Sandy Hook "letters to the editor"
Such an unspeakable act of evil. As a parent, it's difficult to imagine what the parents of these children must be going through. Nothing we can do will change that, but our support and prayers are nonetheless required. It's important, however, that we separate the evil act from attempts to "do something." Already, many within the media and within the realm of politics have begun to blend the two, which is despicable.
The fact is, for those of us who cherish our rights enshrined by the 2nd Amendment and who understand what the Amendment is REALLY about, we know that this was an act of evil perpetrated by a sick human being, and should not be used as an excuse by those who've always had an axe to grind to wipe away something so critical to the fabric of our country.
It took the President 6 hours to mention a legislative solution, and the Attorney General about 8 hours to say, "As a nation I think we have to ask ourselves some hard questions. We gather too often to talk about these kinds of incidents. We need to discuss who we are as a nation, talk about the freedoms that we have, the rights that we have and how those might be used in a responsible way." Very scary stuff.
It will require courage from liberty-minded individuals to withstand the onslaught to "do something." We MUST display that courage every time we get the chance to do so. I believe I'm preaching to the choir with this email, but we're about to enter the most trying time in our country's history for our Bill of Rights, I fear.
We will be accused of "not caring," unless we agree with those who want to "do something." We will be painted as "gun nuts," unless we get our minds right -- especially when we point out that the purpose behind the 2nd Amendment was (and is) to ensure that an overbearing government cannot impose its will upon us with impunity. It's about to get ugly, folks.
God bless the families of those lost and God rest the souls of those killed.
Rob Olive
As usual, the knee jerk reaction to a slaying such as occurred in Connecticut is to either a) ban guns or b) rewrite the Second amendment. Both are wrong.
First of all, Loughner, the Tucson shooter, was clearly psychotic. However, this was noticed by the school that tossed him out, and by his parents. He was identified as disruptive, intimidating, and violent at the college, so they tossed him out. But, they did not notify any law enforcement offices - they didn't want to get involved. His parents knew of his "shrine" in the backyard, and his erratic behavior, but did not contact law enforcement. So, when Loughner buys a gun, a background check is done, and it comes back clean. A mentally unstable individual gets a gun because the agencies or people that knew he was unstable would not report him.
When Columbine occurred, again the parents knew their kids were acting erratically, were loners, were dressing in a manacing manner, and were on the school grounds dressing this way, and acting erratically, but the school did not report them to the police, nor did the parents, who ignored the arsenal of weapons they had acquired, and used.
When Viriginia Tech was assaulted, the shooter was erratic, acting in an unstable manner, but the school and his room-mate didn't want to get involved.
The stories go on and on. Schools don't want to get involved, so they just push the possible problem off their desks. Parents don't want to think that their child could have problems, so they practice the "Not My Kid" behavior.
There will be no repeal of the Second amendment, and even if the attempt were made, it would take decades to complete.
What our citizens have failed to understand is that everyone in a free society we are all responsible for cooperating in order to keep us safe. When schools keep passing the buck to law enforcement, children die. When parents refuse to get involved with their children, other people may die.
What if one of the people employed at that elementary school had possessed a firearm. Could he or she have stopped the slaughter? Yes, of course, but schools have a large, unseen sign out front that says "We have no firearms so come on in and do what you want." Some high schools actually have a police officer on campus to "keep the peace." You won't see any insane people going there to kill others; too much danger.
Too many parents ignore their children's behavior; too many schools are so naive they do nothing to protect their students. It's always a law enforcement problem.
What if the principal had a gun? Could he or she have stopped a mass shooting? Probably.
How did this 20-year old get through security (locked door, video camera identifiation?). If the door was forced, does it set off a security alarm? Probably not. Schools are so wide open it's an invitation to the nut jobs that want to or feel compelled to kill.
If you confiscated all of the guns from the law abiding - and just how does anyone propose doing that? - then the criminals and the police have guns.
When our society decided that we can just ignore the mentally ill, what does society think will happen.
All of this slaughters could have been avoided if parents had paid attention, and if schools had paid attention, and at least took minimal precautions, but it's far easier to just blame these acts of mayhem on guns. Foolishness.
Ray Spitzer
Tucson, Arizona
