I’m sitting in my office. It is December 14, 2012. I took a break after an appointment, and read online about the school shooting in Connecticut.
The next articles are about Piers Morgan, Michael Moore, Jennifer Granholm and Mayor Bloomberg calling for an end to the Second Amendment of the Constitution. I want to make a few notes before this becomes old, I calm down, and it gets back to the business as usual of dividing this country.
As a parent I am sick to my stomach. What do you do when you hear there is a mass shooting at the school where your children attend? What happens when you rush to the location, and the police will not let you get close? How does life go on if your child did not survive? What do you say to your child, of 8 years, when they have witnessed a war, in their supposedly safe school? How do you stay mentally stable knowing you are powerless to stop something like this happening again due to a copycat shooter?
In the coming days we will learn more of this tragedy. Apparently this sick person killed his mother and many of her young students. We will learn that everybody/nobody saw this coming based on the shooter's personality. We will probably learn the mother was a model teacher who influenced many lives in a positive way, but somehow her child became lost.
We will learn there were heroes, cowards and panicked people inside the school.
The heroes will be dazed and unsure of what happened; they will be confused as to why people are amazed at their actions. The others will be trying to understand, why they acted as they did.
Nobody walks away from a battle unaffected. For everybody at that school life will never be the same. The people at that school will never again feel completely safe. Doctors will work with them, but when you see someone die, someone you knew, the survivor will always feel guilty about their own survival.
We as a nation need to turn to these who would make political hay of this incident, to push their political agenda, and express our dismay at their actions.
At the same time, we need to gather with our families, our friends and our place of worship and pull for the families.
Those of us who are religious, we can pray for these families. Those who are not religious can pause to give positive thoughts to those suffering.
In a few weeks, we can then pull away from each other and go back to the bickering. We will be fine, it was not our families. We can tell the other side why they are wrong. But one thing will never be the same.
We will always remember 12/14/12, and know that we as a society were hurt by the actions of a sick person. This is all about people, this is not the time for pointing fingers and trying to make it political. Come on folks, we are in this together.
Politicians feed off of people's emotions. It is their lifeblood. And this is a perfect opprotunity for them to start messing with the US constitution, either overtly or covertly. I pray that cooler heads prevail here. I pray that they don't use this opportunity to interfere with the inalienable rights that were granted to us by God, not man.
But I think that people will have to go a few extra steps to prove that they aren't mentally insane before they buy an Sig Sauer or a Glock. Maybe a psychological examination? After this great American hit parade of shame (http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2012/07/img/aurora_chart3.jpg), we should be ashamed about how we handle mental illness in this country. It's a serious issue. Maybe we've hit the breaking point where the rights of the few are outweighed by the rights of defenseless women and little childen just trying to go to school and grow their knowledge. I know this. All of those parents and spouses are going to have an massive hole in their souls this Christmas and forever after thanks to Connecticut's irresponsible gun control laws and a total disregard for those suffering from mental illness. I agree that we're all in danger of the politicians doing something (anything) stupid to make them look busy and effective.
I think the gun laws we have today is adequate and all that we can do to prevent these tragedies. I am very surprised that in a nation of 314M people and 310M civilian guns that we do not see these awful things happen more often. But a poster named Norton pointed out under another blog that Canada has more guns PER CAPITA than the United States and 80% less gun violence than we do PER CAPITA. So, obviously, this has more to do with OUR culture and not guns alone. Perhaps we should be intelligent and look at OUR CULTURE and try to change that instead of changing gun laws?
It's probably going to become more difficult to procure guns and ammo legally. Now illegal obtainment?That's a completely different story.
After what happened yesterday, I can't say that I blame them (the Brits).
sez Mr. Webb, who accused Piers Morgan, Michael Moore, Jennifer Granholm and Mayor Bloomberg of being anti-Constitution. Not Huckabee: "Well, you know, it’s an interesting thing. We ask why there is violence in our schools but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?” or Bryan Fisher: "You know the question’s gonna come up, where was God?” he said. “I thought God cared about the little children, God protected the little children. Where was God when all this went down? And here’s the bottom line: God is not gonna go where he’s not wanted. Now we have spent, since 1962, this, we’re 50 years into this now, we have spent 50 years telling God to get lost. Telling God, we do not want you in our schools, we don’t want to pray to you in our schools, we don’t want to pray to you before football games, we don’t want to pray to you at graduation, we don’t want anyone talking about you in a graduation speech.” “We’ve kicked God out of our public school system,” he went on. “And I think God would say to us, ‘Hey I’ll be glad to protect your children, but you’ve gotta invite me back into your world first. I’m not gonna go where I’m not wanted. I am a gentleman.’” So are they right? http://bit.ly/V0HrK0
No one in Congress/WH has demanded that. But that's not going to stop RWNJs from claiming so. "I agree that we're all in danger of the politicians doing something (anything) stupid to make them look busy and effective." Do not worry, nothing will be done. If you want something done, you have to have a radical demand that the Capitol and the White House be a gun-free zone like a school (or vice-versa). Or demand concealed carrying liberalization in those places.
2:20 pm on Friday, December 14, 2012 "Irving, for God's sake, stop. This is not the time. People are in real pain and every parent is thinking about their own children. There will be plenty of time to make political hay out of this." Posted on December 14, 2012 at 3:17 pm "The next articles are about Piers Morgan, Michael Moore, Jennifer Granholm and Mayor Bloomberg calling for an end to the Second Amendment of the Constitution. I want to make a few notes before this becomes old, I calm down, and it gets back to the business as usual of dividing this country." So "the time" to "make political hay out of this" is about an hour later. "This is all about people, this is not the time for pointing fingers and trying to make it political." OK, "the time" to "make political hay out of this" is about an hour later, but only for Mr. Webb. My bad.
Let me offer a suggestion. For every negative comment you make about the author - make a positive comment too. Not a sarcastic one that originates from anger either. A sincere one. Try that. I think it might make you feel better about yourself. I want to help. Just an idea.
So is the explanation that God felt so shirked by Americans after the past 62 years that he decided to turn his back, arms folded as 5 and 6 year olds were gunned down by a mentally imbalanced person on medication? Jim Jones, suicide bombers, Timothy McVeigh and David Koresh... Indeed what's really needed in America to stop killing sprees is more credulity, faith and study of the Christian God in the Bible. There's no senseless violence in those pages.
Is it "punishment", JustUs? I'm a gun owner. Are you? Calm down. Nobody is going to repeal the 2nd amendment. I don't want mentally incapacitated or medically compromised individuals purchasing AR-15s and Glocks with hollow points without a background check and perhaps something a little more. I have zero problem with that. I was simply pointing out what the Brits decided to do after Dunblane, a very similar massacre to Friday in Connecticut It didn't eliminate gun violence, but you can count on one finger the number of mass killing sprees in the UK since Dunblane. I agree with you about the irony of killing children in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere without batting an eye. I guess this is because there isn't a war going on in the United States and there shouldn't be such collateral damage of young 5 and 6 year old kids at an elementary school. Or is there a war going on here? Looking at this list since 2007, something clearly is not right with us: http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2012/07/img/aurora_chart3.jpg
Nothing posted is a particular surprise shock. I can watch 4 minutes of Fox & Friends or Bill O'Reilly and get the jist of this worldview. Not difficult. This is an open forum, so the exchange of ideas, and even the sharp, curt critique of bad ideas, should actually be embraced. And the invitation is good both ways, though sometimes John doesn't respond to commenter questions to his claims or views. As long as we're not being rude or discourteous to each other, or putting words in each others mouths, this is a good thing.
There are already background checks in California. People with serious mental illness and violent criminals are supposed to be prohibited from buying firearms here. In fact, it's a FEDERAL law. So it must be true in other states too! So what are you talking about, mfriedrich? Law-abiding, obedient citizens should not be punished for the actions of crazy people or criminals. I don't want to be like Great Britain and most of us don't. Change the culture here. Legalize drugs and stop the gang shootings. There are lots of RATIONAL things we could do. Punishing good people by taking away their means of protection in not one of them!
You are indulging in either an informal fallacy or a rhetorical device which is inapplicable here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loaded_question) "Let me offer a suggestion. For every negative comment you make about the author - make a positive comment too." That is a lousy, nay, useless suggestion. There is no need for creating a false sense of balance. One makes a positive statement when one finds something positive, and a negative one, when one finds something negative. Here, I have done neither. Instead, I have simply pointed out the amusing disconnect in the author's appeal that we hold back our comments since it is "not the time" and then his quick progress to expound an entire blog post finding that very "time." Or that he urges not to politicize this, before proceeding to do precisely that himself. Naming names, accusing them of things they have not really even said. If you find that to be negative, ask yourself why it is so, since all I am citing is the words of the author, and highlighting the discrepancy. "I think it might make you feel better about yourself." You think incorrectly, fabricating balance would do no such thing. "I want to help." Thanks, I'll let you know if I need any.
I find *myself* insulted by it and it's not even directed at me. This is an open forum (within limits of Terms of Service) and there is nothing in this comment thread even remotely objectionable within a frame of open dialogue. Carry on.
So I am trying to resolve the conflict here. I am trying to be the healer and eliminate the mean spiritness. Why would you oppose that? My suggestion??? ONE COMPLIMENT WITH EVERY CRITICISM. I think that should be posted in the Patch Guidelines myself!!! Have a wonderful evening, Pang.
Again, enjoy your evening.