It's just so very sad

[Fishy]

Something about the "thoughts and prayers nonsense" line rubbed me the wrong way. But hell, if I wanted to be stroked, I'd be at a massage parlor.

I am gifted at rubbing people the wrong way, but your soapbox line landed pretty close to the same tree.

Thoughts and prayers might make you feel better - and that's fine and there is certainly value in that. I'm sure everyone here has looked at or thought about their kids today and felt that crushing weight that is just the barest fraction of what weighs upon those poor families in Newtown tonight.

But, the soapboxes need to come out - we talk about unimaginable tragedies that are anything but unimaginable because they keep happening.

It has to stop. There are entire countries that have fewer shooting deaths in a year than a kindergarten classroom had in 90 seconds today. That's heartbreaking and wrong and it's time we stopped pretending that it's just random.

 

[minidarren]

Its sick. I'm at a loss for words and that rarely happens.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[ctchamps]

I am gifted at rubbing people the wrong way, but your soapbox line landed pretty close to the same tree.

Thoughts and prayers might make you feel better - and that's fine and there is certainly value in that. I'm sure everyone here has looked at or thought about their kids today and felt that crushing weight that is just the barest fraction of what weighs upon those poor families in Newtown tonight.

But, the soapboxes need to come out - we talk about unimaginable tragedies that are anything but unimaginable because they keep happening.

It has to stop. There are entire countries that have fewer shooting deaths in a year than a kindergarten classroom had in 90 seconds today. That's heartbreaking and wrong and it's time we stopped pretending that it's just random.

For him it was the statement "thoughts and prayers nonsense" and for you it was the use of the word "soapboxes" that caused reactions. You guys are on the same side from what I see. The battle isn't between the two of you. The battle is against senseless loss. And if you both need to go at it to help deal with that senseless loss, that's ok as well. But again neither of you are the real enemies in this horrific story.

 

[Deepster]

Something about the "thoughts and prayers nonsense" line rubbed me the wrong way. But hell, if I wanted to be stroked, I'd be at a massage parlor.

It probably rubbed you the wrong way because it hit home. It is nonsense. All we do is sit back and hand out thoughtless, meaningless "thoughts and prayers" until the sting wears off and we can get back into our fat, dumb and happy routine.

The FACT is, this killer had a very easy time doing what he did. Too easy. I have a 3rd grader sleeping in her bed tonight and I'm lucky and thankful it wasn't her school today. The "thoughts and prayers" won't protect her if next month, the next maniac is someone in my neighborhood.

Now's the time to take your emotional reaction and use it as fuel to fix what's broken.

 

[joober jones]

I am gifted at rubbing people the wrong way, but your soapbox line landed pretty close to the same tree.

Thoughts and prayers might make you feel better - and that's fine and there is certainly value in that. I'm sure everyone here has looked at or thought about their kids today and felt that crushing weight that is just the barest fraction of what weighs upon those poor families in Newtown tonight.

But, the soapboxes need to come out - we talk about unimaginable tragedies that are anything but unimaginable because they keep happening.

It has to stop. There are entire countries that have fewer shooting deaths in a year than a kindergarten classroom had in 90 seconds today. That's heartbreaking and wrong and it's time we stopped pretending that it's just random.

For what it's worth, you have my apologies. You've made some very valid points. Sentiment may be the first step, but action is definitely needed.

 

[Fishy]

For what it's worth, you have my apologies. You've made some very valid points. Sentiment may be the first step, but action is definitely needed.

No, you don't have to apologize...it didn't rub me the wrong way. I was teasing a bit there - a deeper, more thoughtful person might have been offended, but fortunately, I'm immune.

I appreciated your thoughts and should have sanded off the sharper edges of my own. I think I've reached the edge of patience and sanity with these sorts of tragedies, I really do.

 

[gtcam]

First, my heart, prayers and love go out to the families and friends who lost both those precious young children and courageous adults. As senseless and cruel an act as any imaginable.
Second, I do not own a gun, want a gun or I guess, need a gun.
Guns dont kill by themselves, people use them to kill.
Our constitution allows people to own arms-plain and simple. We can argue the extent as to what type of arms are really necessary but people should be able to arm for sport and protection.
The European countries have unbelievably harsh stringent gun laws but per capita there are more killed by guns there than in the USA
The problem as I see it is twofold. First it is what people see on phones, computers, etc that promotes violence and glamorizes insanity-the rap music crap doesn't help either.
Second, the country is in a dire state economically, socially and morally. High unemployment promotes idle minds and simply providing entitlements does nothing to create proactive actions.
This country is divided as it was in 1861. The president does nobody favors by flying into Michigan makes a speech more or less stoking the flames of union thugs and sits back and watches the violence there and says nothing. Condoning one bad behavior and the playing to the country with crocodile tears today is what is the root of the problem. He should be the one sitting in Washington DC doing his job and work to fix the mess he has perpetrated and enhanced.

UCONN sports can take a back seat today, tomorrow and for a while- there is a whole bunch of healing that needs to happen.
As many boneyarders have said - its a great time to hug your young children today and in my case, my grandkids.

 

[jleves]

The European countries have unbelievably harsh stringent gun laws but per capita there are more killed by guns there than in the USA

Where can you find any statistical data that says the US gun deaths per capita are lower than Europe? Everything that has been linked and I can find says were 5x or more higher in gun deaths per 100,000 than any developed European country.

 

[joober jones]

It probably rubbed you the wrong way because it hit home. It is nonsense. All we do is sit back and hand out thoughtless, meaningless "thoughts and prayers" until the sting wears off and we can get back into our fat, dumb and happy routine.

The FACT is, this killer had a very easy time doing what he did. Too easy. I have a 3rd grader sleeping in her bed tonight and I'm lucky and thankful it wasn't her school today. The "thoughts and prayers" won't protect her if next month, the next maniac is someone in my neighborhood.

Now's the time to take your emotional reaction and use it as fuel to fix what's broken.

The whole issue has hit home. I became a father for the first time this year and it's changed my entire world. My wife gave birth to fraternal twins, 1 boy and 1 girl this past February. If I were ever to lose either of them I'd never recover. But this isn't about me and it's not about us. I'm at a loss for what to say and what to do and I imagine that's how most of us are feeling. I just want to see and end to this needless violence.

 

[8893]

Truth. Deal with it. Or not:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/12/newtown-and-the-madness-of-guns.html?mobify=0

 

[8893]

Where can you find any statistical data that says the US gun deaths per capita are lower than Europe? Everything that has been linked and I can find says were 5x or more higher in gun deaths per 100,000 than any developed European country.

They are lies. They are repeated enough by idiots here and elsewhere that people start to believe them. Let's try to stop that.

 

[NOTaDIME]

Drugs don't kill people either, people kill people. See how I did that? It's really fun and it doesn't take any thought at all.

You're correct so what's your point? The drugs that kill people are illegal for the most part so what is your answer? Ban guns and all our problems will be solved? Just like with drugs right?

 

[NOTaDIME]

Actually Guns don't kill people people kill people with guns.

Touché

 

[NOTaDIME]

people kill people with religion,knives,bats,cars,fists,water,alcohol,drugs,cigarettes,sex,chemicals,asbestos,carbon monoxide etc. you get the idea

Exactly. You can't ban them all. My point exactly.

 

[whaler11]

I am a cynical callous old bastard. I cried more today than I have in the last 20 years combined.

I have read the research and I've seen the statistics. I know one thing: the status quo does not work.

The issue needs to come to the forefront. As much as I respect the Constitution - we can't let a few sentences written 250 years ago dictate our response to the times we live in.

As great as America is - until our citizens value the lives of others we all suffer. I don't have the answers but we need to start looking immediately and can't stop until we find some.

 

[NOTaDIME]

I am a cynical callous old bastard. I cried more today than I have in the last 20 years combined.

I have read the research and I've seen the statistics. I know one thing: the status quo does not work.

The issue needs to come to the forefront. As much as I respect the Constitution - we can't let a few sentences written 250 years ago dictate our response to the times we live in.

As great as America is - until our citizens value the lives of others we all suffer. I don't have the answers but we need to start looking immediately and can't stop until we find some.

Solid post an you're correct. Things do need to change and right now everyone is understandably on wild sides of the argument. We need to adapt with the law of the land and that is okay, it was built so that this could happen. Yet here we are stuck in the middle ground on this issue because it is hard to find a happy medium that would still prevent these horrible acts. I honestly need to think about this issue deeper before I have a final take. I do believe that completely banning them is not the way to go. I just don't know where that line is exactly.

 

[zls44]

The Constitution didn't mention an Air Force, didnt allow citizens to elect Senators, but it did make sure to take time out to mention that a black man was worth 3/5ths as much a white man. I think we can all agree that as a country we're much better off counting people of all races equally, electing our public officials for ourselves and having a dominant air defense network that inspires us to the cinematic tour-de-force that was Top Gun.

Times change. We evolve as a people. We change laws. We have been better as a country and as a people an overwhelming majority of the time when we do so. We can do it again.

 

[Northbound]

I hunt so I own long guns and for god sake I can't see how anyone would need automatic weapons. Even more incomprehensible for me is how anyone can make a believable argument for those types of weapons.

As someone that uses guns I'd would eagerly endorse more stringent gun control. If that' means losing some freedom around the way I use guns (hunting) then so be it. This madness needs to stop and the reality is that the person is deranged, the fact is that the instrument of death and destruction was many firearms.

 

[NOTaDIME]

I hunt so I own long guns and for god sake I can't see how anyone would need automatic weapons. Even more incomprehensible for me is how anyone can make a believable argument for those types of weapons.

As someone that uses guns I'd would eagerly endorse more stringent gun control. If that' means losing some freedom around the way I use guns (hunting) then so be it. This madness needs to stop and the reality is that the person is deranged, the fact is that the instrument of death and destruction was many firearms.

If only more people that owned and safely used firearms were as level-minded as this our country would be a better places.

 

[whaler11]

I spend my days with a mix of brilliant people who run a multi-billion dollar company and folks who want nothing more than to coach little league and get an extra week of vacation when they hit their 10 year anniversary.

I can't believe that these smart and decent people can live in a state or country where a classroom full of children can be murdered and we don't harness the minds and hearts of people to fix it.

 

[UConn5]

I just cannot see the need for automatic weapons to be so readily available for people. Of course the underlying cause of this is the person who pulled the trigger, but if we could do something that would make it harder for a person to just walk into a building and just spray bullets at little kids why wouldn't we do that?

There are now parents who have lost children and children who have lost parents and I can't even imagine what they are feeling. I just hope that as a country we can find a solution that actually can make a difference in preventing these things from happening.

 

[visitor123]

I'm Canadian. I grew up in Connecticut, went to elementary school in a town probably very similar to Newtown. I frequent message boards and I've never been comfortable enough to give my opinion on guns on here or any message board frequented by Americans. I've always had the overwhelming feeling that most Americans are just so ingrained with the idea of having guns that there couldn't be a real discussion about it. I think that says something.

Unfortunately it took a tragedy like this for someone like Fishy to want to have a frank discussion about gun control. Whereas a month ago I imagine he would have dismissed an anti-gun post with a snide remark and gotten 10 likes. Even more unfortunately, I don't know if the rest of the country is ready to have the discussion that some of you are ready to have. You read comments on the internet and watch the TV coverage and it's the same rhetoric. "Now is not the time for this discussion, now is the time for the families", 'Guns aren't the problem, people are." I wonder if the rest of the country has been so numbed by so many of these tragedies that they can't really feel the real impact unless it happens to their families, in their town, in their city, in their state.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Has UConn released a statement?

The stepmother of the shooter (Peter's wife) is a UConn librarian (Stamford branch). That was most likely mentioned somewhere here today. I'm sure the UConn administration will handle the situation with class and dignity.

 

[hoopsknowitall]

I work closely with the father of the kid who did this horrific crime. He's a great guy a tax attorney in fact who is well respected in the community and in the tax field. His wife is indeed tied into UCONN Stamford and they have done a lot of charitable work in the town.

I drove home yesterday wondering what the hell the world is coming too if a son of this guy could do such a thing slaughtering innocents like that. I am still wondering the same thing this morning.

 

[sparky]

I am 66 and work with children k-6 and I can't stop crying. The children are gone now we need to pray for the families and friends who must endure the pain taht comes with losing a child.