I am typing this on an ipad from my in-laws' house, so this will have to be short. The Wife and I stopped at the Newtown, CT exit off Interstate 84 about a year and a half to go. We were coming back from New York City, we were hungry and TW was annoyed with me. That rarely happens.
According to Google Maps, we were a couple of hundred yards from the site of the shootings today. I can't say anything about that horror show to indicate how terrible it truly was.
What I can say is the shootings show a little something about the ridiculousness of a small number of guns' rights advocates who, after the movie theatre killings in Colorado, argued that if patrons had been armed, the event would not have been that bad.
They are not going to suggest we start arming second-graders, right? Armed guards at the doors? Metal detectors outside kindergarten?
I have no answers for you, though I know you would not see the headlines blaring "30 stabbed to death" if guns were illegal. Admittedly, I do not get guns. They mostly seem like toys to me. It is an Olympic sport. You can go clay shooting or to a range. You can hunt with them. But a gun in your home is 10 to 20 times more likely to shoot a friend or family member than an intruder. Tell me again about personal safety being protected by guns.
And yet, I think people should have the right to hunt with guns and, in some cases, be carried for personal protection. I do not have any great ideas. I would simply prefer to never see a place I have visited on the news next to the word, "tragedy."
If only the criminals, who get their guns illegally, on the black market, or by stealing them, would respect a gun ban . . . Until then, I wonder, indeed, what may have happened if the principal or a teacher was armed? It is a horrifying state of affairs, to be sure . . . but there are many instances where armed civilians have saved lives when a criminal or wack job decides to start shooting. Police cannot be everywhere. Wolves slaughter calves, but they tend to avoid the bull's horns.
ReplyDeleteIf only the criminals, who get their guns illegally, on the black market, or by stealing them, would respect a gun ban . . . Until then, I wonder, indeed, what may have happened if the principal or a teacher was armed? It is a horrifying state of affairs, to be sure . . . but there are many instances where armed civilians have saved lives when a criminal or wack job decides to start shooting. Police cannot be everywhere. Wolves slaughter calves, but they tend to avoid the bull's horns.
ReplyDeleteI think crazy people will shoot, regardless what opposition they might face. I am not a parent but I would not be happy if I knew the kindergarten teacher at my school was packing heat. That is not comforting.
ReplyDeleteNever had a gun. Never will. Never been threatened with one. Never felt my safety has been in jeopardy. My common sense tells me that mass killings don't happen with knives, and far fewer people would die if guns were outlawed. The purpose of a gun is to kill. Period. I know nothing will change in my lifetime but every time one of these things happens I can't help but think, if only ... and yeah, as tough as it is to admit it, every time something like this happens and people express such rage and sorrow, I think, well, dammit, do something about it.
ReplyDeleteyou missed the 20+ kids stabbed while at school in China then the day before....
ReplyDeleteThe 20 kids who were stabbed ... and survived.
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