Is there anything more heartbreaking than a tiny coffin? God bless those parents who are burying 20 babies this week in Newtown, Connecticut.
The nightmare started when a deranged man with an assault rifle stormed Sandy Hook Elementary School. It ended with 26 innocent people slaughtered, 20 of whom were first-graders.
Deranged man. Assault rifle. Elementary school.
The nightmare will never be over in Newtown.
Why? Who or what's to blame?
The shooter is to blame, of course. Anything else?
Mental illness? Absolutely. Rage starts in the brain. It's imperative that we devote more research to identifying and treating mental health issues, especially the psychopathic tendencies in teenage boys and young men that lead them to violence. We must nip it in the bud. At the very least we must identify the unstable and keep weapons out of their hands. Parents, we could use a little help.
How about violent video games and movies? Are they to blame? Sure. I suppose a desensitized kid could become a psychotic killer. Can we blame our morally decaying evil society? I guess so. Evil's bad, alright.
How about existing gun laws? Shouldn't they be enforced? Of course.
What about the media? The way every killer gets the 24/7 glory hole is a pretty cool way to go out if you're a pathetic loser. So yeah, the media gets copycat blood on its hands.
What about assault rifles? Naaaaah. Guns don't kill people. Not six year-old people.
Without mentioning one word about gun control or Fast and Furious, the president vowed to focus on all aspects of these mass murders. Mental health experts, law enforcement officials and education leaders will be at the table, I reckon. And so should the NRA.
"They have to be at the table," NRA supporter and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) told the panel on MSNBC's
Morning Joe.
"Seeing the massacre of so many innocent children has changed everything," he said. "Everything has to be on the table."
Even the Bushmaster .223? This semi-automatic rifle was at the scene of the crime in Sandy Hook as well as the Batman movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado. Before Newtown, there were already millions of these weapons on the street. Now, sales of the Bushmaster are going through the roof. When it comes to popularity, the Bushmaster is in Justin Bieber territory.
The gun lobby thinks the problem isn't too many guns, it's too few. If teachers were packing heat, they say, the shooter coulda been sent to hell before he pulled the trigger on that gun that doesn't kill people. Why don't we just pack a revolver in little Johnny and Susie's lunchbox and let them send the bad guys to their fiery reward?
Enthusiasts get defensive when the debate turns to the 'gun' aspect of a shooting. I'm sorry, but you can't have a shooting without a gun.
In China, a deranged man wounded 22 school children in a knife attack. The difference between the knife attack in China and the shooting in Connecticut is the children in China are in a hospital bed instead of a casket.
Nobody's going to take our hunting rifles and shotguns. But, as Sen. Manchin says, "I don't know anyone who needs 30 rounds in the clip to go hunting."
In
about guns, our editorial asks: "Should the capacity of magazines be limited? If so, what should that limit be?" This seems like a reasonable place to start.
Horrific massacres are committed by deranged men with weapons. We need to do everything possible to keep these men away from those weapons. Whether we like it or not, guns are part of the equation and should be part of the discussion.
I don't have the answers. Maybe y'all do.