If you were on your computer this morning and the news shattered an otherwise “normal” Friday, you are desperately trying make sense out of the incomprehensible.
I am…
Monstrous doesn’t come close to describing the devastation… Savage doesn’t do it justice.
The media is in a frenzy trying to make sense out of something for which there is no rational explanation. No full-functioning human being will ever be able to understand what triggered anyone to walk into a Kindergarten classroom with the intent to execute innocent children and helpless adults. I am concerned for those who say they can…
The only thing we can be sure of is that we will find ourselves drowning in an unending stream of questions and answers from both the media and our leaders that will bubble to the surface endlessly, like sulphur from a hot spring.
“How or why did this happen? And, how could it have been avoided?”
There will be as many answers as there are questions, but I wonder who will have the courage to cut through the hype and simply say they are happening because in our blind rush to slash government spending we’ve managed to empty our half-way houses and mental institutions out on to our streets! There are people who walk among us that need help. They hear voices no one else can hear… They see images no one else can see… They are tormented by demons both real and imagined and they are in unimaginable pain.
No one wants gun control, but it would be nice to know someone with mental health issues isn’t standing next to you in line at Walmart to buy a Glock, a shotgun or an AR !
We – all of us – have to accept the fact that there are individuals within our society who are just plain unstable – Everyone of us who has ever worked the counter at our own shop knows that for a fact! And, as a society we have to recognize they must be isolated unless or until they can be helped and then we have to come to terms with the fact they must be monitored after they are released from care…
Eighteen children!
Unless you think you could face their parents with that kind of devastating, life-changing news – you’d better be ready make the changes necessary to ensure something like this isn’t going to happen again – EVER! And, as a gun owner and as a supporter of the Second Amendment, I really don’t want to hear the argument that “Guns don’t kill people: People kill people!” anymore than I want to hear that “Cars don’t kill people…”
People kill people! But, they’re a hell of a lot more efficient when they have an automatic weapon in each hand and high volume clips!
Who wants to move to the front of the line and tell the husband or wife of one of the adults murdered this morning that they weren’t killed by a gun: they were slaughtered by a person: an unstable person, perhaps, but an individual nonetheless! The gun was just a helpless victim… Tell one of the parents that while this was an unfortunate anomaly, but that doesn’t mean anyone should be allowed to infringe upon my right to own an automatic pistol or a semi-automatic assault rifle!
I do have a right to bear arms, but as a member of a larger society I should only be able to do that if I can demonstrate that I’m not a headcase!
What’s it going to take for us all to wake up and take responsibility: responsibility for the culture and society we aspire to create for ourselves AND our children.
