People of all persuasions have had much to say about the tragedy in Connecticut, but there is one suggestion I find utterly ludicrous. In short that is…

If more citizens were armed then perpetrators of these crimes could be stopped by average citizens.

This is not the first time following a mass shooting I have heard the “Wild West” suggestion, and sadly I suspect it will not be the last. It’s sad because there are likely to be more mass murders, and sad because many gun advocates refuse to consider anything aiming to limit inappropriate use of guns. They tell us the founding fathers gave us the Second Amendment to protect us from a potentially tyrannical government, and any limitation will lead directly to tyranny. I ask… Did the founding fathers intend for elementary school teachers to be armed with lethal weapons to defend their students? Did the founding fathers want a reenactment of the shootout at the OK corral in a dark movie theater or a crowded mall? Would the founding fathers have crafted the Second Amendment differently if semi-automatic assault rifles and easily concealed handguns were common weapons of their time instead of mussel loading muskets?

Someone offered this rhetorical question…

Load a pistol and lay it on a table, then tell me how many people it kills?

Then the same person suggested we consider the case of the knife-wielding man who injured 22 children and one adult outside a primary school in central China… implying that limiting guns wouldn’t stop crazy people from doing crazy things.  Here’s how I answered his question…

When a crazy guy picks the loaded gun up off that table 20 innocent children and 7 adults are slaughtered... when a crazy guy picks the knife up from that table people are injured.

Both incidents are bad... and both are attributable to crazy people... but one incident is much worse than the other. I am all for making every possible effort to cure mental illness, but there is no way we will ever eradicate it. I want to make myself very clear...

I am not advocating that we "eradicate" guns!!!

I only ask that we look at all sides of this problem. Do what we can to minimize mental health problems in our society. Steer our society way from violence as a solution to problems. Make guns available to responsible people, but at the same time do everything possible to keep guns out of the hands of unstable and irresponsible people.

A while back I wrote an article titled "Too bad...", the main point of the article was...

Too bad we wait to make changes until the pain of not changing is worse than the pain of changing. 

So now I ask…

Is the slaughter of 20 innocent children and 7 adults, the horror for their families, the trauma for many dozens of other children and their families... is that enough pain to inspire us to change???

More guns is not the answer!!!