I used to need to use guns for work but not anymore.

I've had enough and something needs to be done, NOW

that have been here a long time. As for the rarity argument, the dead children would say to those people it wasn't rare for me. Good job on this thread. Sanity is needed greatly. Even my gun nut sister-in-law was silent today.

Securing our schools & colleges should have been done way back with the Cleveland school shooter, again with Purdy at another Cleveland school, and every shooting since then.

1.Arm teachers, Administration, and guards.
2.Build the fences with a minimum of gates with turn styles and metal dectectors
3.Install cameras, perimeter ground sensors, electronic emergency doors & window shades.

That is what still needs being done.

... essentially turn schools into prisons. Some land of the free that would be to raise our kids in!

When my son was in high school, the campus was this bucolic, open field with trees and vast green areas... really lovely. Then after Columbine, a thick, wrought-iron fence was installed, trees (potential hiding places) were cut down and the whole place took on a more sinister, ominous air.

Were the kids safer? Perhaps.

But at what sacrifice.

Treat mental illness, make it harder to get weapons of mass destruction!

Your comment is so lacking in logic. Tree cover is not the root of the problem. We, as Americans, appear to have ignored the lessons of Columbine. I suspect you know this. As for your pontificating "the whole place took on a more sinister, ominous air"; I call it for what it is, BS, horse shit and all shades of crazy. Just mho....

wasn't even talking to you! The poster I responded to said the following:

Securing our schools & colleges should have been done way back with the Cleveland school shooter, again with Purdy at another Cleveland school, and every shooting since then.

1.Arm teachers, Administration, and guards.
2.Build the fences with a minimum of gates with turn styles and metal dectectors
3.Install cameras, perimeter ground sensors, electronic emergency doors & window shades.

That is what still needs being done.

To which I responded about how that precription sounded like a prison and how far we have devolved from my son's high school years when the campus was open, free and lush with trees.

Can't you read?! It didn't lack logic! It was a lament for what we have become and what the poster I responded to recommended.

Your BS (and yes, you started it!) response saddens me but surely befits your screen name simple...

Carolina's comment is not "so lacking in logic", my friend. YOU are. Did you even read the comment?

My kids school has a door buzzer, you hit the button they buzz the door even if you don't stand infront of the camera. I know i purposely avoided the camera just see if i would get buzzed in and i still do. Also the guys mother was a teacher they may have recognized him and let him in anyway

Or was that intentional?

...in the poster's vision of schools in lockdown.

You are an idiot. I would like to soften that some, but I just cannot see how and remain honest.

at the corners; security w/ dogs walking the perimeter? If you are going to suggest turning schools into prisons, you might as well go all the way.

We have many problems but there are solutions for all of them. Our biggest problem is that we have well funded organizations whose mission is to keep those solutions from working. They have a stranglehold on our public discourse and their pawns in congress quake in terror of their disapproval. In some crazy way the right of an individual, no matter how unstable or dangerous to society, to arm himself self like a commando has been conflated with religion, patriotism and the preservation of wealth. If we have any great leaders, it is time for them to show themselves and defy the NRA.

Then they are used for.... what?

And don't tell me that yours or secure. You don't live in Ft. Knox.

We need to speak as adults.

Any solution, that is rational, will take years to bear any fruit. But for starters gun laws have to be federal...hodgepodge don't work. They are to deal with a public health crisis.

The first two steps, in my view, bring back the AWB and the second close the gun show loophole.

I'd look at Canada and her laws as well, almost same number of guns but a lot less.

I think having actual licensing and tough federal background checks is part of it...another is culture.

Welcome to the conversation.

Hardly productive.

I've always been for closing the so-call "gun show loophole". It's not so much a loophole. Right now it is actaully illegal for a private seller to use the background check system. I've always wanted a way that requires all private sales to include a background check.

And yes, I know.

Their elections arent for sale.at least they did not used to be.
The problem is hate speech. the culture of lies.The head in the sand thing. Denial. Accountability.
The Rush Limbau.glen beck /fox news alternate reality hate radio/tv. It is non stop. 24/7. People are addicted to it. They are addicted to fear, and loathing. The communists , the liberals, the gays, the feminists, the illegals [anyone who speaks spanish], and in what amounts to parallel universes, the jews. The criminal enterprise that is Fox News. Is hate speech. There is no Fox News in Canada. Because they dont tolerate hate speech. but we do.

It's a corporate conspiracy to divide us. And it has been very effective, especially when you have Fox News at your disposal

I dare say throw in some of the churches, too. I went, as a guest of a work colleague (that I thought I knew!) to one where the villification of the POTUS and gays was acceptable. Never again and I view that colleague differently, too.

There is a lot a hate speech in churches

and the media doesn't really help. I wouldn't broad-brush all churches as promoting hate speech, but it is important to remember that right-wing religious figures are typically the ones who come up with the (not so) brilliant conclusion that gays are at the center of the problem and that God allows these types of tragedies to happen as a direct result of progress in gay rights. When people with this perspective engage with others who share their beliefs, it only strengthens their point of view and soon it becomes a political initiative.

Stop spreading this lie. There IS Fox News in Canada. Comes with my 'news package' even. We even have our own Canadian version, that we dub 'fox news north' Sun News, and it's just as full of shit as Fox.

I don't know that hate speech laws lessen gun crime. I'd doubt there's been a study. But what I do know - we heavily regulate handguns, and less guns=less gun deaths. Simple arithmetic. It's not just the fucking guns, it's the OBSCENE amount of them.

The evening news said guns have to be registered and if I am not mistaken they do ban semi autos. Wikipedia says "Certificate of Eligibility for Pistol or Revolver required to purchase handguns. Applicants must complete an approved handgun safety course, and pass a NICS background check prior to issuance of certificate. Certificate of Eligibility valid for five years. There is a 14-day waiting period for the purchase of long guns, with exceptions for peace officers, Active-Duty military members, and holders of carry permits and hunting licenses.

And apparently those strict laws on purchase did nothing to stop the killer from stealing them guns he used.

Maybe it's time to ban civilian ownership of semi-auto weapons? I can't think of a reason for me that would require semi-auto for any legitimate purpose. I've never had a reason to send rounds downrange that quickly. For hunting, bolt, lever and pump work just fine.

That would ban civilian ownership of 75% of the guns in America and affect millions of voters who would remember that it was a Democratic President that did that to them for the rest of their lives.

See where I'm going with that?

And it wouldn't have effected the outcome of yesterday's shooting at all. the shooter was the only person in the building with a gun he could have had a revolver (or more likely two) and ir wouldn't have mattered.

At Virginia tech the shooter had 2 pistols, one of which was a .22, every time he unloaded the Glock (10 round magazines BTW) he used the .22 to hold folks off for the second it took him to reload.

A revolver would have been slower but the end result wouldn't have changed.

How about we (as a nation) address the fact that the shooter was known to be disturbed (as was the tuscon shooter, as was the V Tech killer above, as was the guy in Aurora, a was the guy at New Life ) and no one stepped up and reported their concerns.

How about we work on the base causes of these shootings?

How about we demand that the media not turn reporting such incidents into media circuses and that they never mention the shooter's name.

That seems like a much more viable solution to me

And I could discuss if I was not so horrified.

We'll see what the President says tomorrow in his weekly address.. the repubs are cancelling theirs so he can speak for the entire nation..

Mark Knoller

✔@markknoller Speaker Boehner cancels Repulicans' Weekly Address tomorrow "so that Pres Obama can speak for the entire nation at this time of mourning."

Well how 'bout that?

He must not be feeling well at the moment.

better lay low for now.

on camera. Gee, what a surprise.

but that won't stop them from tomorrow sending out more of their republican PR bull

And once that orange starts to run - you get the image.

With the full blessing of the GOP.

I can predict it already. They will say How could he use such a tragic occasion to politicize it by threatening the 2nd amendment. They will get on air some relative or friend of a victim, one of their own FAUX watching rabid gun nuts. There's always one at least in every crowd. Someone who will "speak for the parents" and say that gun control is NOT the answer, or that we need MORE guns floating around instead of less. And of course the usual "This is NOT the time to have a discussion about this!"

I want the gun nut fucking COWARDS off of DU - I am sick of them; the COUNTRY is sick of them

Sergeant. I agree with you. The trolls have taken over as of late.

n/t

n/t

I want them gone. In fact I stayed away from DU for a year or so because I couldn't stomach the gun nuts on here. It didn't seem like DU when that happened.

So, who's going to join us? All of us sane ones need to put all of them on Ignore. Don't engage them.

I own a gun and I enjoy shooting. But I also believe the gun laws need to be reformed. It is obvious. It's been obvious. So too the culture needs a wake up call re violent rhetoric and hostility.

Even suggesting that gets you attacked on here by rabid gun nuts.

And that is the problem. No discussion can be had with extremists. I never said I wanted to get rid of guns. I want to have a discussion with relevant people about the GUN CULTURE and the bs that goes along with it, including their hold on our legislators. The very fact that some people find it unacceptable to voice that shows the problem.

After today, they will come back screaming and bullying anyone who doesn't agree with them. That behavior alone is part of the problem. I don't want PEOPLE LIKE THAT to have legal access to an automatic gun when they get angry or disappointed in life. Just saying.

I have already discussed him on here, his terrible comments after the shooting at the Batman movie and the Sikh shooting....basically a people kill people, it isn't the gun's fault, and if people there would have bigger guns, they could take the shooter out...these are his thoughts in a nut shell (gun-nut shell). I will be PISSED if he mentions this tomorrow. He cannot be reasoned with, as you mentioned these people cannot be reasoned with. It is not like this is Colonial times when we needed Minute Men!

Is it too much to ask that he just leaves it alone for a day? Funny how they would be if YOU brought it up, with your opinion -- yet they are entitled to spew in our faces, forcing us to either fight with them or bite our tongue. I'm fed up with it.

I hope it works out peacefully for you.

For example, we have the right to vote; but we have to do certain things to be allowed to exercise that right. And if we do certain things, we can lose that right.

I see no reason for RKBA to be any different.

participate in as the gop tried to make voting in the last election....

I am against guns, but consider you a partner, sister or brother, in the making of a decent society. This is only the second time in my life I can say that to a person who (belonged) to the NRA.

I'm so fed up by all of these, this being only the latest one.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY????? WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THOSE who cling to these instruments of death? WHY?????

...and it's the NRA Crowd that is standing in the way. It's like Bill Clinton said back in 1993 - to keep going on with this status quo is "madness."

Such a great orator.

...and they've wanted more common sense gun control for quite some time. My father hunted squirrels and rabbits with a .22 as a child. We can still have that and not have madness like today. I can only pray that maybe good folks like you have woken up to the reality of guns in our country.

But hell hasn't frozen over yet.

Thank you for your post.

I went into the gungeon and asked an honest question: I said that I had no problem with every farmer and rancher living out in the boonies of AZ to be armed to the teeth, but I wondered why people living in the boonies of AZ won't consider that those of us living on top of each other in cities are in a different situation, and get really nervous when we see news story after news story about young teenage girls shooting each other out front of their middle school, neighbors shooting neighbors who "steal" their parking places, drive-bys in the city center, etc.

I said I am a gun owner and like target shooting, but can't we talk about some reasonable no-worse-than-car gun regulations?

Hahaha. I have never been flamed so badly in my life. I was basically told I was an idiot to be worried about being shot.

Both sides do this down there and frankly I'm tired of it. No matter what you post or how honest of a discussion you are trying to have, you get piled on.

The trolls/sock puppets are really bad as of late.

I have never had a civil conversation on DU about guns (and remember, I'm not in the "no guns" camp - I just want car-like regulation and registration).

Every time anyone here proposes anything that's less than "any weapon, any time, for anybody, no restrictions whatsoever" and the gun nuts will just HOUND you.

If we can't have a civil conversation on a liberal board about the subject, what hope is there to have this conversation in the rest of the country?

Should they be denied that Right because some criminals do criminal things?

Exactly what I was talking about. They come pouring out of the Gungeon (check the profiles) not to discuss, but only to defend their precious guns, armed with NRA talking points.

You are intentionally not having one.

Why will you not answer my question?

But, do elucidate. However, I have heard of girls in gang activity and women killing abusive men, etc. There are exceptions to every rule. There are even female terrorists and spys, etc.

Mental illness is rampant, and no one can get help for it unless they have money. Ever heard of a free psychiatrist?

The story about the two girls with guns happened just outside their school (so it's not compiled with in-school shootings) and I know it occurred before 2004 because we were telling people about it when we were on a vacation trip that year. Everything I've found on google has been within the past 5 years - I'd probably have more luck if I still had a Lexis/Nexis account.

You ahead a google "girls guns school" through. It's a fun read.

Here are some recent occurrences of kids bringing guns to school
http://recentschoolviolenceevents.webs.com/

I rest my case, though, about the impossibility of having a civil discussion of gun violence here on DU with the Gungeon folks.

Instead of teenaged girls fighting, it's a young mom ordering a "hit" on someone on the bus who gave her grief for hitting her baby, and her relatives are glad to oblige, spraying the bus with gunfire.

Growing up in a rural area, I also have many conflicting thoughts, but we all have to begin talking about solutions.

As with the healthcare debate, let's first look at what works or doesn't work around the globe.

There also appears to be something especially wrong in our culture, with many young men going postal.

Perhaps more education, maybe taking "virtual" guns out of video games and movies.

Maybe moving the age of ownership to 25, or requiring police interview and the signatures of a few co-workers and family members who believe they are mature enough.

I'm for whatever works.

Twenty young American children forever lost their constitutional rights today because of gun violence. It's unacceptable to me.

We have to figure out how to yank the teeth out of the NRA. Diminish it and demean it and work on the public mindset to render it MUCH less desirable and less "all-American rah-rah-rah." We have to find AS MANY WAYS AS POSSIBLE to weaken it and its power base, to cost it money, to cost it support, to cost it backing, to cost it influence. I don't know what the answer is - except maybe for forcing them to defend 100 lawsuits a week? We have to start thinking in terms of how we can break its back, its bank account, and it's monstrous influence.

We need to strategize. How do you break the NRA? That should be a serious and vital question on EVERYONE'S minds. For the Love of GOD! It's become an epidemic! At the rate we're going, the next gun-nut nutcase slaughter victim might be YOU!!!

We need to bring to this - the same mindset that has attacked organized labor - denying it public support, starving it financially, demeaning and dirtying its name and reputation, WHATEVER IT TAKES. The kind of campaign that's left organized labor and entities like teacher unions and public employee unions that protect firefighters' and police officers' interests in the work place. This relentless campaign to gut organized labor worked beautifully.

WHY CAN'T WE LAUNCH A SIMILAR CAMPAIGN - against the NRA?????

We can't work on this issue one-dimensionally. We can't ONLY work on changing and toughening up the laws. We can't ONLY work on electing pro-gun restriction legislators. We can't just do that. We have to think far more broadly across the political landscape. Go at this from many directions and with many strategies. What brought ACORN down? WHY CAN'T WE DO STUFF LIKE THAT??????? I think we need to start thinking along those lines. As long as the NRA stays almost unassailable, we are doomed to lose this argument. The NRA needs to have its teeth and claws - and its mighty funding - REMOVED.

They have a lot of it. They in turn take that money and put it into the pockets of politicians. They get more money by praying on fear. The more money the make the more fear they monger the more money they make, wash/rince/repeat...

Just like with anything, it's the money that makes things happen.

DRY UP their funding. The bad guys have been saying "Starve the beast" - for YEARS - referring to the federal government. Well, I think we use that SAME strategy against the NRA.

It is time we launch an attack against their constant bullying ways!

Glad you're here. We need LOTS of thinking on this issue. HOW can we fight back? HOW can we be effective, at long last, on this issue!

My guess is that most of their money comes from gun makers, not from membership dues...how do we deny that funding for the NRA?

Help turn public opinion AGAINST them!

For your consideration:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022008662

OTHER GOOD IDEAS in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022006557

Maybe you can start a forum for those of us who won't dirty our minds by logging into the gungeon. You could call it the anti-gungeon or whatever. And those of us who are sane with regards to this issue can come up with strategies to do just what you're proposing in your post. Hell, just opening up our mouths and voicing our opinions in public, within our own spheres and not being cowards who are afraid to make waves, well, that's a start. Too many people who feel strongly about this won't take a public stand on it within our own little spheres because we might look like we don't play nice.

Nice doesn't feed the bulldog, so to speak. TIRED of nice. I want to get ruthless and mean. ANYTHING they've done against teachers, public employees, unions in general, liberals in general, ACORN, and more - I want to turn that strategy around ON THEM.

Not sure what this term "gungeon" is about since I don't go onto pro-gun sites. How does one start a forum? That sounds like a good idea. Might be good, and shrewd, to have ONE place to find strategizing and think pieces and proposals we can kick around and refine - so they're WORKABLE in the real world.

'Cause we need to think this out. Work the problem, people - as they said in "Apollo 13." We need to start thinking and strategizing about this. Organize our thoughts and our ideas. Come at it as a united front. If we show some muscle, or this movement shows some muscle, maybe at least some of the politicians who worship the power and influence of the NRA might start fearing us and taking us seriously, for a change. I'd like to take a page from the bad guys' book, and shove it back down their throats!!!

I admire your sensibility and responsibility

Okay, you've had your fun. It's time for the adults to take over.

Thank you for your eloquence and for your courage to take a stand.

I'm a gun owner, and I am among the vast majority of gun owners who are NOT members of the NRA. They do not speak for me, and never have.

For my money - there are too many guns in society.

Not everything is or should be for everybody.

We need some Discrimination here.

But I see where you are coming from.

my son has 4. We agree though, now is the time. Something must be done. You cant stop it but you can do what you can do. Im NOT in the mood right now to hear some idiot say 'people dont kill people, the gun kills people.'
JUST DO IT.

bless the victims and families.

Those words say it all. After the shock of it all slowly, slowly began settling in my brain, I was stuck on the long term fallout while driving around today listening to the radio. 20 kids = 40 parents, 80 grandparents, how many brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. Not to mention families of the murdered adults. Not to mention friends of the families.

In this quiet little town in Connecticut, I'd wager the close, direct trauma and fallout reach into the thousands. And into the millions throughout the country.

Plain and simple.

Here's part of a post I just made--excerpted from a link to Washington Post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1983787

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/07/23/six-facts-about-guns-violence-and-gun-control/

thank you for expressing that so well.

I never owned a gun, and would joke that the 2nd ammendment also allows you to not have a gun if you don't want one.

I never wanted to live in a world where I needed a gun.

And we don't right now.

If every kid was armed, it would have been a shooting gallery that killed everyone.

I think the absolute least we need is to mandate a psych eval in order to get a gun. Yearly.

I think taking all guns should still be on the table.

And, I think we need to destroy the NRA. Drown it in a bathtub. Remove it. Make it don blowed up.

I'm a lifelong firearm enthusiast and former NRA member. I left the NRA when they decided to become an extremist wing of the GOP rather than the sportsman's advocacy group they once were.

I am also the father of a 7 year old daughter and that very well could have been her school today.

I don't claim to have all the answers but I do believe this is a discussion our nation needs to have, in a calm rational manner, rather than just extremists screaming back and forth at each other, nothing useful ever gets done that way.

-I believe it is high time to subject the private sales of used firearms to the same background checks that dealers have to use.

-I believe we need to have the ability to take a closer look at the mental health history of prospective gun buyers for red flags

-I believe strongly that we should emphatically enforce existing laws regarding straw purchasers and make life miserable for anybody who buys a gun for someone who is legally unable to buy it for themselves.

-I believe we should end this damned ridiculous and ineffective war on drugs, how many people have been gunned down on the streets over that ignorant horseshit

-I believe we should set out to build a better country... a better society. We are a nation that has become poisoned by greed, hatred, violence and unnecessary poverty. When we look at the differences between us and other more civilized countries our deficiencies in social and economic justice are glaring.


We can do better than this, I know we can.

eom

There have been a string of decisions in the last few years, basically cosigning the NRA position that individuals have the absolute right to own firearms.

This is a direct product of the Federalist Society and GOP appointees. It would be interesting to see who bankrolls the Federalist Society. It wouldn't surprise me to find the gun lobby's fingerprints everywhere.

There have been a string of decisions in the last few years, basically cosigning the NRA position that individuals have the absolute right to own firearms. - Not quite. The two most recent decisions still left room for gun control. The issue as I see it is that the losers in those cases tried to violate the rulings. Basically, that the court ruled it was legal for for folks in Chicago to own handguns, but then the city made it impossible for folks to get a handgun. Thus giving the residents grounds to seek relief. Chicago was a mess, and could have been prevented all together.

That said, I would like to see who bankrolls and pulls all of the strings at the NRA.

Especially this: "I know that there has to be a solution that will work, but it will never be found if there is no discussion."

good on you.

For years I have been obsessed with the idea that for all the problems in the Middle East, I only care what each side is willing to give up so their children will not grow up in war and terror. If they are notwilling to give up anything - screw 'em.

Now, that is the feeling about my own country. What are we willing to do to save our children from growing up in a world where massacres can happen when they go to school, when they go Christmas shopping.

We are living in a gun free-for-all.

They used to advocate wilderness areas for healthy herds.

I'm a liberal grandmother of girls, 5 and 7 whom I adore with all my heart. I have been anti-gun since I first touched a rifle that belonged to my uncle. I was repulsed. In my opinion, a gun is designed for one thing. Killing something! That's it. And those who say it is for the hunter: Well, do you hunt to "wound" or "scare" an animal? NO! You hunt to kill. So a gun is a killing tool! That's it.
Studies show that more people are killed by accident than are protected by guns, so the guns keep people alive is a myth. We must have this conversation! We must stop the killing. God help the USA if we cannot stop this horrible trend!!

This is emminently untrue.

Or can you cite to these "studies"?

If you don't agree to "ban all guns now" as a solution, then there is no discussion.

We absolutely need stricter controls on gun ownership, but the problem is that there are already laws in place that are supposed to prevent this kind of thing: but they are not being enforced AT ALL.

The federally required screening of mental health status is not enough, california's laws are pretty strict but it's still too easy to get a gun here. In my opinion, there should be tests (and hard ones, the HSC test is a fucking joke...), plus functional testing/training AND a mental health screening test. And even then, your gun should stay at home or on the range. And then the other problem: who pays for all the enforcement? Maybe an ammo tax? Ammo costs around .30 cents to 1.00 per round. That's way too cheap.

Although what's the point of stricter laws if they aren't really enforced or are circumvented through loopholes?

I say this as a TA who has been through 2 lock downs in the "gun rights state of Florida" with 4 and 5 year old kids TERRIFIED for their lives, and also as the wife of a gun owner. You are totally clueless until you have experienced the horror of these kids with YOUR GUNS.

Your guns make me SICK to my stomach. Oh, I said this to my husband too.

my heart goes out to you for having had to experience the horror of lockdowns.

I teach at the college level, but volunteer at an "underprivileged" grade school because I enjoy being among the little ones, so yesterday really hit home for me.

At the university, we are aware of the students who seem troubled and could potentially be time bombs. Problem is, while the school can be hyper-vigilant and have procedures in place, the perpetrator often has elaborate planning, too, coupled with the element of surprise and a cache of weapons. And though university security and other law enforcement may be notified of a suspicious student, nothing can be done until the student does something.

A very sad time in a nation that embraces, -- hell, glorifies -- guns.

I hear ya and I'm with ya

Because insane people are going to do insane things, if they get no treatment.

If they have no guns, they'll find other weapons. They'll mow people down with cars, go online and learn to build their own guns, or worse--learn to build bombs with fertilizer and a handful of other ingredients.

Whatever weapon they use, the root cause is the same--when someone is so insane that they pose a danger to others, something needs to be done before they get to this point.

Because, guns or no guns, people will still be killed and we will still be mourning.

However, along with healthcare I personally feel that there is an opportunity for effective gun control. Not the knee-jerk, feel-good fluff that does nothing.

I have been thinking long and hard on this for quite some time, and once I get my head straight, and can formulate what I'm thinking, I feel that and effective discussion is in order on what can be done that gets results.

Something needs to be done about the killings, but I don't know what will work.

about big issues. I feel the same way about life long Republicans who evolve to Democrats

Thank you for your thoughtful post

I grew up in the NE and no one had guns nor have I ever held one. I never understood the absolute passion and love some feel for a chunk of metal that so often kills loved ones and neighbors

And as for the great lovers of the 2nd Amendment, I believe that people should be allowed to have the same weaponry as the Founding Fathers...Muskets and Cannons. Was there anything else? If so, they can have that too

I was just having that conversation. These folks who cling so desperately to the 2nd amendment and following the constitution to the letter, if that's what you want then, give them the muskets. And only those weapons from that era. You want to live in the 1780's, go for it, but you have to do it just like they did back then. You'd get one shot off, and the mob would have ya before you could reload. The constitution is a living document, designed to grow and change with the times, with the population and technology. No one wants to take your guns, just want to take away those 30 - 100 round clips and assault weapons. We used to have a ban on assault weapons, it worked. What's the problem with that now?
I am so sick of hearing the same old excuses. No self-respecting hunter is using these kinds of weapons to hunt game. Or who needs these to protect their homes? Won't a normal gun or rifle do anymore? Automatics are just a power-trip, not necessary. Nobody gets mugged by a mob that they need to blow off 100 rounds, ok?

thank you for those words, Glassunion

a mass killing of children, it's worth it. SOMETHING can be done to at least slow these incidents down.

So many little children. Harmless, vulnerable, innocent, helpless. My heart is breaking.

that there is a solution to this problem.

but I think all of the talk about gun control is missing the point entirely. This isn't about guns. Connecticut has some of the
strictest gun laws in the country. We will never eliminate the second amendment and b/c of that blaming this on gun is just a
smokescreen. I am no supporter of the nra and certainly no fan of guns in general. However, in tragedies like this we owe it to those
children to be honest with ourselves so that we can help fix this. The real problem is our culture and our lack of attention to mental
health issues. We live lives that are so consumed with the pursuit of meaningless things and we are spoiled to the point where for
some of us, when things go wrong, we want to take it out on others. The only way to really stop this with gun control is to completely
get rid of guns and that will never happen. We need to focus more on the individuals and not the weapons. It''s hard to accept but
it's the truth.