Will our anger be buried alongside Newtown’s dead?
A flag flies at half mast on a dark, wintry night in Newtown, Conn. This week, the townspeople will bury their dead, including the bodies of 20 young first-graders murdered by an assailant who broke into their school. Coffin manufacturers have donated the 20 small caskets that will be needed in the burials. (AP)
The Bushmaster .223, the weapon used by Adam Lanza to kill 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Each victim had been shot three to 11 times, according to the coroner's report. Lanza is reported to have brought multiple 30-round magazines to the school, and at the time of his death at his own hand still possessed hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
————————————–
Robbie Parker, the father of six-year-old Emilie, has had to explain her death to her two siblings, ages 3 and 4. "They seem to get the fact that they have somebody they're going to miss very much," he said.
An excerpt from President Barack Obama’s message to Newtown and the nation, delivered at a prayer vigil Sunday night (entire text available here):
“Someone once described the joy and anxiety of parenthood as the equivalent of having your heart outside of your body all the time, walking around. With their very first cry, this most precious, vital part of ourselves — our child — is suddenly exposed to the world, to possible mishap or malice. And every parent knows there is nothing we will not do to shield our children from harm.
And yet, we also know that with that child’s very first step, and each step after that, they are separating from us; that we won’t — that we can’t always be there for them. They’ll suffer sickness and setbacks and broken hearts and disappointments. And we learn that our most important job is to give them what they need to become self-reliant and capable and resilient, ready to face the world without fear.
And we know we can’t do this by ourselves. It comes as a shock at a certain point where you realize, no matter how much you love these kids, you can’t do it by yourself. That this job of keeping our children safe, and teaching them well, is something we can only do together, with the help of friends and neighbors, the help of a community, and the help of a nation. And in that way, we come to realize that we bear a responsibility for every child because we’re counting on everybody else to help look after ours; that we’re all parents; that they’re all our children.
This is our first task — caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.
And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we are meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children — all of them — safe from harm? Can we claim, as a nation, that we’re all together there, letting them know that they are loved, and teaching them to love in return? Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?”
I’ve been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we’re honest with ourselves, the answer is no.”
————————————–
The answer is no.
————————————–
– Jay Bookman
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977 comments Add your comment
stands for decibels
December 17th, 2012
12:32 pm
Db the mind reader. Get your tickets here. He knows all, and tells all.
You buy this “wahh, TEH BAYBEEZ” bullsh-t that always appears when we start discussing our gun problems?”
reeeealy?
RB from Gwinnett
December 17th, 2012
12:32 pm
“These would have ZERO negative impact on law-abiding gun owners.”
And ZERO impact on anybody bent on destruction. You have a mental disorder if you think one more law is going to change the behavior of the person who just ignored probably some 100 laws while committing this attrocity.
You liberals just can’t seem to get your tiny little brains around the fact the 2nd amendment was also put there to protect us from our government. Just in the last 10 years, how many people have left this planet as unarmed citizens of an armed and evil government? I’m sure they all said it could never happen there too….
getalife
December 17th, 2012
12:32 pm
The Newtown massacre is the final straw for this President.
Gun law changes are coming whether you like it or not.
barking frog
December 17th, 2012
12:33 pm
Christian Conservative
December 17th, 2012
12:30 pm
…………………………………………..
and speech like this from a christian conservative…
stands for decibels
December 17th, 2012
12:34 pm
the 2nd amendment was also put there to protect us from our government.
speaking of mind reading…
godless heathen - Law Abiding Citizen
December 17th, 2012
12:34 pm
Stands: Godless, I wouldn’t lose a minute’s sleep if the Federal government decided to limit vehicles to a 70mph max. But I guess I’m weird that way.
Yes, weird in the fact that you are consistent with your position and I commend that.
Dare I say not many of your fellow travelers would give up their right to own fast cars.
Nunna Yobinnes
As long as they don’t limit the acceleration to 70 mph.
mph is a unit of velocity not acceleration. mph/h would be acceleration.
UNCLE SAMANTHA
December 17th, 2012
12:35 pm
new law
ANY CRAZY PERSON THAT KILLS CHILDREN WITH ASSAULT RIFLES AND THEN KILLS THEMSELVES SHALL BE SENTENCED TO LIFE IN AN MENTAL INSTITUTION
this will prevent these LOGICAL THINKERS from ever doing it again
Nunna Yobinnes
December 17th, 2012
12:35 pm
Db – I just don’t pretend to know the thoughts and intents of posters here. You don’t like their point and belittle them. What if that treatment makes them snap and go shoot up a school full of kids?
They BOTH suck
December 17th, 2012
12:35 pm
td
You seem to have a fixation with posting the same thing over and over in regards to abortion.
Are you wanting or just doing your typical whining?
Dharma Bum
December 17th, 2012
12:36 pm
Christian Conservative @12:30
Please go make your own psychotic political party and leave the conservatives alone. A true conservative supports gay marriage and abortion because the government doesn’t need to be involved in people’s personal affairs. Busybodies like yourself that want to force their myopic worldview on everyone else do nothing to help solve these problems…
“Turning back to God” seems somewhat contradictory considering almost 80% of the U.S. population considers themselves some kind of Christian. Are you saying that a lot of people are faux Christians?!?!?! Say it ain’t so!
Nunna Yobinnes
December 17th, 2012
12:36 pm
godless – I know what acceleration is versus mph. All I’m saying is that if I am going to be required to drive a golf cart, at least let it have good acceleration.
clem
December 17th, 2012
12:37 pm
hey RB, i thought the government was elected by the people…we, the people. i would agree since 9/11 government has been overreacting ie infringing on some civil liberties, but i don’t think arming a citizen with assault weapons is the answer.
Welcome to the Occupation
December 17th, 2012
12:37 pm
luangtom: “The very same weekend as the CT shootings, a dozen young people were killed on the mean-streets of Chicago. Yet, we hear no media-attention, hear no national outrage. Why not? The people are just as dead as those children, the families are grieving just as hard as those in CT. Chicago has some of the most restrictive firearms laws in the nation and they are not working to quell the death and mayhem. Why do people think new laws from Washington DC will do any better?”
This is one of the smarter posts I’ve read here today. I basically agree. The reason we don’t hear about the gun slaughter epidemic in Chicago, which is ongoing and unspeakable, is because of racism pure and simple. It’s in “that” part of town, so naturally it would occur. Our position, even if unspoken, is: those people are basically animals anyway, so, what do you expect? It’s pure racism.
“We rely upon the system to instill the morals and values that were once learned at home. We are a busy society with no time to parent, yet keep pumping out children for the government to educate and instill their values and standards in. ”
You’re right. Our moral backbone has been eroded. Eroded by a ruthless, vicious global capitalism that keeps us busier and busier, keeps families under greater and greater pressure,
So the massacres will continue until there is a reckoning in the society at large and in the world at large to the extent that the current hyper-capitalism is global in nature.
getalife
December 17th, 2012
12:38 pm
If you talk like a kook on the blogs, you lose your guns.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 17th, 2012
12:38 pm
luangtom @ 12:29
THANK YOU !
UNCLE SAMANTHA
December 17th, 2012
12:38 pm
Nunna Yobinnes
December 17th, 2012
12:35 pm
Db – I just don’t pretend to know the thoughts and intents of posters here. You don’t like their point and belittle them. What if that treatment makes them snap and go shoot up a school full of kids?
======================================================================
how can you ASSUME that they are GUN TOTING LIBERALS ?
td
December 17th, 2012
12:38 pm
Oklahoma Girl Shoots Home Intruder: 12-Year-Old Uses Family’s Gun To Protect Self, Home
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/20/oklahoma-girl-shoots-home-intruder_n_1992381.html
This young lady saved herself from possibly rape or murder but she also broke established gun control laws. Should she be sent to jail?
ITA ALL BUSH'S FAULT
December 17th, 2012
12:38 pm
NRA = National Reject Association…
ITA ALL BUSH'S FAULT
December 17th, 2012
12:39 pm
GOP = Guns Over People
Ken
December 17th, 2012
12:39 pm
Haven’t we all met a person that isn’t quite all there ? I worked with a man that the company knew wasn’t quite right but they didn’t do a thing. Probably for fear of the lawyers. We watched him like a hawk. Scary !!
Dharma Bum
December 17th, 2012
12:41 pm
ITA ALL BUSH’S FAULT @ 12:38-39
You are definitely not helping right now… this is a time to come together, not pull apart.
UNCLE SAMANTHA
December 17th, 2012
12:41 pm
This is one of the smarter posts I’ve read here today. I basically agree. The reason we don’t hear about the gun slaughter epidemic in Chicago, which is ongoing and unspeakable, is because of racism pure and simple
==================================================================
NOT RACISM
ITS BECAUSE CHICAGO HAS THE STRICTEST GUN LAWS IN THE NATION
NOT EXACTLY A POSTER CHILD FOR LIBERAL GURGLE
gm
December 17th, 2012
12:41 pm
My heart still hurts from this, there is no excuse for having a riffle in the home period, they belong in the hands of soldiers, for the NRA or anybody saying people kill not riffles show what a bunch of sickos we have in this country.
We can hold hearing on Benghazi and discredit people but we can not hold hearing on the NRA, where is Sen McCain investigation on gun control? this is why the rest of the world look at America as a bunch of hypocrites, hey fox news idiots what you think of Bob Costa statements now?
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 17th, 2012
12:41 pm
TO MY CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS:
I heard today on the radio that the press may be supressing some information about the Portland Mall shooting last week where two people were murdered.
In brief ……….. the perpetrator was shooting at people when a 22 year old with a carry permit drew his weapon and pointed it at him whereupon the perpetrator decided to kill himself.
I do not know if this is a true account of the facts or not but I am trying to find out via research. If you have the time, please conduct some research on your own.
Nunna Yobinnes
December 17th, 2012
12:42 pm
US – “how can you ASSUME that they are GUN TOTING LIBERALS ?” Huh? I haven’t assumed that anyone is a gun toting liberal. Sorry, you lost me on that one.
td
December 17th, 2012
12:42 pm
They BOTH suck
December 17th, 2012
12:35 pm
td
You seem to have a fixation with posting the same thing over and over in regards to abortion.
Are you wanting or just doing your typical whining?
Nope, just pointing out the hypocrisy of the progressives on this site that have no problem with killing 2000 children everyday because it is a so called Constitutional right but want to take a legitimate Constitutional right away from law abiding citizens due to the actions of an insane individual.
getalife
December 17th, 2012
12:42 pm
ken,
Yes there are many here on this blog called the cons.
Welcome to the Occupation
December 17th, 2012
12:43 pm
I can guarantee you one thing though. Bicker and argue though you might, what unites the conservatives here and liberals like Jay Bookman is the idea that global capitalism is just fine, it’s some minor adjustment to our society that needs to be changed, either we need to restore our lost sense of personal responsibility or we need to institute tougher gun laws, just make a few legislative adjustments in other words.
Both of these approaches are doomed before they start to the extent that they do not address the root cause: the terrifying erosion of human structures of meaning, community, and identity formation brought about by a ruthless global capitalism that has been unleashed in ever purer, more freebased form since the Reagan years.
Escaped from Email Purgatory
December 17th, 2012
12:43 pm
Gun ownership in America needs its MADD moment.
Before MADD, how seriously did we take driving under the influence? Post- MADD, DUI is treated as the serious crime it’s always been.
No attempt to draw an analogy between a terroristic act of mass murder of innocents and driving while impaired. Just that it took special people to change America’s perspective – to make us see the obvious.
Ads like the Bushmaster one posted atop this blog are obscene in light of Friday. Clearly that was the intention in placing it there in the first place.
Gun ownership should never be glamorized. Responsible gun owners know this. Now tell it to gun manufacturers.
Nunna Yobinnes
December 17th, 2012
12:43 pm
td – no, she should not, but you know that criminals have more rights than victims.
getalife
December 17th, 2012
12:43 pm
“I do not know if this is a true”
Why post bs scout?
UNCLE SAMANTHA
December 17th, 2012
12:44 pm
td
December 17th, 2012
12:38 pm
Oklahoma Girl Shoots Home Intruder: 12-Year-Old Uses Family’s Gun To Protect Self, Home
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/20/oklahoma-girl-shoots-home-intruder_n_1992381.html
This young lady saved herself from possibly rape or murder but she also broke established gun control laws. Should she be sent to jail?
=====================================================================
THE WONDED INTRUDER HAS NOW HIRED COUNSEL AND IS SUING THE PARENTS FOR HIS PAIN AND SUFFERING AT THE HANDS OF THEIR CHILD
THE WOUNDED INTRUDER IS NOW IN NEED OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND IS PETITIONING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOR SSI-DISABILITY SINCE HE CAN NO LONGER ROB HOUSES
stands for decibels
December 17th, 2012
12:45 pm
Db – I just don’t pretend to know the thoughts and intents of posters here.
Since you raise the issue–I rarely do, either. In fact, I’ve doled out my share of criticism to those who blatantly assume stuff about me, or others. And yes, I do try not to assume stuff of those who take issue with my views.
I just don’t buy, for a minute, that the people who put up a smokescreen about how we all should stop and be ashamed to live in a country that, like most civilized nations, provides legal abortion to women who want it, and that this is some kind of mitigating factor in what kind of public anger/grief we display as a result of this tragedy.
And if that makes me an assumer-of-stuff, I guess that’s just a cross I’ll have to bear.
stands for decibels
December 17th, 2012
12:46 pm
Why post bs scout?
beats thinkin’.
They BOTH suck
December 17th, 2012
12:46 pm
td
“so called”………. You are wrong……….. yet again.
It is a Constitutional Right.. Period, plan and simple, nothing about it is “so called” and you do not get to define the definition of abortion just because your opinion differs.
So again, are you wanting or whining?
I do applaud you for the adoption of kids, working with unwed mothers who are facing a tough choice with their pregnancies and all the other work you do to back up your anti abortion stance.
USA Patriot
December 17th, 2012
12:46 pm
0311 – PORTLAND — Nick Meli is emotionally drained. The 22-year-old was at Clackamas Town Center with a friend and her baby when a masked man opened fire.
“I heard three shots and turned and looked at Casey and said, ‘are you serious?,’” he said.
The friend and baby hit the floor. Meli, who has a concealed carry permit, positioned himself behind a pillar.
“He was working on his rifle,” said Meli. “He kept pulling the charging handle and hitting the side.”
The break in gunfire allowed Meli to pull out his own gun, but he never took his eyes off the shooter.
“As I was going down to pull, I saw someone in the back of the Charlotte move, and I knew if I fired and missed, I could hit them,” he said.
Meli took cover inside a nearby store. He never pulled the trigger. He stands by that decision.
“I’m not beating myself up cause I didn’t shoot him,” said Meli. “I know after he saw me, I think the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself.”
The gunman was dead, but not before taking two innocent lives with him and taking the innocence of everyone else.
“I don’t ever want to see anyone that way ever,” said Meli. “It just bothers me.”
http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html
godless heathen - Law Abiding Citizen
December 17th, 2012
12:46 pm
Well Mom says I have to get off her computer and come upstairs for lunch.
Good day all.
Doggone/GA
December 17th, 2012
12:47 pm
“The moral backbone and values this country once had are lost”
No, they are not. One, or even a few, bad apples doesn’t mean the whole orchard is rotten
Nunna Yobinnes
December 17th, 2012
12:47 pm
Hopefully Oklahoma law will deny the perpetrator’s idiotic requests, however you can never tell.
stands for decibels
December 17th, 2012
12:47 pm
And now it appears to be the time in the learning-disabled gun control thread for right wingers to post their favorite “lookee this guy dun shot a crimnal!” linkees.
Have fun with ‘em, rational folks.
Off to do some
more producin’.
Just Saying..
December 17th, 2012
12:48 pm
“The freedom to own a swimming pool”
You do seem a deep end thinker…
Joe Hussein Mama
December 17th, 2012
12:48 pm
Williebkind — “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is in the Declaration of Independence.”
While the Declaration is a beautiful and timeless document, to be sure, it does not carry the force of law in this country.
Doesn’t matter what you ‘feel.’
They BOTH suck
December 17th, 2012
12:48 pm
Scout
How is every single media outlet preventing the 22 year old or any other eye witness from telling their story?
Bill Orvis White
December 17th, 2012
12:49 pm
@Corbin Sharpe. Baby Boomer…and Ban the Gun Thug!
…and Manchin needs to be fired, pure and simple. Why is it that secular progressive fools have to use tragedies to advance their wrong-headed agenda? Liberal zombie Michael Moore comes out of the woodwork like a cockroach when these things happen so that “he” can line his fat liberal pockets. What a hypocrite!
Now, why can’t I own a weapons cache to protect my property and family from well-armed jihadists who could storm our soil any year now. Sorry, but what’s wrong with being ready? Do any of you secular progressives on here realize that there once was a guy named Adolph who rounded up innocent peoples’ weapons caches? I’m sure you all know how that one turned out, don’t you?
GOOD NIGHT!
Amen,
Bill
Christian Conservative
December 17th, 2012
12:49 pm
barking frog:
If the truth hurts so be it… This country is rotting from the core and secular progressives are more to blame than any gun….
They BOTH suck
December 17th, 2012
12:50 pm
USA
Thanks for that info. Guess we will see if it just stay “underground” or gets reported elsewhere.
UNCLE SAMANTHA
December 17th, 2012
12:50 pm
read em and weep
25 years murder-free in ‘Gun Town USA’
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2007/04/41196/#G4uD8V0xp1TzQzPA.99
http://www.wnd.com/2007/04/41196/
stands for decibels
December 17th, 2012
12:51 pm
one more thing:
Ads like the Bushmaster one posted atop this blog are obscene in light of Friday.
You think maybe the fact that Bushmaster still has that ad live on thier website as of this morning might not be the real obscenity?
hey, let’s check and see if their hi-larious “man card” web pages are still up…
http://bushmaster.com/mancard/
yep!
/drive-by
getalife
December 17th, 2012
12:52 pm
Some Senators are changing their position on guns but doubt the gop will.
You will need a Dem house to get gun changes so the politics for the Dems is very good.
The gop will not change so they will be the new whig party.
Put that in your gun and shoot it.
They BOTH suck
December 17th, 2012
12:52 pm
Scout
My apologies. That story is running on the Portland news.
Will be interesting to see what the police say about this.
http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html
appleseed
December 17th, 2012
12:53 pm
Orifice spewing,surprised not faster than the cyclic rate of an automatic.
Peace
December 17th, 2012
12:53 pm
SFD- As a former ‘embryo’, consider yourself lucky. You and others of like mind (or lack of mind) bear a large part of responsibility in creating and sustaining a society that has such total disregard for human life, whether in the womb or in the first grade.
Darwin
December 17th, 2012
12:53 pm
There isn’t much to say. Only those directly touched by this tragedy hold the anger to change things. The rest of us only care that the government doesn’t take away our guns. Until this tragedy touches our lives. They are considered “isolated incidents by a crazed gunman.” We have been told we must accept and live with this violence. To act, means to take away our guns. It’s really insane and uniquely American.
Mike Fitzgerald
December 17th, 2012
12:54 pm
Unfortunately this isn’t the first time Kindergarteners were massacred. It happened in Scotland in 1996. The UK’s response was to completely ban handguns (assault rifles were already banned). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_school_massacre#Deaths
Dharma Bum
December 17th, 2012
12:54 pm
Christian Conservative @ 12:49
The country isn’t “rotting from the core” simply because you say it is. Human beings love to focus on the negatives while overlooking the usually more numerous positives. Things move in cycles and it is a lot like a wave… we never seem to notice we were on the crest until we are at the very bottom of the trough.
UNCLE SAMANTHA
December 17th, 2012
12:54 pm
They BOTH suck
December 17th, 2012
12:52 pm
Scout
My apologies. That story is running on the Portland news.
Will be interesting to see what the police say about this.
http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html
====================================================================
in texas the kid might be arrested for NOT using his firearm
Christian Conservative
December 17th, 2012
12:54 pm
Dharma Bum:
Yes I am saying that most so called Christians are fake… As far as homosexual marriage the only reason gubmint is brought into the fray is because of lawsuits. Homosexual behavior is unnatural and immoral.. Plain and simple… Its yet another way to deteriorate and already fragile country teetering on collapse…
Corbin Sharpe. Baby Boomer...and Ban the Gun Thug!
December 17th, 2012
12:55 pm
Bill Orvis White
December 17th, 2012
12:49 pm
Now that’s the Bill I like so well! sarcasm at its finest! Good work Bill, I know I can always count on you for a laugh. Laugh and the world laughs with you, right Bill? Of course it is!
skp
December 17th, 2012
12:55 pm
I don’t care much for Michael Moore, but in the movie ‘Bowling for Columbine’, he interviewed Marilyn Manson – I don’t really know why. But one of his questions was “If you somehow could have talked to those kids before the shooting, what would you say to them?”
Manson answered “I wouldn’t have said anything at all. I would have LISTENED to them.”
I think that response is worth thinking about. The kids in Columbine were social outcasts, their parents were probably too “busy” to pay attention, etc. Lanza had mental issues, yet his mom collected guns and didn’t keep them locked away properly.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, society as a whole is to blame for events like these. From lazy parents who think it’s the schools’ job to raise their kids to right-wing conspiracy nuts who think everybody’s out to get them, to school yard bullies who make their classmates insecure and ultimately in some cases angry and looking for revenge.
People need to start taking responsibility for themselves and their kids, and stop listening to crazy people. Of all kinds.
Christian Conservative
December 17th, 2012
12:57 pm
Can any of you libs on here answer one simple question. Who is benefiting from this tragedy? Someone is I just wonder if you fruits know who….
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 17th, 2012
12:57 pm
USA Patriot:
“I’m not beating myself up cause I didn’t shoot him,” said Meli. “I know after he saw me, I think the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself.”
Thank you.
This proves a point I have often made. The mere “presence” of a legal right to carry person can MINIMIZE a tragedy. When these cowards know that someone will resist them with equal force they will often “cower out” and shoot themselves ……………. WHICH IS WHAT WE WANT TO HAPPEN !
Doggone/GA
December 17th, 2012
12:58 pm
“but you know that criminals have more rights than victims.”
No, they don’t. When you have to lie to make your point, you have no point.
Regnad Kcin
December 17th, 2012
12:59 pm
“TO MY CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS:
I heard today on the radio that the press may be supressing some information about the Portland Mall shooting last week where two people were murdered.”
I heard today on the radio that I was elected emperor of China.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 17th, 2012
1:00 pm
They BOTH suck:
Apology not accepted because you (and others) always focus on me and my viewpoints rather than facts or reasoned debate.
You showed you a** this time.
Corbin Sharpe. Baby Boomer...and Ban the Gun Thug!
December 17th, 2012
1:00 pm
Dharma Bum
December 17th, 2012
12:54 pm
Those of us here who call themselves Christian Conservatives only see from one eye. I their ignorance and arrogance, they think that theirs is the only way. They say you must protect the fetus, but they balk at stricter gun laws to protect our already living children.
Guns and Bibles…a truly strange combination, if you ask me. It must really make the Prince of peace proud of them…
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 17th, 2012
1:01 pm
Regnad Kcin:
Take it up with KGW !
http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html
Nunna Yobinnes
December 17th, 2012
1:01 pm
Congratulations Regnad. How will you deal with communist rebels?
newkid
December 17th, 2012
1:02 pm
Thanks Buzz Belle. Solutions are there if we spent more of our time thinking about reasonable and innovative approaches to real problems, and less of our time slinging mud at the so-called opposition.
In our culture we require insurance to protect society from any number of potential human and natural hazards, yet we don’t require insurance to ‘protect us’ from some of the potential consequences of abuse of guns and their owners and users. We require those who wish to locate in known flood hazard zones – where, if there is harm, it is principally to the purchaser and the lender – to purchase flood insurance before we’ll allow lenders to originate a loan. Because lenders rely upon depositors like you and me for the funds they lend to the buyer who wishes to build or buy property in a floodplain, this insurance is really a protection for you and me. Same principle applies to those who’ll purchase and use guns. Our kids and larger society deserve protection from these guns and those who would use them. It has become horrifically clear that we cannot completely rely upon moral appeals to give innocent victims in our society the protection they rightfully deserves from this menance. We’ve seen time and time again that even the most precious and innocent amoug us, our kids, are not excused from being riddled and ripped apart by these weapons and those who would use them.
Requiring insurance (steep insurance) would not deny anyone the ‘right’ to hold these weapons; it simply begins to monetize that right and responsibility. It places responsibilities on the owners (as a group) for the abuse of the guns & ammo they purchase with that right. And it uses a signficant portion of the financial proceeds that come from the insurance that those who chose to exercise that right to protect the larger society.
We’ve often used the profit motive to facilitate and expedite societal aspirations. However, if private insurers elect to stay away from this ‘opportunity’, there is every reason the government should jump right in. It’s the safety of innocents and the larger society that’s important here, not the making of an enormour profit.
They BOTH suck
December 17th, 2012
1:02 pm
Scout
If that makes you feel better and you want to pout, no problem.
You have showed your A$$ so many times on this blog that it isn’t worth counting, so cry on if that is what you need to do.
Dharma Bum
December 17th, 2012
1:02 pm
Christian Conservative @ 12:54
Even if homosexual behavior was immoral and unnatural (which it isn’t), why is it any of your business what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes? Why do you even care if two people get married that happen to be of the same sex? The government needs to stay out of people’s business, and that includes telling people who they can/cannot marry. You don’t get to force your own personal code of morals on the other 300 million+ Americans.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 17th, 2012
1:04 pm
Can any of you libs on here answer one simple question. Who is benefiting from this tragedy? Someone is I just wonder if you fruits know who…
Colt.
Smith & Wesson.
Glock.
Springfield Armory.
Tarus.
CZ.
Sig Sauer.
Winchester.
etc….
Doggone/GA
December 17th, 2012
1:05 pm
“Yes I am saying that most so called Christians are fake… As far as homosexual marriage the only reason gubmint is brought into the fray is because of lawsuits”
Wrong. Marriage is a legal contract. It is the CHURCH that has muscled it’s way into a LEGAL agreement.
Jay
December 17th, 2012
1:05 pm
“The very same weekend as the CT shootings, a dozen young people were killed on the mean-streets of Chicago. Yet, we hear no media-attention, hear no national outrage. Why not? The people are just as dead as those children, the families are grieving just as hard as those in CT. “
From President Obama’s initial remarks on the Newtown shooting:
“As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago — these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”
Regnad Kcin
December 17th, 2012
1:05 pm
“This country is rotting from the core and secular progressives are more to blame than any gun….”
I disagree – haters with deep-seated beliefs are dangerous – they feel justified by a higher power.
Christian Conservative
December 17th, 2012
1:05 pm
Corbin Sharpe. Baby Boomer…and Ban the Gun Thug!:
Is a fetus not “already living”?
What an ignorant statement…
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 17th, 2012
1:06 pm
They BOTH suck:
Not pouting ………. just not accepting your apology.
Good day !
Joe Hussein Mama
December 17th, 2012
1:06 pm
C. Conservative — “I just wonder if you fruits know who….”
Why would any of us play nice with you when your schtick seems to consist of calling us names and making up bullspit about what we think and want?
Why don’t you just crawl back under your rock and think whatever the eff you like?
indigo
December 17th, 2012
1:06 pm
Kamchak – 12:28
Yes.
Or, do you want 20 more little children killed?
Jefferson
December 17th, 2012
1:06 pm
It appears handguns are for the crazy and the scared.
Dekalb comments
December 17th, 2012
1:06 pm
@ RB from Gwinnett
Closing loopholes for background checks, limiting the size of magazines and outlawing assault weapons are, by my very post, not everything. They will not stop the gun violence in this country but they are things rational individuals would consider no-brainers. Be sure that before someone transfers a gun to someone else the purchaser be cleared to not be a felon or meet other criteria that would deem their gun ownership imprudent. No one needs an assault weapon or these huge magazines to do what gun owners say they need them for – hunting, sport or self-defense. If there is a burglar breaking into your garage you don’t need an assault weapon with 100 rounds to defend your family and your home.
But conservative offer ZERO, I repeat ZERO suggestions except to say if we only had more guns in schools and movie theaters and at Sikh temples, etc. we would be safer. Why is there not one documented case where an armed citizen stopped what could have been a massacre then?
Conservaties on this issue are totally disconnected from reality. They love their guns almost as much as their money and their “God” who was seemingly absent last Friday. I say that as a Christian.
Mick
December 17th, 2012
1:06 pm
**a society that has such total disregard for human life**
It has always been thus throughout history…
getalife
December 17th, 2012
1:06 pm
The tried to blame Manson for Columbine until they started talking to him to find out he was smarter than most of the people blaming him.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 17th, 2012
1:07 pm
Inner city schools have magnetometers and armed security.
Time for the suburbs !!!!
Joe Hussein Mama
December 17th, 2012
1:08 pm
0311 — “This proves a point I have often made. The mere “presence” of a legal right to carry person can MINIMIZE a tragedy. When these cowards know that someone will resist them with equal force they will often “cower out” and shoot themselves ……………. WHICH IS WHAT WE WANT TO HAPPEN !”
How do *you* know what the shooter saw and thought?
And even if the shooter *did* see a weapon aimed at him, how’s he going to know if it’s a legal carry person drawing down on him or not?
What we WANT to happen is for these sort of things not to happen at ALL.
Regnad Kcin
December 17th, 2012
1:08 pm
“Yes I am saying that most so called Christians are fake…’
Right – everybody’s wrong but you…
They BOTH suck
December 17th, 2012
1:08 pm
Scout
No problem. I’m sure I will sleep well tonight. have a kleenex or two
Dharma Bum
December 17th, 2012
1:10 pm
Christian Conservative @ 1:05
Why do you get to tell someone else what to do with their body? If a woman has an abortion, it isn’t your problem or any of your business. I have a heart condition that will hopefully be fixed soon, but I always think of how I would feel if someone I didn’t even know was trying to tell me how I should handle my own body… empathy is a powerful tool.
indigo
December 17th, 2012
1:10 pm
godless – 12:27
That is NOT what I asked.
LUCIFER
December 17th, 2012
1:10 pm
So we’ll go through this mental exercise and we’ll soon move on to other things. Nothing will change. Never does. NRA has its own effective brainwashing that the government is out to take your guns away. They have power and money. Nothing will change. Never does. Doesn’t matter if an assault weapon or a handgun with a 30-round clip that shoots hollow points isn’t used in hunting, but only to kill and injure innocent people. You watch, after the dust settles and the tears are dry, nothing will change. Never does. And, not to make a fine point about it, U.S. flags in time of disaster fly at half mast on ocean faring vessels, and at half staff on land.
Regnad Kcin
December 17th, 2012
1:11 pm
“Congratulations Regnad. How will you deal with communist rebels?”
Thank you.
We are considering…that’s the Imperial “we”.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 17th, 2012
1:13 pm
Kamchak – 12:28
Yes.
Or, do you want 20 more little children killed?
No, most emphatically no.
First, a soldier’s training is different than a policeman’s training.
Second, I suggest you research the rise in mental illness of returning troops associated with our current “War On Terror”.
While I applaud their service to this country, I believe we would be remiss in arming them around our children.
Union
December 17th, 2012
1:13 pm
the real evil is guns.. yeah.. meanwhile in china people just go into schools and stab children to death instead..
bottom line.. the person was nuts.. failed govt school system.. failed healthcare system.. failures on so many levels.. to let people like this slip through the cracks.. its always seems that when something like this happens, people are quick to point out they were odd, strange, etc.. but no one does anything about it..
maybe we should focus on mental health a little more?
Jay
December 17th, 2012
1:13 pm
““Congratulations Regnad. How will you deal with communist rebels?”
If you listen to many conservatives, we just re-elect them as president. :>)
td
December 17th, 2012
1:14 pm
Dekalb comments
December 17th, 2012
1:06 pm
How many gun laws are already on the books? How many of these laws have actually stopped criminals or the insane from getting their hands on and using guns?
I guarantee you that there are more gun control laws on the books then laws to protect the unborn that are slaughtered at a rate of 2000 per day.
Corbin Sharpe. Baby Boomer...and Ban the Gun Thug!
December 17th, 2012
1:14 pm
Chr5istian Conservative,
Wow what a display of “Christian love” you show. And no, a fetus is NOT a living thing. it is an appendage in the woman’s body until it draws its first unassisted breath outside her body.
Nunna Yobinnes
December 17th, 2012
1:15 pm
Can someone please explain why all gun owners MUST be NRA members? I’m certainly not. I couldn’t care less what the NRA thinks. There is no legitimate excuse for private citizens owning assault weapons. However, don’t punish the rest of us who are only trying to protect our families, by taking away our firearms.
No Artificial Flavors
December 17th, 2012
1:16 pm
As a hunter, I am not allowed to have more than 3-5 rounds loaded at a time depending on the game and the state therein. If you need more than 5 round then you probably shouldn’t hunt. Kind of ironic that we can have 30 rounds to hunt humans. That goes for the police too. (Military is different)
indigo
December 17th, 2012
1:18 pm
Peace – 12:53
Will you answer my 12:23?
Or, just ignore it and hope this goes away?
It won’t.
Regnad Kcin
December 17th, 2012
1:19 pm
Christian Conservative -
“Conservative” – I don’t think that word means what you think it means…
Why do all your posts suggest society should be more rigidly controlled?
The other half of your brain.
December 17th, 2012
1:19 pm
Jay
December 17th, 2012
11:22 am
“43 minutes between the time the first calls placed to the police and police enter the building? Anyone seen anything about this?”
Yes. The initial 911 call came at 9:35. By 9:53, the suspect was reported dead. Eighteen minutes from initial call to dead suspect.
Jay, Let me put it into simple words that, even you, can understand.
Nobody and I mean nobody new if the shooter(s) were dead. The time it took for the police to get there is absurd.
If the nut killed 20 in 18 minutes, just imagine how many he would have killed in 43 minutes. Hot Damn, even your liberal brain should be able to figure that one out.