[Janice D. Soderling]

Here is the full statement in text.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...pierre-newtown

[David Rosenthal]

We aren't willing to spend the money to have enough teachers and we are supposed to fund armed security guards? Really? Well, armed security guards won't help me or my students avoid an errant gunshot from across 85th Avenue, which our window looks out on.

Meanwhile, here is an update: It turns out that the shooting death of the Grandma I mentioned yesterday was witnessed by several of our students. Also, today the district's building and grounds guys discovered why one of my colleagues has a leak in the roof of her newly constructed classroom -- bullet holes. One of our parents said there were gunshots right across the street last night at about 7:30 and the police didn't come. I am going on Winter Break now.

David R.

[John Riley]

"I don’t think I should have to give up my Bushmaster because a guy flipped out and killed a bunch of babies.”

A statement from a N.C. policeman quoted today in the Washington Post.

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by David Rosenthal

I could probably make posts like this every day or two, so I will stop now.

David,

I don't see why you should stop. As evidenced by their press conference today, the other side isn't stopping. Here, let me help. These are all just from the last few days:

3 Shot And Killed In Mich... 18-Year-Old Shot Multiple Times, Dies... Man Kills Wife, Teen, Himself... Man Shoots, Kills Own Son... Cops Shoot Teen Dead... Man Gunned Down In Parking Lot... 5 Dead In Spate Of Shootings... 2 Murdered In Philly... 2 Kansas Cops Shot Dead... Shooter Killed... 4 Die In Apparent Murder-Suicide... Ga. Cop Dies From Gunshot... Argument Leads Teen To Shoot Friend... Man Shot To Death... Teen Dies After Being Tied Up, Shot... Man Shot Dead In Street... Drug Deal Leads To Shooting Death... Mother Of 2 Killed In Road Rage Shooting... Man Shoots, Kills Intruder... 1 Killed In Coney Island... Man Dies From Gunshot Wounds... Cops Investigate Gun Death... Shooting Victim's Body Found On Bike Trail... Man Charged With Shooting Own Brother Dead... Man Dies After Being Shot In Chest... Body Of Shooting Victim Found In Pickup... Teen Arrested For Robbery Shooting Death... Man Carrying 2-Year-Old Son Shot Dead... Man Fatally Shot Near Home... Parolee Dies In Shooting... 1 Killed In Buffalo Shooting... Man Shot Dead In Apartment Complex... Street Gun Battle Kills Grandma Bystander... Man, Woman Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide... Woman Shot Dead By Intruder... 14-Year-Old Arrested Over Fatal Gun Attack... Man Found Shot Dead In Parking Lot... Woman Shot In Face By Ex-Boyfriend... 1 Woman, 3 Men Shot Dead... 2 Die In Attempted Robbery... Army Reservist Shot To Death In Alley... Man Shot To Death In Bodega... 2 Shot Dead In Burned House... Man Shot During Break-In... Man Fatally Shot... 20-Year-Old Gunned Down... Man Shoots Self During Police Pursuit... 1 Killed In Baltimore Shooting... Cops ID Shooting Victim... 60-Year-Old Man Shot Dead... Shot Man's Body Found In Vacant House.... Woman Shot And Killed Outside Her Home... Shooting Victim Was 'Trying To Turn Life Around'... Slain Shooting Victim Found In Street.... Driving Altercation Leads To Shooting, 1 Dies... 3-Year-Old Dies In Accidental Shooting... Man Turns Self In After Allegedly Shooting Wife... Man Shot Dead Outside Home... 3 Slain In Separate New Orleans Shootings... Cops Investigate Shooting Death... Man Shot Dead In Ohio... Teen Shot To Death... Man Dies After Being Shot Multiple Times... Man Charged Over Son's Shooting Death... Cops Find 2 Men Shot Dead... 1 Dies In Shooting... Man Charged Over Gun Killing... 1 Shot Dead In Confrontation... Man Charged With Murder Over Shooting... Motel-Owner Shot And Killed... Husband Shoots Estranged Wife Dead... Suspect Arrested Over Deputy's Shooting Death... Police Probe Fatal Shooting... Cops Kill 2 Suspects In 3 Shooting Deaths... Man Killed Fighting Back Against Robber... Man Killed In Home Invasion.... Nightclub Shooting Kills 1... Child Brain Dead After Drive By Shooting... Man Charged Over Shooting Of Ex-Wife... Body Found In Vacant House... Teen Fatally Shot...

Sadly, the links don't come through, but you can find them here. (In case the page changes, I've saved a text file with all the links.)

Under the NRA's plan, we need an armed guard in every school, mall, theater, every single place people are likely to congregate. And every other place too. I think people may be shielded from the extent of gun violence in America. Maybe the only cure is to actually talk about it. So please don't stop!

Peace,

Bill

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

Originally Posted by Don Jones

Well, this makes me sick!

The NRA, America's most powerful lobby other than AIPAC, has spoken. Yes, folks, it's time to have an armed gunman in EVERY school in the U.S. Absolutely no accountability from these people. It's utterly shocking.

I don't think I can look Pro. Dowling in the eye...

Don

Did you catch his veiled desire for a national registry for the mentally ill? This statement is beyond belief. These folks are bat shit crazy. Maybe this will backfire on him. If not, I officially secede from the species.

[Skip Dewahl]

Look, I'm not for indiscriminate ownership of guns either, but you have to understand that you are reinforcing the idea that some of the people you cannot stand hold by trying to remake this society into an egalitarian Utopia based not on merit but on the credo that everyone has the same right to resources in relatively the same amount, no matter whether or not they deserve them. For that you'd have to take away too much of the pie from the successful to make it worth their bothering with all the long years of work that it takes to to bake it. Why not become as mediocre as the old Soviet Union was, and bow to a supreme dictator. Later of course you'll have to instill a sense of patriotism by telling them whom to hate. So, instead of shooting each other by owning too many guns, the firepower will be strictly in the hands of the military, restricted for use in checking Un-Utopian ideas, and spreading the faith overseas. You people still don't get it that folks here do not want to amalgamate into a one-world failure, but lead by example instead, and depose overbearing tyrannies from time to time. Keep making them paranoid beyond what I consider a healthy skepticism, and you won't achieve any kind of gun control in our lifetimes. And no, it's not only the Doomsday Preppers that I'm talking about. You think you have the numbers now with your god in office, but keep this in mind: Americans are Americans, not simply ethnicities. There are still many of the good old teachings rolling around in the heads of those you consider converts, and I don't think you'll soon get the majority to proselytize for you. If you ever do, I hope to be environmentally unfriendly worm-food by then, perhaps join the cows in one last emission of smelly fumes.

[Janice D. Soderling]

What silliness. What does the Soviet Union have to do with this argument on gun control?

[Skip Dewahl]

Because to get any sort of gun control you'll have to loosen some of the perceived liberal ideas that these people think you liberals hold and that they don't agree with: The world seen as one large commune = communism. In short, they don't trust you, Janice. The gun represents one big middle finger of individual freedom in their minds, not to be relinquished, which they equate with taking away their nationhood and turning them into a one-world amoeba, which is what they now see Europe as.

[John Whitworth]

If they see Europe, which they have never seen, as a one-world amoeba, then they are as ignorant as savage tribesmen in Pakistan (also armed to the teeth), which of course they are. Perhaps they shouldn't send their children to school where they will learn nothing but lies.

I think what you say is very possibly true, Skip, and needs pondering on.

[Michael F]

From Jonathan Franzen's Freedom. It resonated strongly with me when I read it, and now I find it chilling.

“It’s all circling around the same problem of personal liberties,” Walter said. “People came to this country for either money or freedom. If you don’t have money, you cling to your freedoms all the more angrily. Even if smoking kills you, even if you can’t afford to feed your kids, even if your kids are getting shot down by maniacs with assault rifles. You may be poor, but the one thing nobody can take away from you is the freedom to fuck up your life whatever way you want to.”