Get on the phone and start the movement to tighter gun control & new laws that aren't dictated by scared cowards (AKA, the NRA)

he got the weapons from his mother. she may have obtained them through legal means. What gun law would stop a kid from taking guns from their parents?

> Gun control would not have stopped this

Total BS. If the mother had to register the guns, and was required to keep them in a safe, he wouldn't have gotten a hold of them. NRA Talking Point-spouting, Delicate Flower cowards, disgust me.

Registering would have done nothing! And ADULTS in the household could open the fucking safe. The shooter was 20 years old. Not 12 or 15 or 17!

Point 2 i don't own a gun or want one. nor do i allow my children to play with toy guns

Point 3 The shooters mother use to take her son to the gun range she TAUGHT HIM HOW TO SHOOT!!! Which is why there was only 1 wounded. The shooter was taught how to shoot to kill. What makes you think that even if his mother had the guns locked away she would not have given her son the combination Or he would not have known where the keys were to the safe?

a gun law would not have protected us from her stupidity. that is what I meant by a gun laws would not have help in this case

but one that requires positive Palmprint ID on the grip before the firing pin will move would prevent that taken firearm from being used to kill children...

You win the prize for the stupidest post of the day.

Gun law can be written that would have prevented Adam from taking his Mother's guns using them to shoot her ib the face and then killing 20 children. He didn't have to have a background check, or a waiting period. All he needed was access to his mothers weapons.


What law can prevent that? And you can't prosecute his mother she currenly has a bullet in her head.

I see this more from a social policy perspective like providing mental health services and regulating the purchase of guns. That is not say I am not saddened by the events.

Most people know that for any action to take place they must take action. It's usually only the fundamentalists who actually expect God to somehow intervene in their lives.

I lost god, I know exactly where...I was at a vigil tonight. There was prayer...it's a church...but plenty of determination to actually take action as well.

I know where you are coming from, but something tells me, the anger is there too.

I am always offended by the call to pray for something. Excuse me, but science and rational thinking and understanding how the world actually works are always more effective than "prayer."

The problem was his gun toting doomsday prepping mother who may have convienced him society was coming to an end. all the medical intervention in the world could not save him from that nut.

What the f@#k?! Where was their sick, twisted, murderous deity when these babies were being mowed down?!

How anyone could "believe" and worship this odious being is beyond me. I'm glad it doesn't actually exist.

And I agree -- take action, don't waste time in worthless talk to an imaginary figment.

Instead, you "take action" by coming to a message board to deride and belittle people who do find comfort in prayer.

Atheist "tolerance" at its finest!

I will donate to gun control groups after I do a little research.

It's not much, and I don't have many illusions that it will do much, but it's all I can do.

I'm just tired of this thinking that "god" always does good things and never takes gets any blame. Do people who believe in an monotheism and an omnipotent god completely lack critical thinking skills and never make the connection? It's the same mentality that leads people who survived a major catastrophe to say "God was with me and saved me." Well, too bad for those other schmucks who died, including little children, they must not have been worthy of this god's efforts. It's so egotistical. Yeah, I know, I'm pissing into the wind ... just blowing off steam.

Yes, I know, we strident atheists are peeing in the religious punchbowl.

And not something you should not be telling people to do or not to do. I fully respect people's right not to pray or not to believe (two of my best friends are atheists), but I am sometimes offended by the hostility from some people on here and other liberal sites toward those who do believe.

I agree with you about televangelists, though. They are a racket that needs to be shut down.

There are plenty of religious people who aren't running scams for money but who want to urge me to adopt their beliefs. Do you apply the same standard to them -- that it's my personal decision and no one should be telling me to pray or not pray?

The fact is that people of many different religious beliefs, for millennia, have urged others to accept their beliefs and join their church. Christianity has a long history of missionary work. The most populous Muslim nation in the world is Indonesia, thousands of miles from where Muhammad lived or where Arab armies conquered -- because of missionaries. The post you object to is merely a tiny dot on the total picture of people expressing opinions of matters of religion and urging their readers/listeners to act in accordance. It's hypocritical for religious believers to take umbrage at this practice only when it's employed by atheists (or, for that matter, when it's employed by religions they don't like, such as Muslims who consider Christian missionary work in Muslim countries to be "cultural imperialism&quot .

As a reform Jew who went to a Jewish high school, I on occasion encountered teachers or parents of classmates who pushed me to be more religious or looked down on my religious beliefs and it bugged the crap out of me. As does being approached in the subway by people trying to get me to "embrace Jesus".

I think everyone should respect each other's beliefs and/or lack thereof - I feel really strongly about that. Nobody should push their religious beliefs or lack of beliefs onto other people. Just as I don't believe religious people have any right to judge atheists/agnostics or tell them that they should pray, I also don't think it's right for atheists to tell other people not to pray or that their prayers are meaningless.

I respect everyone's right to pray or not pray in the manner they wish and I think everyone, religious people and atheists, should do the same.

You write:

I think everyone should respect each other's beliefs and/or lack thereof - I feel really strongly about that. Nobody should push their religious beliefs or lack of beliefs onto other people.

I agree with the first sentence, about respect. Where we differ is that I don't consider it disrespectful for people to advocate for their own beliefs on matters of religion, any more than it is for them to advocate about politics.

I've gone door-to-door and done phone-banking on behalf of Democratic political candidates. Obviously, if someone says "I know how I'm voting and I don't to hear your socialist rubbish" or "I have company, don't want to talk" or the like, I respect that. By the same token, if someone approaches me in the subway and wants to talk about Jesus, I don't feel disrespected. Of course, that doesn't mean I want to hear about Jesus. If I say politely, "No thanks, not interested," then the person should give up. (They don't always do that. To continue to bug someone is indeed disrespectful, whether it's about religion, politics, or a great new consumer product.)

I am respectful toward Jehovah's witnesses who try to convert me in the subway, as long as they are not too pushy. I learned in con law that proselytizing is a requirement of their religion, so I am inclined to be more sympathetic now that I know that.

I think it's great to discuss religion, but I don't believe in being pushy and trying to convert others to your beliefs. And that includes trying to push people toward atheism or saying "don't pray". And I find it kind of offensive when people say "what's the point of praying? It doesn't do anything." I think that disrespects those who believe in the power of prayer and take comfort in it.

I have gone door to door and pushed politics on people too, but somehow with religion it feels different to me. It's such a personal thing that I don't believe anyone should push it on others.

and in a situation like this, people should do whatever makes them survive. If deluding themselves helps for a while, why not. Hopefully they won't be in complete mourning for the rest of their life and the delusions can turn to reason again. Loss of a child and loss of a spouse is the most difficult trauma one can deal with. Peace in any form is a necessity.

I can only imagine that losing a child would be the most horrible thing a person could ever endure in life.

it's about them, not us.

Agreed! Thoughts and prayers with the victims and their families. I also hope and pray that we find reasonable, workable solutions to this problem.

If people find comfort in prayer, then it's a good thing. Considering how many people pray for things that never happen, or that theynever get, it would seem people would get discouraged, but they don't.

I remember being told, years ago, that God hears all prayers but doesn't always answer them.

Act. You can work to ban assault weaponry, reauthorize the violence against women act, and any number of things right now. Get out and act.

and made policy to close state run mental facilities.
Now this.

We are so stuck on stupid in
'muhrica.