we view gun crime as a public health issue, much the same as smoking or pesticides. I spent a number of years attending rallies, signing petitions, writing letters and making speeches, but eventually I gave up. 

Gun control, such a live issue in the “early” days of school shootings, inexplicably became a third-rail issue for politicians. I came to realize that, in essence, this is the way we in America want things to be. We want our freedom, and we want our firearms, and if we have to endure the occasional school shooting, so be it. 

A terrible shame, but hey — didn’t some guy in China just do the same thing with a knife? Still, whatever your position on gun control, it is impossible not react with horror to news of the shootings in Connecticut. 

Our horror is nuanced by knowledge of what those families are going through, and what they will have to endure in years to come. More horrible still — to me at least — is the inevitable lament, “How could we have let this happen?”



"The assault weapons ban enacted under President Clinton was deficient and has expired. Mr. Obama talked about the need for “common sense” gun control after the movie theater slaughter in Aurora, Colo., and he hinted during the campaign that he might support a new assault weapons ban, presumably if someone else introduced it. 

 Republicans will never do that, because they are mired in an ideology that opposes any gun control. After each tragedy, including this one, some litter the Internet with grotesque suggestions that it would be better if everyone (kindergarten teachers?) were armed. Far too many Democrats also live in fear of the gun lobby and will not support an assault weapons ban, or a ban on high-capacity bullet clips or any one of a half-dozen other sensible ideas. 

 Mr. Obama said today that “we have been through this too many times” and “that “we are going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” When will that day come? It did not come after the 1999 Columbine shooting, or the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, or the murders in Aurora. 

 The more that we hear about gun control and nothing happens, the less we can believe it will ever come. Certainly, it will not unless Mr. Obama and Congressional leaders show the courage to make it happen."--NYTimes