The Wild West comes East

I am saddened to feel the need to write about gun violence yet again.  But the shooting in Connecticut has brought out the same parade of gun fanatics and just plain wing-nuts. There are plenty of interpretations of the 4th amendment,  but clearly no sane and law-abiding citizen needs a weapon capable of shooting multiple rounds without reloading.  Gun-owners, let's get rational!  And to those who blame "the media" for the seeming increase in these horrific events in the belief that reporting them inspires others, may I remind you, if you are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., etc., etc., you ARE the media.

Obviously there are huge problems to be solved here, but we cannot tackle them all successfully.

Guns ARE the problem, folks! Specifically, those that shoot many rounds without reloading. NO ONE outside of the military or a properly trained and deployed police unit needs one with that capability.

I just finished reading a blog post by a woman dealing with her own mentally ill and sometimes violent teenage son, giving an unexpected perspective on this issue:

Anarchist Soccer Mom

A friend commented that it is easy to talk about gun control but harder to talk about mental health.  I believe we need to talk about both; as I heard someone say this weekend, "why does it seem easier for people to get a gun than proper mental health care?  Clearly an exaggeration, but it is a good point.  However, after reading Soccer mom's piece, which is brilliant and touching, ask yourself, "do we not owe it to society to keep weapons of mass destruction out of this young man's hands any way we can?"

I found the below link interesting because it seems to be an attempt to address the gun-control issue as a whole from he perspective of urban violence, but that is not the issue here.

Not to in any way minimize the tragedy of violence in the Bronx, but the issue on everyone's mind right now is the tragedy of the mass murder of schoolchildren in a "nice" (white middle-class) suburban town.
I would like to submit that if we cannot in any way at least minimize the toll in horrific events like this one, in relatively stable, fairly successful communities,  how can we expect to improve the situation in our inner cities?  Let's start with the small step of prohibiting people from owning WMDs, because, face it, folks, that is what assault weapons are.

Here is the project about the Bronx, well done:
Bronx men talk about guns