Well, This Is What I Think

The authors of the American Constitution never imagined semi-automatic weapons that can spew out hundreds of bullets at defenceless young children in minutes. When the American Constitution was written they were using muskets and rudimentary rifles.

Just ban these types of weapons. Just do it. I will not be debating this matter here – with anyone – out of respect for the families concerned. No doubt the debate will rage elsewhere, but not here. This blog is for my opinion, and you will not shake it. I seek neither agreement not contradiction. I simply ask you all to consider.

And I reproduce simply one sentence from the media coverage to make my point. “There were almost no non-fatal injuries, indicating that once targeted, there was rarely any chance of escape.”

I very nearly didn’t say anything at all. But to say nothing – to stay silent in the face of an event of such enormity – simply compounds our communal guilt at not having successfully tackled this problem before now.

So, just get rid of them. Do it now. Just get on with it. BAN. THESE. WEAPONS. PERIOD.

With love and prayers
The Parents of the World

Later: In support of my position

Many of the young elementary school victims killed Friday during a shooting spree were fired upon multiple times at close range by an assault rifle, the state’s chief medical examiner says.

Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, Connecticut’s long-time chief medical examiner, said most of the 20 children and six adults killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School early Friday morning were first-graders. Among seven he personally examined, all had three to 11 bullet wounds.

Just some of those shot repeatedly in the Newtown massacre. They relied on us to keep them safe. We failed them.

For Americans: here is a petition for stronger gun control, if you would like to sign it.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/immediately-address-issue-gun-control-through-introduction-legislation-congress/2tgcXzQC

Please – people – don’t troll this posting if you disagree. Start your own petition to leave gun laws in the US exactly as they are, or to loosen them. Because I will not be changing my mind. These weapons have no place in a sane society.

Meanwhile, more details of the event emerge which support my point of view.

Lanza’s main weapon was the Bushmaster, a civilian version of the US military’s M4 – legally registered to his mother. Police said he had three other weapons with him, two pistols and a shotgun found in a car.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy revealed that Lanza blasted his way into the school, which had just installed a new security door where visitors could be viewed by video camera and buzzed in.

“He shot his way into the building. He penetrated the building by literally shooting an entrance into the building. That’s what an assault weapon can do for you,” Malloy said on CNN.

Many states, including Connecticut, already have strict laws on the purchase of firearms, but with no federal statutes, there is little to stop the traffic of guns from other states where fewer restrictions apply.

An assault weapon ban was passed in 1994 under president Bill Clinton but it expired in 2004 and was never resurrected.

Obama supported restoring the law while running for president in 2008 but did not make it a priority during his first term. He failed to deliver on a 2008 election promise to reinstate an assault weapons ban, and is now under mounting pressure from within his own party to throw his political weight behind new laws.

Despite the outpouring of national grief, any such Bill is likely to be highly divisive; Congress has not passed significant gun legislation for almost 20 years, amid partisan gridlock.

A poll in August found that 57 per cent of Americans favour a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, while 60 per cent favour outlawing high-capacity ammunition clips.

“Survivalist link”

Also, here is further emerging evidence that the more lunatic endless doom-laden analyses of the extreme libertartian AND conservative right in America play directly into the behaviour of local gun buyers, and in this case, the availability of these incredibly powerful weapons to their mentally troubled children. Although frankly, anyone thinking that society is going to “collapse”  is pretty mentally troubled as well in my view …

From Business Insider:

The mother of the gunman who killed 20 children and seven adults in America’s worst school massacre, was a gun-proud “survivalist” preparing for economic collapse, it has emerged.

Nancy Lanza, whose gun collection was raided by her son Adam for Friday’s massacre at Sandy Hook school, was part of the “prepper” movement, which urges readiness for social chaos by hoarding supplies and training with weapons.

“She prepared for the worst,” her sister-in-law Marsha Lanza told reporters. “Last time we visited her in person, we talked about prepping – are you ready for what could happen down the line, when the economy collapses?”

It also emerged that Mrs Lanza had spoken of her fears less than a week before the attack that she was “losing” her son. “She said it was getting worse. She was having trouble reaching him,” said a friend of Mrs Lanza who did not want to be named.

Police disclosed that the 52-year-old had five legally registered guns – at least three of which her 20-year-old son carried with him. Most victims were shot with an assault rifle, while Lanza also carried two handguns and left a shotgun in his car.