Our thoughts, prayers and helping hand goes out to those families and friends of the victims. I imagine these young families need help most with funeral expenses (who has life insurance on a 1st grader?). Please contact the Connecticut Salvation Army to help.
Horror and outrage is expected in the aftermath of such terror, but aside from a violently jerking knee, where should Obama lede us, exactly? First, a few headlines from this morning's G00gle news search for 'gun control,' and they all point left:
Huffington Post: Could shooting be a gun-control tipping point?
ABC News: Obama Ready for 'Meaningful Action' on Gun Control
WaPo blog: White House petition for gun control gaining traction
MSDNC: Bloomberg, House Dems call for stricter gun control
That's the hyperbole, now for some facts, courtesy of the AP:
THE TOLL: 28 dead, including the gunman, Adam Lanza;
THE SUSPECT: 20-year-old Adam Lanza was an honor student in H.S.; A law enforcement official said he may have had a personality disorder; Adam Lanza had no prior arrests, convictions, or trouble with the law;
GUNS: Two pistols, a Glock and a Sig Sauer, were found inside the school. A .223-caliber rifle was found in the back of the car that Lanza drove to school. Lanza's mother had four weapons legally registered, and his father had two. Adam did not personally own any firearms.
The urgent plea is for more restrictive gun control laws to prevent future tragedies, as if the current laws that were demanded in decades past were an exercise in futility. Federal law already restricts who can own, possess, or sell a gun. The National Firearms Act makes it unlawful for a person to have a gun not specifically registered to them; or possess automatic weapons; or use silencer on a weapon; or possess a sawed-off shotgun; or possess explosive devices without proper use license.
The Brady Act makes it illegal to own a gun if you:
- Were convicted of a crime punishable by being in prison for more than one year;
- Are a fugitive from justice;
- Are addicted to, or illegally use, any controlled substance;
- Have been ruled mentally defective by a court, or are committed to a mental institution;
- Are an illegal alien living in the United States unlawfully;
- Received a dishonorable discharge from the U.S. Armed Forces;
- Renounced your U.S. citizenship, if you are a U.S. citizen;
- Are subject to a court restraining order that involves your ‘intimate partner,’ your partner’s child, or children; or
- Were convicted of domestic violence in any court of a misdemeanor.
Plus, it is a felony(53a-217b) to transport guns onto or near school grounds.
Where, exactly, should Obama lede us?
