I don't like guns, didn't really want the discussion though because it always seems so futile. But I'm done with that! Guns need to be banned, seriously and completely BANNED except for the police and armed forces. Do we really want to fight for someone's "right", or at least ability to have the means to quickly and easily blow away 18 babies?

I really wish those stinking fools who call themselves "pro-life" would think of these dead little kids, and all the others, the next time they drool all over themselves screaming about wanting their guns. Sick shit!

for saying that anyone who thinks they have a right to own a gun -- a right outlined in the Bill of Rights and affirmed by the Supreme Court -- likes dead babies. Either you are for babies or you are for guns. That's exactly like saying people who oppose the PATRIOT Act were glad on Sept. 11.

Sorry, your fallacious argument is just that. The world is not black and white. People can be for both, you know (not that many people are really against babies, except maybe Hat McCulloughy).

The only thing that divisiveness is going to do is strengthen the pro-gun people's resolve to not compromise on ANYTHING, creating an impasse where NOTHING will change, whether it be requiring states to report mental health reports or misdemeanor drug arrests. The far-out rhetoric is a serious part of what is wrong with this country. It's why we're two weeks away from the end of the year and there's been NO work done on the fiscal cliff. It's why we can't get a decent health care system in this country -- because people run their mouths to score cheap political points and nobody wants to work together anymore.

About 40 years ago, the House and Senate chose their offices by seniority -- the oldest legislators, regardless of party, got the best offices. Now, it's whoever is in charge. That's just showing how we keep growing farther and farther apart on many issues.

I like children (actually, children kind of annoy me, even when I was one ), and I want them to stay safe. I also see the reason and right to own a firearm responsibly. I passed through one of the harshest permitting processes in the country (New York) to own a handgun. I keep firearms for lots of reasons -- defense of myself and my community, to shoot squirrels for food and to go target shooting. I take care of my weapons and I keep them in places where children and psychos can't get them. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Oh, and I'm a registered Democrat. I support single-payer health care, decriminalization of marijuana (but not personally for me, I'm allergic), a woman's right to choose (I'm a guy, so again not personally for me) and I'm OK with paying my taxes to keep my roads in good shape and my grandparents healthy. Oh, yeah, and I am NOT an NRA member. They're leadership is a bunch of lying, manipulative jerks who are great at stirring up the pot but can't actually help fix problems.

There are places for common ground. I know an out-right ban will never work in this country. We need to minimize risk while preserving rights. We need a dialogue. Today is as good a day as any to start it (but it would be nice to know why the shooter did it, though, and what ways the system failed to let it happen).

But I'm going to say the same thing I did after the PATRIOT Act came up -- those who give up freedom for temporary security deserve neither. Knee-jerk reactions are never the best bet. Well thought-out ideas do.

We need to get rid of them and become a civilized country. Period. That's it.

If you had actually read what I wrote before pontificating you would realize I was calling out these Rethuglican "pro-lifers" who hate abortions and love guns. But, as gun people so often do, you took it as if I said everyone who owned a gun wanted to kill babies. I am sorry you are so sensitive to any mention of GUN CONTROL!!!!

We need to start from the beginning.

semi-automatic weapons.

I give up.

Not one person has made a positive remark. Everyone here is hellbent on making this SOLELY a gun control issue.

Fuck it. Let the mentally ill fend for themselves. It's obvious no one here gives a crap. I hear this guy had no control over those weapons. They just went off by themselves...over 27 times. It had nothing to do with him.