Had to stop the car & cry like a baby after Jim called me and told me who & how many were taken from us today. Our prayers go out to.....everyone. My heart is broken.

Made me feel sick all day

Jim and Tere you did not cry alone, and Mogan David there were many that were also feeling sick all day. There are many questions that will never be answered.

What was really upsetting was seeing the pictures of those babies on the TV this morning. Up until now, I was mad as hades that Congress has not had the gumption to stand up to the NRA. But, that turned to extreme sadness when I saw the pictures. I am not against people having handguns and hunting rifles but no one in the world will convince me that civilians should have essentially what I had to use in the Army. I often wished the the Army did not need them.

Tom Taylor

So sad... again

I was teaching high school when Columbine happened. After several more of these type of incidents it became clear that almost all of these severely disturbed individuals showed obvious warning signs prior to acting out their rage.

During my years in the classroom I was often disappointed to find that the 5 hours a week I spent with them was more time than they spent in the same room with their parents. Assuming, of course, that they actually lived with their parent(s).

We need to pay attention to our children...

I always told my students they owed it to themselves, society, and the disturbed individual to pay attention to these desperate people, and do what we can to get them help before something terrible happens. Intervention can be very successful. Think for a moment about the people you know...

I'm not sure any kind of "control regulation" will ever help this... A gun is no more dangerous than a kitchen knife, ax, or a baseball bat until it is used by someone in a rage against others. All have caused grievous harm in the wrong hands and all can be accessed by any determined person, legally or not.

Many of them have already been diagnosed as mentally ill but can not afford or will not accept treatment. In this state we have seen a steady reduction in availability and access to mental health care. Many very disturbed people are out in the streets...

This isn't going away. This is one of my personal arguments for re-evaluating the cost/benefit of public mental health care. Can we afford NOT to take care of these people?

We CAN do better for our children, we used to... When I was a young boy, people left their keys in the ignition, purses on the seat. Nobody locked their bikes (or their houses!) Other than occasional joyrides and mild vandalism, nothing ever happened.

If you know anyone who is in a mentally confused state, check on them. The holidays can be very stressful.

Take care, be well.

Steve, I agree with your statements, a gun is an inanimate object. We will never know why he did what he did, nor can we undo it.

A very sad situation.

One can list out a lot of reasons why we are seeing these mass killings. In my mind a primary supporting reason is the attention they bring by the media. It is almost insane anymore. I am sure that Obama and the Speaker were glad to get the press off their tail about the cliff as it the case when Tiger screwed up and the next thing comes out and gets it off his tail.

It is a shame it takes something like the killing of all these little children to get congress off its you know what to do something about gun control. Let me rephrase it: "High powered assault military grade weapons, magazines, and ammo control". And like Mr VW said before me more resources need to be put into mental health issues. I provide advocacy for paranoid Schizophrenic people. There is not enough being done for them or those with PTSD.

tom taylor

quote:

So sad... again
"I was teaching high school when Columbine happened. After several more of these type of incidents it became clear that almost all of these severely disturbed individuals showed obvious warning signs prior to acting out their rage.
During my years in the classroom I was often disappointed to find that the 5 hours a week I spent with them was more time than they spent in the same room ......"

Steve so very well stated.

I too was deeply taken back by what happened...we had a friend of the family lose a grandchild in the Colorado theater shooting.

I guess I have a different look on things. I ask, "would this have happened if the principal and/or teachers and/or janitors had been allowed to have conceal carry weapons? What if they were trained and had had a simple biometric, fingerprint activated gun safe to quickly access a loaded handgun?"

We'll never be able to take the guns from the criminals. They'll always have guns. The way to fight back is to arm the citizenry to defend themselves. It's sad that it comes to the point where we have to defend ourselves like this.

If the teachers had CLEET style training/CCL training, they might have had a fighting chance against this crazy person instead of trying to shield the children with their bodies.....

Concerning the Colorado shooting, in our state I don't it would have been as likely to have happened as there are so many people who conceal carry (and as of November, we now have legal, open carry as well.) I would have expected 4 or 5 trained people in a theater at any time who could have at least taken out or detoured that shooter....

I also blame the gory TV, the gory movies, and the gory video games kids play that take them away from reality. I think many times they are re-inacting what they have played for hours on a video game....

The last 5 years my school had 3 armed off duty police officers in the halls.

One of the students asked (during a lockdown drill) what would happen if someone tried to get into my classroom. I told them he would have to kill me before he could get to them, but I would kill him first... (I didn't say how, but I'm pretty sure they believed me!)

(For starters, there would be about 2-3 gallons of concentrated sulfuric acid in a wastebasket aimed for the face as soon as the door opened into the darkened room...)

a trip line to take him down... covered with fire blanket...then I'd get really serious with that baseball bat in the closet... you get the picture...

I would have gladly brought my pistol to work if allowed. I would have felt better.

Sadly, I feel more than ever compelled to carry it all the time.

... and there was the one they called "Steve" -- intelligent, articulate, mild-mannered, polite
M O N S T E R

This quote still runs true. "Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have guns."

During the early part of the US involvement in WWII the Japanese reconsidered invading our country because too many citizens had guns.

There are reports that the uncle of the attacker says the guy was prescribed Fanapt.

From Drugs.com:
Stop taking this medication and call your doctor at once if you have a serious side effect such as:
[skipping ahead 4 lines]
•thoughts about suicide or hurting yourself;



From Drugs.com, side effects of the drug Fanapt:
Psychiatric side effects including restlessness, aggression, and delusion have been reported frequently. Hostility, decreased libido, paranoia, anorgasmia, confusional state, mania, catatonia, mood swings, panic attack, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bulimia nervosa, delirium, polydipsia psychogenic, impulse-control disorder, and major depression have been reported infrequently.

quote:

From Drugs.com:
Stop taking this medication and call your doctor at once if you have a serious side effect such as:
[skipping ahead 4 lines]
•thoughts about suicide or hurting yourself

Maybe we need more drug control, no additional gun control.

This entire episode is just sickening. I'm not an NRA member, but I believe that our 2nd amendment rights need to be protected/defended.

In regards to the quote "the guy was prescribed Fanapt" that sounds like someone looking for an excuse to me. Like blaming a spoon because you're fat or a gun because someone used it to kill our kids.

I'll wait until the police get done with their investigation to see what is true and what is hyperbole - too much of the earlier reporting on this was 100% off the mark.

Our society has taken God out of our schools and in our daily lives - our moral compasses are demagnetized. We seem to be spinning out of control. Yet, they tell us that violence like this is declining... it doesn't seem that way.

But each generation feels that way too. In my life I've had to deal with hiding under a desk because of "The Bomb". I've seen race riots within my school districts in the early 80's. Times Square - Fort Apache - World Trade Center ✈ - Aurora Theater - Columbine - etc...

Does the Billy Joel song, ♪♫"We didn't start the fire"♪♫ speak to you? I'm sure we could easily write a few more verses without blinking an eye.

Sometimes I get this feeling that we're witnessing a modern day version of the "Collapse Of The Roman Empire".

I believe that there is good and evil. I believe that there are still many good people out there. I am still hopeful. But an incident like this would make me want to carry a gun, not ban them.