[Janice D. Soderling]

I would like to reiterate what Michael said; Thank you, Rhina, for an articulate and meaningful response to the subject under discussion and for the diagram. The Atlantic is a source I trust; it is one of the few news magazines from the US that I continue to subscribe to but I missed that article. Probably in the stack of unopened mags, I'm going to go look for the entire article.

The last significant national gun control legislation, the assault weapons ban, expired in 2004.

Michael said

What we have to do is flood our Senators and Representatives with messages, demanding that they grow a backbone.

I made the same suggestion on a Facebook thread when I heard of this tragedy. No one will read a thousand twitters and no one will read a thousand postcards either but cards are physical evidence.

I'd like to relate a brief anecdote. About three decades ago the national newspaper I subscribed to broke with an old policy to not print sex-trafficking advertisements from sex clubs, escort services etc. A friend of mine, a journalist on another paper, and I started immediately a campaign to urge all our friends to send a postcard to the editor-in-chief protesting this. It helped that I happened to attend a couple of conferences that week where all the delegates were women who had extensive networks of their own. Within two weeks the newspaper ended that new page and it has not started it again since. It was a simple action and gave results.

If every person in the United States who wants gun control sent targeted post cards to key decision-makers, say the congressmen and senators representing their state, the President, and others who influence. Don't be content to send only your postcards, use your social media to get your friends to do the same. And why not use the social media at the same time. But I do believe that sackfuls of postcards are a message themselves.

That is much more effective than bemoaning all the things you perceive to be wrong with the society as in post 55. Get off your butts and onto the bandwagon.

And send postcards protesting or supporting bills in preparation such as these below.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress-legacy/the-112th-congress-addresses-gun-control-20121214 (updated in Dec. 2012)

Here is a video of the history of gun controls. (CBS news) http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_1...ol-laws-video/

Do it.