Are you surprised by the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.? We didn’t think so. Heartbroken? Yes. But surprised?
We will search the news for a full accounting of the lost lives and shattered families. We will comb through the details. Will we stumble on the reason we keep enduring such sorrow? Where is the National Rifle Association to comfort us in this moment of disconsolation? Where is the evidence that our freedom can be purchased only by having the right to own 100 million guns?
We must have guns openly displayed, concealed guns, tiny pink handguns. The mentally unsafe and the psychologically unsound, the angry and the alienated, all must have access to iron, copper and graphite. Background checks, sales restrictions, taggants — no limits can be placed on freedom.
President Barack Obama said what we’ve come to expect in these moments, expressing a calibrated measure of one part horror, two parts sorrow. We know he was sincere. But he lost us when he said: “We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”
Are we? If meaningful action could occur “regardless of politics,” it would’ve taken place many thousands of homicides ago. It is pure political cowardice that has stood in the way of “meaningful action” — the abject capitulation of the nation’s political class to the gun lobby. Even Justice Antonin Scalia has acknowledged that the Second Amendment is not absolute. “We do not read the Second Amendment to protect the right of citizens to carry arms for any sort of confrontation,” he wrote in District of Columbia v. Heller. Yet in Washington and state legislatures across the country, the NRA’s agenda holds sway.
So what do we do? We train our police and first-responders and trauma teams to get better at rescue. They do increasingly excellent work. Response times in Connecticut and in the fatal shootings at a shopping mall in Oregon earlier this week were said to be lightning fast. From the year’s shootings — the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, the movie theater in Colorado — the grief counselors have learned more and more.
It’s hard to imagine a sadder, more unsatisfying patch — the available solution to the slaughter of innocents is our ability to get better at cleaning the wounds and burying the dead. Until America’s leaders take on the gun lobby, until a president expends political capital on meaningful action, we will get better at mourning still.
Bloomberg View (Dec. 15)
1994 to 2008 (since the Brady law has been in place) there has been 97 Million background checks to those buying guns OR transferring guns from one adult to another….how many people where denied out of 97 million?….1.5 million. Guns are not statistically going to criminals in this country….guns are not the problem………this is an issue society will have to change…..
It is a forgone conclusion that criminals will generally find ways to acquire guns, as the NRA is fond of pointing out. Most American, however, are especially concerned about people with anger management or mental health issues having almost unrestricted access to guns. Criminals often shoot each other but it’s the sociopaths who wreak the most havoc with mindless revenge or random killings. Mandatory background checks (no exceptions!) is one way to at least try and keep them from getting guns, especially in the heat of the moment.
My understanding is this person tried to buy a rifle and was turned away because he didn’t want to wait 14 days. The laws worked to keep him from buying a gun but laws can only do so much.
The best way to protect our children is more secure schools. These cowards target places that have weak security. We can work on mental health issues and ways to keep mentally ill people from possessing weapons but more gun laws won’t help. Connecticut has strict gun laws. This shooter was denied buying a rifle because he didn’t want to wait the 14 days required. The laws worked to keep him from buying a weapon. Laws can only do so much to prevent violence. We have laws against murder and it happens all over the world every day. If the President is serious about protecting children he will offer up a bill to earmark some of the Dept of Educations budget for school security officers. Similiar to President Clintons bill to provide funding for police departments. Eventually we will have to fund the positions as local communities but what better use of tax money? If President Obama is going to play politics as usual by saying gun control and Obamacare will solve this issue then we should get ready for more tragedies.
The President is not playing politics over this tragedy. Shame on you. He wants to do something to stop the carnage, as do most decent Americans. He is not just looking at guns. He is saying everything will be on the table….that is to look at, discuss, consider. The Affordable Healthcare Act, for your information, is going to provide more help in the field of preventative care and trying to catch these mental health issues before they escalate and can lead to such tragedies as in CT,
You are the one being political because you are not happy the election did not go your way. Get over it.
Wait a sec….he said he approved of what Clinton did. So how are you so sure about your last two sentences?
Sickening. Inform yourself, please.
Obama has murdered innocent kids in 8 different countries. Please….sell that bs somewhere else.
“He wants to do something to stop the carnage” oh really? Ask some of the latest drone strike victims, the women and children, if any survived, about Obama and carnage….
Sickening and shameful…….
We get it. You don’t like Obama. But if asked to name a president that has clean hands, you’ll have no answer, will you?
Obama’s foreign policies are not ideal, though small scale, leader targeted attacks are a far better alternative to full scale war and nation building. I commend him for moving us in the right direction.
Had his past two opponents won election, I think a fresh full scale war would be far more likely. Though I did not vote for Obama the 2nd time around, I am thankful the lesser evil has prevailed – for our troops sake, and for the people of the world.
And there you have it. Good ol American apathy. Yup, let the lesser of two evils prevail. Who cares if they are both corporate banker puppets? lets pretend this guys different. welcome to the land of make believe….Except Obama has intensified W’s agenda and has gotten away with more than cheney could imagine. Fact. The right direction? Ndaa, the right direction? killing American citizens with no due process, the right direction? lying about his promise to champion Whistleblowers? The right direction? Refusing to reinstate Habeous corpus? The right direction? Wiretapping? banker bailouts? Obamacare? The right direction?
Ask the hundreds of women and children getting killed ( collateral damage ) by drone strikes, who happen to live nearby where some ” terrorist”is at the moment, if we are moving in the right direction? Ask them if ” leader targeted attacks” are doing the job….unbelievable……
Regardless of what you or I want, lesser evil politics is the reality and will be for the foreseeable future.
You are clearly not an objective person however if you think the Obama administration has been worse than the excesses of the Bush/Cheney admin, when it comes to both domestic and foreign policy. Yes, many of the Bush policies have been perpetuated obviously, which has been a disappointment, though as nice as the idea is, things simply aren’t going to change overnight, especially once precedent is set.
The NDAA was McCain’s baby. He had also campaigned to not only intensify action in Afghanistan, but estimated a continued presence in Iraq for perhaps 100 years. And sure, he was just joking about “Bomb Bomb Iran”? Right.
In congress, he opposed all of Obama’s withdrawal plans. His constant push to take action in Syria, Iran and everywhere else the neocons want to go has been unrelenting. What do you think a McCain presidency would have delivered us? Peace on Earth?
Just as much of the “anti-war” movement on the left disappeared overnight when Obama won in 08, the “anti-war” Republicans who have your back today, will be gone once they get their guy in the White House again and getting their pompoms ready for the next war. 99/100 going on about Obama’s drone strikes are partisan phonies, only looking to score political points – the dead civilians are nothing but a prop. Are you a phony too? Maybe not, though it sure sounds like you have a strong partisan slant and clearly lack perspective.
I voted for Johnson this year, and caucused for Paul – whos foreign policy views reflect my own. So save the preaching for someone else.
Clearly not objective? Really? Don’t think so. Just the facts. As far as Ndaa…you can’t pawn that one of on McCain, sorry.
I think Chris hedges says it far better than me, from his column at truthdig.com
“So it is with some morbid fascination that I watch Barack Obama, who has become the prime “dominatrix” of the liberal class, force us in this election to plead for more humiliation and abuse. Obama has carried out a far more egregious assault on our civil liberties, including signing into law Section 1021(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), than George W. Bush. Section 1021(b)(2), which I challenged in federal court, permits the U.S. military to detain American citizens, strip them of due process and hold them indefinitely in military facilities. U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest struck down the law in September. The Obama administration immediately appealed the decision. The NDAA has been accompanied by use of the Espionage Act, which Obama has turned to six times in silencing whistle-blowers. Obama supported the FISA Amendment Act so government could spy on tens of millions of us without warrants. He has drawn up kill lists to exterminate those, even U.S. citizens, deemed by the ruling elite to be terrorists.
The corporate state has successfully waged a campaign of fear to disempower voters and citizens. By intimidating voters through a barrage of propaganda with the message that Americans have to vote for the lesser evil and that making a defiant stand for justice and democracy is counterproductive, it cements into place the agenda of corporate domination we seek to thwart. This fear campaign, skillfully disseminated by the $2.5 billion spent on political propaganda, has silenced real political opposition. It has turned those few politicians and leaders who have the courage to resist, such as Stein and Ralph Nader, into pariahs, denied a voice in the debates and the national discourse. Capitulation, silence and fear, however, are not a strategy. They will guarantee everything we seek to avoid.”
I steer far clear of the two party circus. Strong partisan slant? Hardly. I don’t like rigged games……
The two party circus, as I said, like it or not, is the only viable game in town. So, what politicians do you admire?
I’m not pawning off the NDAA on McCain, though he is absolutely THE most adamant promoter in DC. That said, Obama and many Democrats and Republicans signed on as well, clearly. There is much blame to go around. Though the choice between McCain and Obama and Romney and Obama is pretty easy. Option C would be my choice, though only 1% of America agrees with me.
Wrong again. Obama signed Ndaa on New Year’s Eve. Lost a court hearing and immediately appealed. Unprecedented. Says a lot. He never had to sign it. He did. On New Year’s Eve. Lost in court. And is still fighting for it. Seems pretty adamant to me. Maybe not to the corporate media? Didn’t see a lot about that Ndaa lawsuit on CNN or fox did we? Or any other” news” source.
How about the myriad other lies and wrongs I cited?
It’s the only viable game in town as long as we sit back and let it be.
Jimmy, seriously, you’re only seeing what you want to see in my posts. I am not championing Obama or the NDAA. I am saying he and the Democrats in general are the lesser evil when it comes to foreign policy issues.
I’m a big proponent of 3rd parties. As I said, I voted for Johnson. I’m not sitting back and letting it be, but one has to face reality.
Clearly you have no idea of obamas push for and lawsuits regarding Ndaa. And indeed you did say McCain was responsible. Unreal….
And as far as the lesser evil bs goes, again….
“By intimidating voters through a barrage of propaganda with the message that Americans have to vote for the lesser evil and that making a defiant stand for justice and democracy is counterproductive, it cements into place the agenda of corporate domination we seek to thwart. This fear campaign, skillfully disseminated by the $2.5 billion spent on political propaganda, has silenced real political opposition. ”
Until we do something about it it never is going to change. You will never, never, win a fixed game. Sorry. Obama is just another evil lying hypocritical corprprate shill. Lesser of two evils? Hardly. Indeed, more evil. When you have the yuppies and the ” liberals” cheering drone strikes because their guy won is sickening and shameful. There is no middle ground here. No lesser evil. That’s capitulation. Weak. You’ve already conceded. So has the rest of the country.
Once more, as you obama peace lovers who no doubt now want an assault rifle ban lay your heads on your pillows tonight think of the hundreds of little kids mr peace prize has maimed and murdered in the name of fighting “terrorism”.
And, at least acknowledge what you post. My god….
Good luck…
Look at our foreign policy. Lesser of two evils? Nothing,NOTHING, has changed!! It’s worse! You people are truly in denial. …..
The only recourse is civil disobedience to the corporate stare. Democrat republican whatever…
And who is playing politics?
If Obama wants to help children he’ll stop dropping drone bombs that already have killed hundreds of kids
agreed, better opsec in schools should have been priority after columbine. They need to be locked down during school hours from inside. There needs to be a front door checkpoint, screening area, maybe a set of double doors with a remote lock “buzzer”.
We used to have a list of approved people who come see us or pick us up from the school, they should expand these polices to people allowed on school grounds. Hospitals, Police departments, government buildings including courts all have precautions like these in place many are public or quasi public buildings so public schools should be require the same standards.
Obama? Whatever? Fake tears and a fake agenda to boot.
Please, mr. Nobel peace prize, please tell us all why no “tears” for the hundreds of innocent women and children you’ve murdered with drones in eight different countries? Hmmm?
Shame on you and the sheep you’ve duped
Certain middle eastern schools don’t have shootings …….oh wait they openly arm thier teachers….so I guess knowing this even sociopaths will not try.In this country we protect our children with condoms and sex ed,maybe we need to rethink our way of looking at ourselves and not at our laws. Video games and guns kill not people , this seems to be the message of the day. The good Lord allows these things to happen because we have kicked him out of our schools , after all he offends some people and we can not have that!
Tragedy no surprise if this article is correct: http://www.pakalertpress.com/2012/12/19/two-mass-shootings-connected-to-libor-scandal/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pakalert+%28Pak+Alert+Press%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail
People believe there aren’t restrictions and rules in place. There are, seriously if anyone reads this and thinks; NO BACKGROUND CHECKS OMG?!?! or MENTALLY DEFECTIVE PEOPLE CAN HAVE GUNS?!?! go read the 1934 NFA and the 1968 GCA.
We need to find appropriate and more effective ways to enforce laws already on the books. We need to have more continuity between the health system and legal system.