The Death of Twenty Children in Newtown, Connecticut

Yesterday, Friday December 14, 2012, 20 six and seven year old children and six adults were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.  Last night, merely one day after the murders, several acquaintances defended the right for Americans to continue carrying hand guns.  What on earth will it take for Americans to finally and forever band the possession and sell of hand guns, automatic weapons and extended clip magazines?  Those in Newtown must feel like someone has stolen the very essence of their being.  It is the most severe pain a human can endure.  Yet there is no reason or logic for the killings.  I have two grand children, a five year old and a three year old, one in kindergarten and one in pre-school.  They live near Richmond Virginia.   The senseless shooting in Connecticut could just as well been in Richmond or Wichita, Kansas or Sacramento, California.  It was just random probability that they were in Newtown.  And, as horrible as it is to say, I am so grateful that the random toss of the dice didn’t land on my grandchildren.  But what I fear most is that one day, it could.

Hand guns, automatic weapons and extended clips serve only one purpose, they’re used for shooting people.  Some say they’re used for hurting.  Bull!  Rifles and shotguns are used for hunting, but, hand guns and M-16s are not used for shooting game.  Some say they like shooting at targets.  Yes… so they can better and more accurately shoot people.  Some say that having a hand gun will help keep them safe if someone threatens them with harm.  Bull again!  A hand gun is ineffective to self defense.  If someone really threatens you to the extent that a gun is required to defend yourself, a shot gun is a much more useful weapon.  You don’t need to be very accurate with a shotgun and, even better, the barrel end of a shotgun is very intimidating and may even eliminate the threat of harm all together.  Other folks say that “if everyone carried a side arm there would be less crime”.  Bull! Bull! Bull!  I challenge you to name one crime that was stopped because someone carried a hand gun.  Americas have among the highest number of weapons of any country in the world.  Yet, the number of violent crimes in America isn’t down.  It is the highest in the world.  Wake up America!  Hand guns, automatic weapons and extended clips do not prevent violent crime, they cause it!  The second amendment of the Constitution of the United State guarantees the right for citizens to bare arms but it does not guarantee the right to bear any and every type of arm every invented.  It doesn’t guarantee the right for Americans to own howitzers or tanks or .50 caliper machine guns.  Ignoring the fact that this amendment was initiated while our country was at war with a tyrannical nation and the right to bare arms was really referring to defending ourselves against such a nation, our constitution does not guarantee the right to carry hand guns and automatic weapons.  If such weapons were illegal in America, most likely Adam Lanza, the shooter, would not have been able to carry out such an horrendous act.  It’s only through the vain and selfish obsession of the National Rifle Association, that such weapons are still allowed in the United States.  These people seem to put they own measly desires ahead of the lives of hundreds of people killed by gun fire including those twenty sweet little kids in Newtown.  Now is the time to band together and force a strong, determined and sustained effort to outlaw hand guns, automatic weapons and extended magazines for rifles.  Those in Newtown, Connecticut should take the lead.  A forceful determined effort by 20, or 40 or 100 or one million totally dedicated families can produce revolutionary results.