My wife is hoping to send handmade fleece blankets to every staff member at Sandy Hook Elementary as a way to "hug them". Please visit her Facebook page and help...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hugs-For-Hope-Blankets/419076008165325?fref=ts

If Targets broke into our house or committed other crimes I would agree with you.

 

Targets always stand still...criminals don't

Targets will just wait to be shot and won't rush you...criminals will rush you

Targets will never have a buddy attack you while you are reloading from shooting the first target...criminals won't wait

Targets are "dead or stopped" with one shot...criminals? not always

 

plus when you are shooting targets you control the conditions...criminals by nature try to use surprise

nerves and adrenaline don't really come into play shooting a target at the range at noon on a Friday...but at 2am on a Monday night nerves and adrenaline will over whelm you making at least your first few shots less than perfect against a moving and defensive criminal.

 

I can make any normal pistol or rifle shot at the range on the first shot any time...I would not want to risk my families safety to only having 5 shots against unknown number of criminals.

 

I am sure you can cite me at least one example of a situation where so many criminals rushed an innocent person in his home that he needed a clip bigger than 5 to defend himself. I have never heard of that happening so please help me out. That is not a rhetorical request. I seriously would like to know if a situation like that has ever occurred.

 

Meanwhile, stories from survivors are surfacing that say the reason they made out it out was due to the shooter having to reload.

 

I will add to this that making arguments like the one above is why the NRA is disliked by more than half the country. For many NRA and shooting enthusiasts, they will never agree to any gun control rules and that turns people off.

I just heard from someone that watches Joel Scarborough on MSNBC that he was privy to information that was not released to the public. Things that made him unable to sleep at night like the fact that the shooter lined those kids up and shot them execution style for one.

Newtown ask that gifts stop, as they are overwhelmed: Newtown asks for an end to donated school supplies, gifts after Sandy Hook tragedy, says town is overwhelmed - NY Daily News

I am sure you can cite me at least one example of a situation where so many criminals rushed an innocent person in his home that he needed a clip bigger than 5 to defend himself. I have never heard of that happening so please help me out. That is not a rhetorical request. I seriously would like to know if a situation like that has ever occurred.[/Quote] Lexington home-invasion victim dies in shooting; 4 people facing charges | Public Safety | Kentucky.comThis guy was attacked by four people trying to get into his home, he shot two and was also shot (maybe while he was reloading). He did save the lives of two girls that were in the apartment with him at the time.

 

Meanwhile, stories from survivors are surfacing that say the reason they made out it out was due to the shooter having to reload.

Many more stories of the shooter backing away or killing themselves when faced with someone else with a gun. In almost every case when someone else with a firearm confronts one of these mass shooters they back away and kill them selves just like recent Mall Shooting and Sandy Hook.

 

 

I will add to this that making arguments like the one above is why the NRA is disliked by more than half the country. For many NRA and shooting enthusiasts, they will never agree to any gun control rules and that turns people off.

I am a Member of the NRA, I don't have problems with back ground checks or even waiting periods. I am opposed to banning guns, ammo or magazines however.

Lexington home-invasion victim dies in shooting; 4 people facing charges | Public Safety | Kentucky.comThis guy was attacked by four people trying to get into his home, he shot two and was also shot (maybe while he was reloading). He did save the lives of two girls that were in the apartment with him at the time.

 

Many more stories of the shooter backing away or killing themselves when faced with someone else with a gun. In almost every case when someone else with a firearm confronts one of these mass shooters they back away and kill them selves just like recent Mall Shooting and Sandy Hook.

 

 

I am a Member of the NRA, I don't have problems with back ground checks or even waiting periods. I am opposed to banning guns, ammo or magazines however.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I am not an NRA member but I am not anti guns at all. I would need to be convinced before supporting any gun bans. I am in favor of a magazine size limit. Perhaps 5 is too low. Does 10 work for you?

It was 10 and honestly that was a pain in the butt when you go to the range to shoot. I really think that magazine size bans is much to do about nothing. It sounds good, but in all honestly it (a ban) on mag size will do nothing but increase the price on existing mags. Prolific shooter can change mags pretty quickly, less than 2 seconds in almost all cases. By the time you realize they are reloading they have already reloaded.

 

I am for: Expanding background checks to include HIPPA protected Mental Health issues and up to date Domestic Violence Orders.

I would support a waiting period on firearms purchases.

 

I am against:Anything that makes shooting more expensive; including taxes on ammo and gun registration fees.

I am against a national gun registry

I am against banning any current legal firearm

Why HIPPA protected? Pretending that crazies aren't crazy when someone knows they are is much closer to the heart of this problem than any type of gun control in my opinion.

Why HIPPA protected? Pretending that crazies aren't crazy when someone knows they are is much closer to the heart of this problem than any type of gun control in my opinion.

 

 

Most mentally ill people are not dangerous. Those that are, will not get weapons by legal means. Many dangerous mentally ill people have prison/jail records which should come into play if they should apply.

 

Where would you draw the line in the sand to define who is and is not mentally ill? Millions of people in this country are on antidepressants, a small percentage of which have the potential to be dangerous. Many people are seriously psychotic but wouldn't hurt a fly. Other psychotic people get paranoid and are dangerous. Many mentally ill people have such disorganized thought processes that they couldn't possibly plan taking a shower much less a large scale massacre.

 

The people of this world have a lot more to fear from those with personality disorders than mental illness.

 

There was a great article in the Cincinnati Enquirer about mothers who knew their children could kill someone one day. They couldn't get the help they needed. I see it everyday. An acutely mentally ill person can usually be in the hospital for a few days. In patient and out patient services are inadequate everywhere. No one wants to pay for mental health, but everyone wants the mentally ill controlled.

Edited December 28, 201213 yr by Beechwoodfan

Most mentally ill people are not dangerous. Those that are, will not get weapons by legal means. Many dangerous mentally ill people have prison/jail records which should come into play if they should apply.

 

Where would you draw the line in the sand to define who is and is not mentally ill? Millions of people in this country are on antidepressants, a small percentage of which have the potential to be dangerous. Many people are seriously psychotic but wouldn't hurt a fly. Other psychotic people get paranoid and are dangerous. Many mentally ill people have such disorganized thought processes that they couldn't possibly plan taking a shower much less a large scale massacre.

 

The people of this world have a lot more to fear from those with personality disorders than mental illness.

 

There was a great article in the Cincinnati Enquirer about mothers who knew their children could kill someone one day. They couldn't get the help they needed. I see it everyday. An acutely mentally ill person can usually be in the hospital for a few days. In patient and out patient services are inadequate everywhere. No one wants to pay for mental health, but everyone wants the mentally ill controlled.

You are correct when you say personality disorders may be a bigger problem, but even diagnosed personality disorders are protected by HIPPA and can not be considered when completing a background check for firearms purchases.

Wouldn't "personality disorders" fall under the umbrella of mental illness?

Wouldn't "personality disorders" fall under the umbrella of mental illness?

 

Fair question. Personality disorders tend to be like most things, a matter of degrees. The problem with the worst personality disorders is that they usually cannot be treated. Good news is they are the ones who start with criminal records at a young age and couldn't get a permit if they tried. Bad news is that they would get weapons by illegal means very easily. Hippa would not likely figure into the equation as a preventative measure.

Sandy Hook Says 'We're Giants Fans Today'; Large Group To Be Honored At Game - Courant.com

Received this e-mail update from one of my favorite authors, Philip Yancey, regarding a recent trip he & his wife made to Newton.

 

 

• Newtown is worthy of a Currier and Ives print: a classic New England town of Victorian frame houses set among rolling hills blanketed in snow.
  

• The memorials--sputtering candles, teddy bears, and stuffed animals (more than 60,000!) soggy from snow, flowers now brown and drooping--are being removed, TV satellite trucks have disappeared from the streets, and life will soon find its "new normal" in Newtown. Nothing will ever be the same.
  

 

• We will never forget a session with two sets of parents. Each lost a daughter, and the daughters happened to be best friends. They were amazingly articulate about their emotions through the grief process. They choose not to watch news or fixate on any details of what happened. Rather, they want their last memory to be kissing their daughters goodbye and putting them on the school bus. Every day brings new, stabbing reminders: They reach out to hold hands around the dinner table and one is missing...they gear up to send their surviving sons (who heard everything in a nearby classroom) back to school and try to answer the haunting question, "Will I be safe?"
  

 

• We talked with a nurse who waited in the trauma unit with dozens of beds prepared for the injured, only to find they were unneeded; to a fellow teacher who followed the principal out of a meeting as they heard a commotion, then heard the principal yell, "Go back--it's a shooter!" just before she lunged toward the gunman and got shot; to counselors who waited for four hours with anxious parents in a fire house just across from the school until the state's governor finally announced, "There are no survivors" and wails of grief swept through the hall; to first responders who burst in while the shooter still lived, probably saving scores of lives, but are left with horrific visual images that can never be erased.
  

 

• At least among those we talked to, there was no spirit of revenge. Anger flares up, of course: one little girl draws pictures of the shooter and stabs them with her pencil. Mostly, though, we sensed bewilderment and deep sadness. No one has a clue to the "Why us?" questions, and evidently the shooter left none.
  

 

• Despite bad weather, 600 people showed up in the community meeting on Friday night and several hundred more braved a snowstorm on Saturday. Bowl games and normal festivities around New Year's weekend didn't have the same appeal in Newtown this year. The questions they submitted showed their concern with more serious matters: Why doesn't God intervene? Where can I find comfort? Why do such things happen?
  
  

 

• Janet and I both felt good about the time we spent in Newtown and very good about leaving follow-up in the hands of the church that hosted us. They certainly did not ask for this calling, yet they know they are strategically placed to provide healing and comfort over the months and years to come. On Sunday I spoke directly to the challenge of that church, in two services.
  

 

• We are so grateful for your prayers and emotional support, shown by the many notes and emails. We felt like the emissaries of many others. "A healthy body feels the pain of the weakest part," Dr. Paul Brand once told me, and indeed we sense health in your outpouring of concern for Newtown. So many want to help, and we sensed that in such gestures as my publishers providing free books and United Airlines offering us free tickets. We're deeply grateful, and felt honored to be invited into a bereaved community at such a time.