Another school shooting...

[Mr T]

This Sandy Hook school massacre is terrible... Any thoughts and please no gun debate p**s off as it is a laboured old debate...

[Karlsweldt]

It was indeed a major tragedy. One of the worst in American history!
Gun control is one issue.. but the people who use guns must be trained and certified for their use.. same as automotive drivers or air pilots!
From the most recent news releases, the guns used were purchased legally by the mother and kept secure. But some chemical process in the boy's head went awry, and he "snapped" into the frenzied state of a murderous entity.
Forensics experts are now doing intricate studies of the chemistry of the killer's mind and body, to determine if certain drugs were a cause of the rampage. Possibly a defective DNA strain that was dormant may be remotely responsible.
A sad side aspect of the tragedy is the scammers who want to ply on the mercy and pain of the suffering families.. and the public, looking for ill-gotten gains. Not to mention the false reporting on the Internet about being one of the "main" parties in the incident!!!

[cw4cam]

My heart cries for those teachers and students. I have grand children those ages and I can't imagine how I would react if something like that happened to one of them.
I believe the school system is in some way to blame because why in the world would a school have GLASS front doors? I live in south east Kentucky and I called our school superintendent and asked her if we had any schools in the county with glass doors. The answer, "all the schools have steel doors". This would have stopped that gentleman from invading Sandy Hook school. A bad day in our nation.

[Karlsweldt]

Depending on the "safe" rating of a neighborhood, building doors may have lots of only plain glass in them.. or be mostly fireproof steel doors, with only tiny viewing windows (at normal eye level).. high above the entry locksets. But most will have embedded wire mesh laminate glass, to prevent shattering if struck harshly. Minimal safety, but not much will stop point-blank shots to void them.
Definitely, all schools and public buildings will now revise security measures. Security cameras will be a very important addition, if not already in place.
Allowing teachers (or other staff) in schools to carry licensed firearms is not the answer.. perpetrators will only sense that they "must shoot first or be shot". Stun guns? Maybe.. but still not a good outcome. And it may be all too easy for a juvenile student to gain access to one, and vent rage on other students!!

[c327]

Everyone agrees that this was a horrible thing that happened. It seems to me that all to many folks are looking to fix blame some place but doing that won't bring back those folks that lost their lives.

My thinking about the real cause of something like this has to do with young society being subjected to so much violence as they go through early life like violent games, movies, toys and the like. I blame the adults that write the scripts to these violent games and movies, the media and advertising that promote and talk about them and the producers. I think about the foul language and sex you read about and see on national TV that folks call entertainment today. Young folks are brain washed to think all this violence that they are taught an an early ages is supposed to be entertainment for them and normally accepted as being just fine and dandy and then one day someone has a bad day and then they act it out for real.

The fix to this deadly craziness will take years and years to fix once they figure out what it is they need to fix and that is peoples general thinking in what is normally moral and right and not trying to make a fast buck on all the violence that is for sale and available out there today.

Firearms, bombs, and a host of other deadly and dangerous things have always been out there and by them selves if left alone won't hurt any one. Make all the firearms laws one wants won't solve any thing to prevent bad things like this from happening. We need to find a way to fix young society and the things they are subjected to through out life. Their minds are being damaged at an early age by so many violent things they come in contact with as they grow up.

Parents, politicians, and media are all to share the blame because over time we allowed our children to come in daily contact with all these bad elements.

[Karlsweldt]

Not to run off the topic with this thread, but extreme violence can happen in any aspect of life.. from demented individuals. They may be given medication to "control" their actions, but what about monitoring to ensure the meds are taken as required?
A recent news story about a demented arsonist/killer in New York State reveals he spent time in jail for killing his grandmother (years ago), then now he kills his sister (as yet not positively identified) and sets fire to a house, then kills responding fire fighters! Then he kills himself.
Enacting more gun control laws will not change the habits of demented individuals.. they can get guns on the 'black market' very easily. What is needed is stronger punishment for the crime of illegal possession/use of guns.. including mandatory hard labor. Stop coddling criminals with medications and "comfortable" incarnation! Knowing there will be painful punishment for a crime should deter most perpetrators.. hopefully.
Yes, assault firearms should be banned from public use, restricted to active military personnel or law enforcement officers.
As with this school shooting, it is an echoing of several others.. Columbine, for example.. where some individuals want to gain notoriety from rekindling the previous tragedies.

[Mr T]

I think it is the countries overall mentality which is at fault. In the UK we have had our fair share of mass shootings which has resulted in gun restrictions of the extreme (nearly the tightest in the world) and yet we still have shootings. Yet countries like Canada have a large amount of firearms per head of population and of recent years have not had any mass killings I have heard of.

Terrible tragedy in NY too...

[c327]

My final comment on this subject:

The fix to this horrible trend here in the United States will not be fixed any time soon, if ever. The reason being that big money and politics are involved that result in our children's minds being polluted with sex and violence to the extent that as these children grow up into young adults and beyond that they are taught by society that so many of these violent and degrading things they have be in contact with all their lives is normal and entertaining.

Society has gone totally mad and as a human beings have lost their moral compass.

Treating mental illness is after the fact as it pertains to this subject. Instead of treating the cause, we are trying to treat the symptoms. More gun control will not solve this issue and will only weaken the fabric of the United States.

Putting armed security in schools is only a good temporary short term fix. Society needs to be fixed, big time.

Elvis has left the building.................