Murder in Connecticut

by: DocJess

Fri Dec 14, 2012 at 18:01:10 PM EST

The full text of President Obama's statement on the murders in Connecticut is after the jump. He teared up when he gave the statement, and I believe we all agree that it was a tragedy beyond words. There is nothing worse in this world than losing a child. Nothing. It was not, however, a tragedy that we couldn't see coming, and it is something we can certainly do something about.

While the facts are still being sorted out, and the death count continues as there are still people in the hospital. As parents tonight are ripped to shreds as they cry: their plans had certainly been dinner with their child, maybe some TV since there is often no homework on Fridays. Little kids sent off to school: to learn, to grow. Certainly not to die. 

At what point do we consider the reality of the Second Amendment? When the Founding Fathers wrote it, "arms" were knives, arrows and muskets. They could not have foreseen that "arms" would include automatic weapons, or even dirty bombs. 

I have HAD IT with those people who think that it's okay for everyone to have a gun. These are generally the same people who want to discourage birth control and abortion, but once those kids are, obviously, 5, it's okay for them to die from bullet wounds. 

We live in an overly violent society, in all respects from murders, muggings, rapes, and assaults as well as entertainment and sports. And it's only getting worse: of the 12 deadliest shooting attacks in US history, six have occurred since 2007. It's not what is called "terrorism", it's not an external threat against the United States, it's one or two people, usually young men, who get a bunch of guns with less trouble than poor women can get birth control pills and they go kill people. 

Today, Lanza wanted to kill his mother. It appears he may also have killed other family members in New Jersey, and then off to Connecticut in a bullet proof vest. He sent 25 other people to their graves. 

Someone tell me why he, or the Columbine boys, or that guy in Colorado earlier this year, or the Virginia Tech guy...why can they so easily get something so lethal, so easily?

We may not have the political will to go up against the NRA, but there needs to be a discussion about why people can just get guns. And ammo. You say you need a gun because you live in a rural area and need to kill animals to eat? As a vegetarian, I don't get that either, but I accept it. Consider a shotgun you load, shoot and reload. Or a bow and arrow. You don't need a Kalashnikov. Like collecting old guns? Fine. No bullets. Think you need protection? There were 8 guns in the house of that football player who killed his girlfriend a few weeks ago...if there were none, she would have been protected from being shot to death.

Check out these facts on guns and killing.

It's time to say no to guns. Somehow we say no to cigarettes, and large vessels of soda, and transfats, but guns are okay (as are GMO foods, but that's another topic). 

It's time to stop the madness. Guns don't solve problems: they KILL people. 

Enough already.

"This afternoon, I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Gov. Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel their families."

"We've endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news, I react not as a president, but as anybody else would as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do."

"The majority of those who died today were children - beautiful, little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them - birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams."

"So our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost."

"Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors, as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children's innocence has been torn away from them too early and there are no words that will ease their pain."

"As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it is an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children. And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics."

"This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter, and we'll tell them that we love them, and we'll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight, and they need all of us right now. In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans, and I will do everything in my power as president to help, because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need, to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories, but also in ours."

"May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds."