Shooting at Elementary school, 27 confirmed dead. ._____.

[JoeTheDestroyer]

This is a definite tragedy, and it doesn't make the prospect of sending my own son off to school in a few years easier to deal with.   

[tracy]

I don't think this is political....I think that through movies,television and video games people have become desensitized to killing and death.  "Just pick up a gun and solve your problems". No....I'm not for more gun control but a gun is so much less personal than a knife or a beating. It somehow distances the killer from the victim. I don't know why that is but,for goodness sakes,don't let this allow people to take our guns away.
Sorry...no more politics.

[Allhallowsday]

I don't think this is political....I think that through movies,television and video games people have become desensitized to killing and death.  "Just pick up a gun and solve your problems". No....I'm not for more gun control but a gun is so much less personal than a knife or a beating. It somehow distances the killer from the victim. I don't know why that is but,for goodness sakes,don't let this allow people to take our guns away.
Sorry...no more politics.

You almost had me there, Trace.  You're a good lady

[Umaril Has Returned]

I don't think this is political....I think that through movies,television and video games people have become desensitized to killing and death.  "Just pick up a gun and solve your problems". No....I'm not for more gun control but a gun is so much less personal than a knife or a beating. It somehow distances the killer from the victim. I don't know why that is but,for goodness sakes,don't let this allow people to take our guns away.
Sorry...no more politics.

Good post, Tracy. You mention the natural fear many law-abiding citizens have at this point, that new gun laws will be borne simply out of partisan politics, w\o any regard to or for the lawfully owning citizens among us.

Right now, the last thing we need is for the lawmakers to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Well-thought-out common sense measures must strike a balance between public safety and the maintenance of Constitutional rights.

Looking back, the Colorado Movie House massacre could have been prevented, or at least the threat could have been reduced...online sales of guns and ammo should have been banned in the first place. In-store-sales only.  This way, the dealer could have seen the buyer face-to-face, and, realizing the size of the order he placed, could have called the police for questioning.  Noone needs 3 weapons or 1,000+rounds at a a single time.

Right now, cooler heads must prevail, and in such a politically charged arena as THIS one, this will be a true challenge for both parties to work together on an issue that has, in the past, become very ugly when it came down to brass tacks.

[Umaril Has Returned]

BTW, folks-my last post wasn't meant to politicize. if I offended anyone, I sincerely apologize.   
Umaril

[indianasmith]

I think you struck a very reasonable and well-stated position that makes a great deal of sense.

[Umaril Has Returned]

I think you struck a very reasonable and well-stated position that makes a great deal of sense.

Well, that makes me happy to know, and thanks Indy.
Already as we speak the left-wing knee-jerkers are calling for a gun-free country and as I said, cooler heads need to prevail, and personal agendas have to avoid trumping peoples' rights. Good luck with that one...

[Leah]

Can't we just outlaw automatic guns, I mean I can see pistols, a little bit of shot guns, but not automatic guns.

[Trevor]

What happened at this school is way beyond sad and way beyond being able to be explained away. Also, President Obama's speech at the high school was not that of a President at all but that of a father. 

[Umaril Has Returned]

Can't we just outlaw automatic guns, I mean I can see pistols, a little bit of shot guns, but not automatic guns.

Agreed.  However, the problem here is that in many states, there are "gray areas" with a lack of explicit standards with which to define an assault weapon.

That said, this allows agenda-driven lawmakers to lump many NON assault weapons into the assualt weapons category based solely on personal whims and subjective basis.

This quote from the case of Papachristou vs. The City of Jacksonville says it all:

"Vague statutes offend due process by failing to provide explicit standards for those who enforce them thus allowing arbitrary and dicrimintatory enforcement."

Gun ownership is still a hotly debated and divisive argument. And it dosen't help when you have people ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Again, balance has to be struck or else the new laws will mean nothing.

[tracy]

Sadly,whether we want it to or not this is rapidly becoming a political issue. The gun control lobby and people in Congress that want stricter laws are going to use this. Alan and I were talking to a veteran yesterday and I have to agree with him....people who want to kill will get guns somehow or use another weapon. I think that Congress should not use this tragedy as a focus for their own agendas. I think this was a very deep wound to America's trust and working it around to politics cheapens it. Besides,as that gentleman said,it isn't the guns that kill....it's sick people.

[akiratubo]

Noone needs 3 weapons or 1,000+rounds at a a single time.

Except that's not a very large order.  Papaw would routinely buy well over 1000 rounds at a time to replenish his stash after shooting at crows, coyotes, feral hogs, and the like, plus just shooting at targets for practice and fun.  And three guns at a time isn't a big deal either for, say, a collector or just someone wanting to buy his kids their first guns.

[bob]

Can we please not politicalize this?

[indianasmith]

I have decided that every school campus needs to have at least one, and in larger schools, two or three personnel who are trained to use weapons and required to maintain decent proficiency with them.

[Leah]

Well those a***ole @ the Westboro Baptist Church was gonna picket the funeral for the victims, however, the Anonymous group has hacked into the system and gave out personal info from the WBC members, plus the WBC has been official now been labelled as a hate group from We the People petitioning to label them as such.

The number is growing still, I heard it was up to 83K+