O/T feel sick inside - CT Elementary shooting
 

who kills 6 year olds, 7, 8 or 9?
who are we as a species that we make such monsters. that come from us.
my 10 and 8 year olds are just around the corner from me here in Lawrence Kansas, and I'm desperate to wrap them in my arms.
to say sorry for any harsh words I've laid on them.
to make them safe.

I know. Have been watching the whole aftermath unfold today. One moment there are three injured -- two kids and a teacher shot in the foot. An hour later the report relates at least 26 dead and 14 of them are children. I'm about an hour drive from Newton, on Long Island (I'm sure there are many members closer). I took my kid out of school early today. I don't even know yet how to personally feel. Just shock.

It's unfathomable. How sad.

I agree, it does make me feel sad. How could someone even possibly imagine to do such a thing? People that innocent... it is unfathomable.

pathetic coward, who could never pay the price he deserves

I can not wrap my head around what the parents must have been going through on their way to pick their kids up, perhaps not knowing if their little one was one of the victims or not.

I'm sick to my stomach thinking about it. I just want to get home from work and hug my kids.

I would bet there will be millions of kids getting hugged this evening.

What we all tell our kids, especially the little ones, about this is critical. Having them fear being shot to death any time they go to school is potentially a real consequence. I know as a kid, 35 years ago, I didn't have any real fears. I can't imagine what that might be like for my 7 year old.

I'd like to be able to tell her that we (either her mom and me, or the collective "we") will be doing something so this sort of thing doesn't happen again. And again and again and again. But I'm afraid that would be a lie, as we don't seem to have the will as a people to do much of anything in that regard.

Sad day.

It is most horrible and very very sad. I can't wait to hug my kids when they get home today.

The Chardon shootings last year were very close to where I live, very sad, and very disturbing.. However, there did seem to be motive there, in regards to the students actions. While senseless, there was still sense to me made of it.. This one is completely confusing, why small children?

My heart goes out to those in CT, and everywhere else that has fallen victim to these random acts of violence lately..

Conn
 

Very sad situation. Hearts go out to each of the victims and their families.

I don't recall seeing it on the news, but how did the shooter get into the school undetected?

Tony

This is a horrible thing, especially when it's children.

With the recent outbreak of similar events, almost all committed by men in their '20s with a history of mental illness (I'm guessing we'll find the same to be true of this guy), I think it's pretty obvious where a good starting point is. But our country's focus is on 'deterrent' punishment and 'justice', as opposed to prevention, so I expect things will continue as-is.

I think his mother worked in the school. It was reported that the shooter, killed his mom, IN the school


Yep just confirmed his mom was a teacher there

Terrible day. My sister is having her baby today and all I'm thinking about is what kind of world my nephew is coming into.

What a horrible event. Society needs to start paying attention to prevent these situations. Once again an assault weapon involved. Why do individuale need these type of weapons? We do have the right to bear arms in our country but this should be within reason. Nobody needs an assault weapon for any reason.

In a world where violence is admired and enjoyed by younger generations, worry really enters one's mind.

My prayers go out to those who were affected. It is so sad because now there are 26 (possibly more) human beings that can no longer, and never will be able to, contribute this the world anymore.

Every time one of these horrific events occurs, I wonder how much the sensationalization of the last horrific event contributed to the occurrence of the current one. I suspect when the shooter's house is searched, they will find that the shooter read up on, studied, and attempted to learn from, Columbine and the many other mass tragedies that have occurred since then. IMO, with respect to things like this, lots of press coverage and easy access to information via the internet is like a cookbook for psychopaths.

As many others have said, this type of thing is just unfathomable to me. I simply don't understand what could possibly cause a young man to become so disturbed or so filled with hate that he would kill his own mother and young children he probably didn't even know simply because (I presume) they were in the same room with her. My prayers go out to the families of all those affected by this senseless tragedy and, like many others, I will go home, hug my 11 y/o, and give thanks for all the blessings in my life for a long time tonight.

In tears and shock
 

In tears here in Canby, Oregon. We just had a shooting at one of our shopping malls. Now this. I have a 6 year old in Kindergarten.

Constitution or no Constitution, we did not have this type of thing happening back in the 1770's. The right to bear arms has to change.

Time for a STRICT GUN CONTROL/REGISTRATION/EXAM immediately - mandated by FEDERAL government to override all states. There is NO alternative choice.

Come on Obama, step up to the plate !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scott, sure, maybe in a perfect world we could identify all paranoid schizophrenics at an early age and get them the treatment they need. But in the meantime, maybe politicians for once ought to show some cojones and take assault weapons off the table and stand up to the NRA. Yeah, we know the bullshit that people kill people guns don't, but there is no reason on earth for any civilian to be able to purchase an assault weapon. And it's too damn easy to buy a regular gun in this country too.

But I am pessimistic anything will change.

My prayers go out to the victims familys

100% agreement on this one

Too close to home...
 

Living in Monroe, one town over from Newtown, this was a very scary day. With three kids - one elementary and two in middle school - having their schools put in lockdown, it was comforting to know they were safe but frustrating to know I couldn't go pick them up from the schools. So glad they are home safe and sound...and praying for the parents in Newtown who can't say the same...

+1

So sad!
JimB

That would be a wonderful solution if we were starting a country from scratch, but we aren't. What do you propose to do with the guns already out there?

Somehow I doubt that the dirtbag gang-bangers that I see walking around Chicago will be lining up to register their guns or take an exam.

I'm thinking about removing your keyboard, as we all know that without a keyboard, you couldn't put words in my mouth.

I have been working nonstop for two days straight on a client issue that's impacted their business significantly and moral was quite low...then word of this spread in the office and we all agree that we need to keep things in perspective and this is nothing compared to what those poor parents are going through.

Can't wait to get home and see mine. Be safe everyone.

Peter, in a BETTER world, we'd at least try to identify SOME of them, and try to get them treatment. If not for themselves, which I realize very few people could care less about anyone with mental illness, then for the people they affect through killings like this.

I'm in agreement with you on removing assault weapons. That would force people who want to kill, to choose alternative methods - like Timothy McVee did.

aw, come on Geklund311
 

Geklund311 - we have to start somewhere by making it illegal to own "X" type gun. Better to start somewhere than not to start at all and shove our faces in the ground and ignore it.

Change takes time, we need to start somewhere.

I am still trembling with the occasional tear.

Scott did I mistake your meaning? Perhaps I misremembered our discussion on the Aurora thread?

You can take away guns if your goal is to limit death. But for me one death is too many. You have to get to the root of why people are driven to kill like this to effect society as a whole. You can't have the mentality that limiting death is good. Which I think is the perspective of people who want to take all guns away. It's avoiding the larger societal issues and pressures we as a society don't understand yet. I'd like to get to the root of that and put gun control debates on hold.

Tragic Shootings
 

As a country, we are trained to imagine the unimaginable.

We are so worried about due process and the rights of the sub-humans that
commit horrific crimes, we almost encourage violence.

Our recommendation is the death penalty by hanging or lethal injection for anyone convicted of murder. We should have a national gun ban. And to enforce the law, anyone who sells gun illegally is liable for the consequences.

E Bay should step up to the plate and ban the sale guns and weapons after January 1, 2013.

Drugs are another source of our culture of depravity. We should ban all illegal drugs- federally. Anyone selling drugs should receive a minimum 25 year sentence of hard labor. Anyone using drugs should lose any Federal Aid and lose their scholarship and student loan if if they have one.

We would be far better off if we banned the sale of liquor on college campuses and fined the owners of pubs, restaurants and clubs a minimum of $10,000 each time they sold liquor to a minor.

It is time for America to deal with reality. The only way to stop these crimes
murders, accidents and deaths is making the punishment so severe that it
will force everyone to think twice before breaking the law.

One additional way to enforce the drug and liquor laws is to hire students to turn those who violate the law into the police. For every student convicted
let's reward the student who identified the criminal with $1000 tax free.

Let's do what is Right For America


Bruce

Bruce, respectfully, paranoid schizophrenics are not going to be deterred by any form of punishment -- indeed today's shooter killed himself.

I disagree for a lot of reasons. But I'll stick to just one. You want anyone convicted of murder put to death. Since the year 2000 over 60 people sentenced to death have been exonerated and had their convictions over turned due to advanced DNA technology. Who knows how many people before the use of DNA were put to death for crimes they didn't commit.

I think that's an aspirational goal with which everyone would agree, but how realistic is that? What specifically do you propose to do? What does it mean, let's get at the root of what drives people to kill?

Not just murder in a singular act. But what is driving people to kill as many people as they can at once? Almost entirely strangers for the most part. Is it the celebrity that the media creates? Or is it driven by something else? In Asia they have had a slew of mass stabbing outbreaks at elementary schools. They have yet to understand why they're the target, much like we have yet to understand why mass killings happen so frequently in this country. I understand that a gun allows a person to inflict mass damage with minimum effort. But why is that person holding it?

How do you propose to figure that out? Appoint a commission of psychologists to interview those perpetrators who survived and their families? I really don't understand how we could get meaningful answers or what we would do with them. Suppose a factor is publicity, can we ban media coverage of the next one?

The biggest problem is that the media gets on the story and starts posting photos of the murderer and talking about his life. Then there are other sick people reading it who want the same attention. They turn murder into a theatrical performance, each time finding a new locale - a movie theater, a mall, a Sikh temple, an elementary school, etc. Just another cruel twist on the same theme, so they can be known as the "guy who did the murder in the _____." Just always finding a new way to shock people.

The media has got to stop publishing the names of the murderers. Otherwise, the whole thing will never end. Anytime they talk about the murderer's life, it is just another advertisement to encourage another shooting. If they stopped calling the murderer by name, you'd see the rate of the shootings decrease, and fast. Stop giving them the spotlight.

I don't have answers. I only have questions too. But its obvious that something is driving these actions because not too many other countries have mass murders, especially as frequently as we do. And a lot of these events take place in school settings. Is it the access to guns? Maybe. But what would they be doing without them? Even scarier to think about in a sense. Someone brought up McVee earlier.

There has to be some subversive element to daily life in this country. I think if we discovered what that was we would at least have something to build from. I would prefer that to: what do you expect us to do about it.

This is an horrific situation and my thoughts go out to the families in this small Connecticut town. What I wonder is what has really changed in our society. Twenty years ago we never heard about this type of thing. Guns weren't any harder to get then. School security was less strict then. Just as many people drank and did drugs. No, I think this is something more basic. Maybe it's the violence in all the video games that kids play starting at such an early age. Maybe it's an overcrowded court system or a more forgiving judicial system which allows people who should be behind bars out on the streets. I don't know the answer --hopefully someone smarter than me will figure it out.

Here's hoping the freedom of the press and the right to keep and bear arms survives.

And woe to any criminal who comes after my family (or my cards)

I agree it would be very helpful to understand what brings these things about, and I don't disagree that if there is a rational way we should try, but again, one obvious step seems to be to ban assault weapons and tighten gun control. Of course it isn't a perfect solution, but look how easy it was for the Aurora killer to get weapons. I suspect we will see the same thing here.

It also would be great to completely revamp a culture where violence is romanticized in films and on TV and in music, but that won't happen.

Yes, this part: "in a perfect world we could identify all paranoid schizophrenics at an early age and get them the treatment"

I have never suggested that we should try to identify all people with mental illness. And I never suggested as much in the Aurora thread.

I just don't think that taking guns away is a solution. As has been pointed out, guns are no esaier to get today than they've ever been. If anything they're harder to get in general, considering not too long ago you didn't even need a permit and guns and ammo were being sold in department stores. People didn't bring their guns to school in the 60s, 70s, or even the 80s. But they are now. Why is that? What about society has changed? Guns haven't changed. They've always been the same. But now people want to use them. You can take them away. But there will be something else.

Well-said. We're a society that likes to fix symptoms. It's horrible what happened today in Connecticut - perhaps the most horrible thing I've heard about in many years.

Jay maybe it's more frequent now but these things have been happening for more than 20 years. For example

In 1949, 28 year old Howard Barton Unruh perpetrated the first single-episode mass murderer in U.S. history killing 13 people. His murderous rampage became known as the “Walk of Death,” and in twelve minutes he killed 13 people and wounded several others using a German made pistol. Howard Barton Unruh was committed to an asylum after being found criminally insane. He died in 2009 due to illness at the age of 88.

- In 1958, Charles Raymond Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate murdered 11 people in Nebraska and Wyoming by shooting, strangling and stabbing them. Charles Raymond Starkweather received the death penalty for his crimes and was executed at the age of 20 in 1959. His girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate became the youngest female to be tried for first-degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

........

OK my bad, I overstated your point of view and I apologize.

Peter--but little school children. I never heard of that. If I missed it, shame on me. However, I think things have changed and society has to do something about it.

Jay I don't disagree that violence is much more pervasive now in our culture, but what role that plays in any given case, who knows.

Thanks Peter.

Edited to remove some content. After reading Ben's post in the other thread, I'm thinking this is a subject where 99% of the board are totally ignorant. I've retracted my decision to share anything with such people.

Hearing the news of this senseless tragedy makes me sick to my stomach. The school bus could not get my 5 year old daughter back to me fast enough today!

Obviously everyone is saddened and upset about what has happened today,but regardless which side you are on the gun control topic can wait. Just my opinion.

At this time I can only think of the families and what they are going through! My thoughts and prayers are with them!

We could become like Afghanistan where we ban certain forms of cultural entertainment, or we could become like the rest of the developed world where we could ban assault weapons. Tough call.

That's true, but you have to remember that the order is: sympathy for the victims, fix the symptoms, vengeance. Some people are already at 'fix the symptoms' stage, which is understandable.

Making it illegal to own "X" gun is pretty much ignoring it - it is a solution designed to make the supporters feel good that they are "doing something" about the problem. I lived in Chicago for a few years, and the gun laws are quite tough there (a good thing, IMO), but that doesn't prevent people there from killing each other at an alarming rate. Gun laws, however well intentioned, don't work so well when parts of society have no intention of following them.

The larger problem is a kind of societal rot, with gun violence as a symptom. There are too many kids growing up in broken homes, and many others whose parents have checked out and don't take their job with the seriousness that it deserves. Even growing up in the suburbs, I was amazed at how many of my friends had parents who had no clue how to talk to them - they were essentially raised by television and Nintendo. Those kids often grow up emotionally stunted, not feeling that they have anyone that they can really talk to, and I would suspect that many of the spree shooters that we've been seeing more of were raised in those circumstances.

I'm all for improving mental health care but while we are doing that, I don't see the upside to preserving the ability to buy assault weapons or our lax gun control laws. The Second Amendment doesn't mean one cannot heavily regulate.

Scott, do you also think we shouldn't have speed limits on our roads and highways because although speeding is dangerous and causes death, it is just a mere symptom of underlying emotional problems?

For that matter, why have any laws at all if all of society's negative symptoms can be cured by some sort of therapeutic process?

This event is very different from past mass murders, at least to me. I'd be very surprised if this in not the event that brings on some sort of change. I don't think an assault rifle ban would do anything, I also think that banning guns all together is never going happen. Mental illness will continue to be a non-issue and some families will continue to ignore their loved ones problems until it blows up in their face.

I don't know if, as a society, we'll ever see an end to this level of violence. I believe it's now part of the "norm". I would like to see people draw a line, though, where very young children are involved. I believe we should spare no expense at protecting them.

Of the top of my head, I'm thinking that a system, much like a fire alarm, that can trip an alarm and lock every classroom door from the inside, allowing exit but no entry until help arrives, be installed in every school.

The best way to improve one's mental health is to stop taking pills and seeing therapists.

Now we are way OT within OT, and I sure as hell am going to offend someone, but I would agree with you that certain types of psych meds are way overprescribed in this country.

edit to clarify I am talking about antidepressants and benzodiazepines, not meds that schizophrenics need to stay sane

Unfortunately, something similar happened a few years back in the county just west of where I live. The place was Nickel Mines, PA (Lancaster County) and someone unleashed the same ugly, senseless, lethal violence in a one room schoolhouse.

The feeling I had that day I am experiencing again now...utter sadness. I also find that I am asking myself a question and looking for an answer I am unlikely to find. Why on earth would anyone do this?

Peace,

Eric

As an elementary school teacher, this one had an additional context aside from the fact that I'm a human with the capability to empathize.

Determining a """"solution"""" is entirely dependent on what each person believes as the impetus. Even with regard to mental illness, there is still an element of ambiguity as to an answer to the fact that these events are increasing. Focusing alone on that aspect of it, that's why I disregard the gun conversation as any type of solution. I'm not even going to spout off the "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" as some type of one-line argument to combat people who want to eliminate assault weapons. I believe that that conversation should be discussed in a civil manner, but entirely disagree and am usually frustrated when an event like this triggers that conversation.

As a Christian, my entire outlook at it differs at the impetus of the tragedy. Take God out, more evil will be let in. We have gradually taken God out of the country, out of the schools, and out of the government. Now, children play Call of Duty games at a 10000x higher rate than they do learning about their Father in Heaven, and are playing these games during their most vulnerable and impressionable years. Even if you are not a Christian, I think we can all agree with the fact about the desensitization of the culture, and especially the youth - and now 20-30 year olds, since these games allow them to vicariously take lives in a fantasy state and in a vicious, realistic, and to them, a titillating manner. Many times, these games are answers to stress, frustration, and depression. 5 year old kids have started to play these games regularly, and will continue for the next 10 years.

I am sickened, saddened, but also determined. Though a music teacher, I've had my school focus on security, and now reiterated it to the wonderful principal at my school to fight for better security, and to determine and assess the prospect of having trained law enforcement officers on school campuses all day, on rotating shifts. I'm not a big-government guy with regard to anything other than law enforcement. I don't care if they tax me an additional 5% if it means it pays cops more to monitor schools daily, and though I have respect for them, not school police. Will that solve the violence? No. Could it simply drive the violence to other locations? Yes. But, I think we can agree, that the fact that 20 KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS were murdered breaks us down in more a manner than adults. Sad all the same, pathetic and dastardly all the same, but these were the most helpless children that were at this school.


God, have mercy on us, have mercy on our country, comfort all of the parents who lost their loved and cherished babies this morning. Please help me and others to involve you more before these events, and not to just call on you after.

n/t

There is not a system like this that I am aware of, but there are protocols in place. In schools in Palm Beach county there is whats is known as code red. All doors are locked, blinds are drawn and there has to be absolute silence, meaning no instruction during this period. It is tested monthly. In my experience it has only been used twice. Once when a student called the police saying that two armed men were coming to the school in a car, he was lying to avoid a test, special operations units were dispatched to the campus as well as a helicopter. The second time was when an armed robbery of a 711 had happened in the neighborhood. The protocol was utilized for half an hour, and everything was fine.

I attended two types of high schools one very large and one very small. At the large one with a enrollment of 2500 three armed police officers were on campus at all times. At the very small one with an enrollment of 250 one armed police officer was always on campus.

i know this is a late reply but but am just getting home from work now and i had tears in my eyes the whole ride home from work listening to this on the radio. i am sick to my stomach and can only imagine when my daughter starts school in a year. i do not not need to go into detail but plz give your children an extra hug and kiss tonite...

Nothing I've read or heard mentioned an assualt weapon being used. Two hand guns were recovered at the scene - a Glock and Sig Sauer, both 9mm. There was a .223 rifle found in the back seat of a car in the parking lot, but it's believed it wasn't used in the shooting. This proves exactly what I said in the Aurora thread - when one wants to kill a mass amount of people, they don't need an assault rifle to do it.

I, too, own a 9mm hand gun. The gun came with 2 clips, I purchased 2 additional clips. Each clip holds 10 rounds. I can discharge all 4 clips (40 rounds) in about a minute. It takes literally 2 seconds to drop the empty clip and replace it with a full clip.

We don't need to focus on the method, but on the motive. What drives some loon to do something like that?

It's a very sad day. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.

Nate, a very thoughful post, I wonder though about the video games, if you watch classic Westerns from those idyllic times you long for there is some pretty indiscriminate violence there too, and kids have been pointing toy guns and saying bang you're dead since who knows when. I don't know the answer, just a thought.

And even if it isn't a complete solution, I don't see what we gain as a society by making assault weapons available to the citizenry. Sure you don't need an assault weapon to kill, but it makes it a lot more efficient.

If there was a "fix" it would have been done by now problem is there is no easy "fix". Next to home, school should be the one place where parents can send their children and be safe from harm!

I don`t know how the security is at this school but I wish it was mandatory in this country that all public schools had doors that lock automatically and have at least a security camera at main entrance to view visitors before allowing them in. Sort of like having mandatory fire sprinklers to save lives.
Not saying that would have made a difference here since we really don`t know how things happened.

This tragedy brings back unpleasant memories for me. At my daughters school about 20 years ago a man entered school and killed the school nurse with a shotgun blast. She was at the front desk filling in for my friends mother who called in sick that day. He took a classroom hostage, fortunatly the principle actually wrestled the gun away from this madman and there were no children hurt. After this happened locking doors and security cameras were installed at all schools in town to hopefully prevent this from happening here again.

Cy, those are really bad analogies. I honestly tried to respond, but they simply don't relate in any way to what I said. Sorry.

At the two schools I described earlier this system is in place.

You and I seem to be in agreement - fixing symptoms doesn't take care of the entire problem. The more you take care of 'up front' (fixing the actual problem), the less you have to do on the back-end (fixing 'symptoms' through things like metal detectors, more security, tighter gun control). The solution should be a mixture of both, but it ends up being primarily back-end.

You could go totally right and install fortresses around all schools, with armed guards, metal detectors, bubbles around each child's desk. Or you could go totally left and make every human being see a psychiatrist every week for their entire life, with all sorts of laws prescribing treatment for a plethora of different symptoms of mental illness. We need something in-between that doesn't violate Constitutional rights, but protects our society.

Very true Peter, and, I always enjoy the civil manner in which you present your arguments - even if I do not necessarily agree. I really do not want to get into it deeply, but with regard to eliminating the availability of assault weapons to everyday citizens, though I completely understand your point, I don't focus on it as much for these situations. I also take the stance that those who intend to do evil will not be deterred by laws. I can already hear the sensible argument that, "eliminating the availability of said weapons will at the very least make it more difficult for the perpetrator to acquire the weapon, possibly giving law enforcement more time to uncover the plot." I think in this particular case, the assault weapon had nothing to do with what this coward did. Let's say he didn't own one. He would just bring 3 hand guns with more clips into the classroom of utterly defenseless children. The issue was how easily he got onto the campus, into the office, and then into the classroom. My guess is that he went to the office to inflict damage, but to also get the principal's keys. At that point, no lockdown measures matter unless the students leave the premises.

What I fear for the most is not of these evil American citizens, it is for when insurgents begin to take the place of them, and with more frequency - not using guns, but bombs.

*sigh*

I am an elementary teacher and today was especially difficult. I agree with some posters and just laugh at others. Here are my thoughts and my thoughts alone. I spent the better part of today dealing with this and my feelings might change but here it goes...

Mental Illness is just that. An illness. Nothing more, nothing less. It needs to be destygmatized. The reason is that people often ignore or excuse it and see it is some kind of horrendous problem (it can be, but often it can be managed and treated humanely). Often mental illness is treatable and manageable. In the 20 years I have been working with children, I have seen my share of children and parents with different types of mental illness from SED (seriously emotionally disturbed) to Bipolarism and depression. Parents often ignore warning signs, deny anything is wrong, take it personally, etc. Society has put a lot of pressure on these people to be "normal." This attitude seems to be causing problems. I would not be surprised at all if this person's mental status was questioned as early as elementary school. It does not excuse what happened but it might give a little perspective.

Gun control might be nice but it will probably never happen. Too hard to change the constitution. On the other hand...nothing is said about ammunition. Tax ammo like you take cigarettes...do not make it illegal...make it really really pricey. Might not solve the problem but can certainly help. If you cannot afford munition, it might keep you from buying and using it. Probably not but it couldn't hurt...

To the posters that said this did not happen before...not true...we (humans) have been very proficient at killing others for as long as we first picked up a stone and used it as a tool...When you look at the amount of killings as a ratio of our population, I bet it is less now than in the 1770s. To those of you that say the mass murder aspect is different, I say nope. There have been mass murderers forever. The difference now is the speed at which it can be accomplished and the way it is globally sent around the world. It used to take much longer to kill people before guns but it happened (more often than people realize).

Media has not helped. The media saturation is unreal. It was much easier 30 years ago to insulate your children from these horrific events. Turn off the tv and radio, hide the newspaper. Now, kids see stuff on the internet, phones, tv, radio, e-readers, etc. Much more difficult to avoid the saturation. I had a kid in my 4th grade class pick his phone up after school and immediately started yelling to his friends about the school shooting. Parents need to be aware of what they are handing their kids and how they discuss what is seen on that media. (Of course, the media has been around a long time...I bet people in London were saying the same thing about Jack the Ripper...probably the first mass murderer to have photographic portrayals in the newspaper).

The theory that this is happening because as a nation we have moved away from God and let kids play Call of Duty is sort of ridiculous. The amount of carnage caused in the name of God by countries that were "godly" is unreal. We forget our history so quickly...Crusades, Inquisition, Wars of Religion, etc. Belief in God does not suddenly make the unstable stable and the evil go away.

Call of Duty and other violent video games do not suddenly cause children to be violent. What science has shown is that it makes people predisposed to violence possibly more violent AND in some of those, allows an outlet for that violence. If everyone followed what they saw/did in games, half the country would have taken up farming. I dislike video games for a whole different reason...but that is another discussion on parenting and problem solving.

Again, my thoughts alone...and I am still emotional but there it is...

Joshua

Matthew I like your idea, it`s sort of along the same line as i am suggesting in an earlier post as well. Maybe this tragedy can make childrens safety (teachers too!) at school a top priority for this country, much like the war on terrorism is. I think this is an idea whoose time has come!

An assault weapon was not used!!!! One was found in his car. He used 2 handguns to commit the evil that he did. Do not demonize assault rifles just because they look "scary". I use mine to go deer, elk, boar hunting. It is one of the best guns that I have ever owned. In fact, I am buying another one tomorrow.

When the government comes knocking on your door you are gonna wish that you owned an AR.

If the government goes as drastic as you say . . . . hang on because the blood will run in the streets.

What does that mean?

Joshua, Nate, Peter, etc. - these are great posts.

Have a great weekend everyone.

I agree 100%

What if they just send a drone to knock your house out with a missile?