Hardest Ride EVER!!

[DarkAero]

Sort of a rhetorical question, but what is this world coming to when we are discussing whether or not to ARM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS!

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[niagaraguy9]

Yes I find it a strange to read comments about arming teachers and redesigning school buildings in case of such a thing.

Personally I don't think that more guns are the answer. Wars still rage even though everyone is armed. (just my opinion).

[C.W.]

I don't know about you'all, but I've sensed a lot of anger in our country in the last 12 years (including myself). There have been a lot of disasters, a lot of chaos, some tragedies, and a lot of stuff to deal with. The country seems divided, and when the feeling of powerlessness overcomes us, the only apparent recourse is to point fingers. Love and compassion diminishes, while contempt, judgement, and ignorance is on the rise. Hate is not working. I don't have all the answers, but one thing that comes to mind is; bring back the love, compassion, and empathy for one another. I cannot force it among the people, but I can practice it, and maybe it can spread through example. It does not seem like it at times, but it is a choice each individual CAN make.

Peace and love everybody!

[O'Larry]

PROBLEM: Love, compassion, understanding, empathy nor anything like it fixes insanity!

[MikeB]

the real sad thing is that absolutely nothing will ever be done about it, it will happen again and again, and we all know that. Just bury the dead and on to "just in beaver", or something of that sort. People have no power to change things under our present system, mainly because we really do not care, despite all the display of emotion.

There is only one thing in this country that matters, and that is the almighty dollar. It trumps morality, decency, and common sense every time. So the route to ending the lucrative and totally amoral (I did not say immoral) trade in assault weapons is to make it financially disadvantageous by allowing liability lawsuits against manufacturers and sellers. A bunch of multi-million $$ settlements will have the gun lobby running for the hills, and I would imagine that a jury determining damages in this CT case would barely be able to find enough zeros to put into their judgement against both the company that made the Bushmaster and the gunshop that sold it. 100 million for each kid sounds too little for me.

[bleedingsujit]

Originally Posted by CrazyDave

the only people that don't cry over this kind of thing are the people capable of doing this kind of thing themselves

I beg to differ. i lament over the shootings that have been happening more frequently lately but i'm not crying over any of them. it's sad that little children have to die and i can only hope these kinda things don't happen again but realizing that US is one of the biggest businessman in terms of weapons production and trade, it's no surprise that people who shouldn't be allowed a weapon are easily able to get one. it doesn't matter what the stats say, but flooding the country with weapons certainly have not lowered the killings or lessened it's problems. the kids who died in the US are no different than the kids who died in other countries due to gun related violence. they deserve equal sympathy. Newton, CT is no special case.

[1996shadow]

I was going to do some cut and paste to respond to some statements, but that didn't work. So I will say it this way.

Sure, if someone wants to kill a bunch of people, they will work to find a way. Making magazines to fit these guns and making them easilly accessable is definately not helping the cause. It is like saying that if someone wants in your house, they will get in, so I am leaving the doors open.

Yes... I understand that someone stabbed a bunch of people overseas somewhere. Well... I also understand that they all lived thru it also. Are we being better than them by killing our kids instead of injuring them?

Then there was a comment that criminals don't buy their guns over the counter. Well, the people involved in the recent shootings were not "criminals" that could not buy guns over the counter. In fact, the theater shooter bought hundreds of rounds online. The people doing this stuff, from what I have read and heard, were people with no criminal record before they did these things. Sure, there are some cases where someone may buy guns off the "black market", but if a "normal" person ownes a gun and wants to sell it, they don't run checks on the buyer. They take the money and run.

There was also a comment that was demeaning to some teachers because they don't want or like guns. Well, if they were in law enforcement or military with fighting training, that would be one thing. The fact is that they have a right to not like guns as much as someone else has a right to like them. Their job should not require them to have guns. THEY TEACH!

[O'Larry]

There is no absolute answer to this problem. Sad to say, but true. Baseball bat, come in swinging, long sword, come in swinging, chainsaw, same, fire extinguisher filled with a flammable fluid along with a propellant?????
Nope, there just isn't any one answer! Remember the plane where the passengers were pretty well subdued by BOXCUTTERS? The crazy ones will always figure a way to do the most damage possible on (Dare I say it?) unarmed victims be they children or adults! I have nothing more to say on the subject. FINIS!

[rb608]

Originally Posted by Officer friendly

Today I went on the Hardest most gut-wrenching ride of my life.........

Today I rode to Newtown,CT (Sandy Hook school) (a few miles from my home...I left my flowers and said my prayers...then cried all the way home,,yes even Cops cry...

I've been thinking of making that ride, but Newtown is 4 1/2 hours from here. I was going to head up to be part of a shield against WBC demonstrations, but it's not looking as though the timing is going to work out for that, and the appearance of WBC isn't certain. Good on ya for making the ride.

[harpomatic]

Originally Posted by MikeB

There is only one thing in this country that matters, and that is the almighty dollar. It trumps morality, decency, and common sense every time. So the route to ending the lucrative and totally amoral (I did not say immoral) trade in assault weapons is to make it financially disadvantageous by allowing liability lawsuits against manufacturers and sellers. A bunch of multi-million $$ settlements will have the gun lobby running for the hills, and I would imagine that a jury determining damages in this CT case would barely be able to find enough zeros to put into their judgement against both the company that made the Bushmaster and the gunshop that sold it. 100 million for each kid sounds too little for me.

hypocrisy is at the root of the problem. we allow the 2nd amendment to be a part of the problem, but not part of the solution. if under the current law we allow the country to be flooded with weapons but do not allow the law-abiding citizen to protect themselves against those weapons - what you get is home-grown terrorism. it's that simple...

Some solutions are very low-tech: allow a concealed carry by a legal gun owner, as 2nd amendment intended, and the culture of violence can start changing. But watch how the herd will go for all the wrong, costly hi-tech options, such as spying, profiling, preventive black-listing of "questionable" characters, etc... The dollar has something to do with it, but ultimately it is a matter of culture. And evidently, ours is as much a culture of fear and violence, as any other.
PS. while there is profit to be made in gun manufacture and distribution, there is really no profit in not allowing to carry legal weapons - it's a culture thing...