Welcome back to Aurora, Mr. President. We’re hurting, and we need your help. The entire country does.
Despite the cinematic television coverage of Friday’s vile massacre, this is the same Aurora you’ve flown in and out of as president numerous times. Aurora, and the Denver community, is going to work, getting ready for school, somberly celebrating birthdays and other events, and even getting back to morning bike rides, myself included. We are, above all, Coloradans. Not everyone can move on. Mr. President, Grandview High School graduate Alex Sullivan didn’t get to celebrate his second wedding anniversary this weekend because a madman equipped with a virtual arsenal killed Alex on Friday during the premier of the newest Batman movie. His wife woke up today to realize her worst nightmare is still true.
I’m saddened by the less-than-authentic picture the national media has painted of Aurora. The nation thinks that our community is a place where we blithely motor around to our kids’ soccer games. Where families nostalgically gather for cheerful dinners each night. Where the living was easy until Friday shattered our dream.
Mr. President, there is no such place in the country any more, and certainly not here. Aurora residents, like all Americans, are hardened to the fact that we live in a place where crazy people go to great lengths to murder as many as they can and terrorize everyone left behind. We’re an errand’s drive from Columbine High School. We, too, had friends and families perish in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. We, like the rest of the country, have watched TV cameras pointed in the faces of moms, dads, girlfriends, pals and children being terrorized by the actions of a madman in places like Virgina Tech and Ft. Hood.
We grimly understand that it was simply our turn. And just how pathetic is that? As a community, as a country, we’ve come to accept that there will be no gun-laws to help stop these kinds of massacres because a small-but-powerful political lobby holds America in its relentless grip. Instead, we all must wait our turn for terror to come home to us.
It was our turn, Mr. President, and it hurts beyond words.
We need your help, Mr. President. I’m not so naive as to believe that we can change the country’s gun and weapon laws to drastically make us all safer from madmen like Aurora’s gruesome murderer, or even each other. But for the sake of all that’s sane, we have got to do something so that deranged people can’t put together a lethal arsenal of utterly destructive weapons faster and easier than you can get license plates for your car.
No one is more appreciative than I am of America’s unparalleled free-press and free-speech laws, but if I go into a crowded theater and yell, “fire,” I go to jail. However, misled gun-rights activists want to make sure I can arm myself like a well-financed soldier anywhere, any time. It’s that kind of insanity that leads to this kind of insanity.
All I’m asking for, Mr. President, is that the country at least find a way to limit access to weapons that are created only to kill large numbers of people instantly and efficiently. I’m asking that people who collect enough ammunition to start an army be asked, “why?” If I were to buy thousands of pounds of fertilizer, rest assured I’d be talking to someone from the government. But I can buy thousands, or tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition as easily and privately as I can get roofing nails or baseball cards.
Like all Americans, I know that crazy people intent on wreaking mass havoc can find ways to run their cars into crowds or poison bottles of pain reliever. But the argument by gun-rights lobbyists that “guns don’t kill people; people kill people” is just plain bullshit. People who think that compound bows and switchblades are just as dangerous as an automatic weapon haven’t worked in a coroner’s office or seen local hospital emergency rooms set up like a triage unit outside a battlefield. They’re dead wrong.
Mr. President, we need you to be the one to bring lawmakers together to see reason. No one else can. I would be crazy to believe that even after a little girl was murdered for going to the movies with her mom, that Congress would put aside partisanship. But I would hope that despite the politics in Washington, you, and this country’s political leaders, could at least create some common-sense weapon regulations that provides peace for 79 Aurora moviegoers and their families.
It can’t wait, Mr. President. Unless you and the rest of Washington do something, it will be someone else’s turn to host the world’s newspaper and TV cameras documenting the anguish of another massacre. Please honor the last 79 gun-shot victims by preventing the next ones.
Reach Aurora Sentinel Editor Dave Perry at 303-750-7555 or [email protected]
You are an ass
Hello all, Westboro Baptist “Church” (not) is planning to protest tonights memorial. Please turn out and support and protect our community from these hatemongers. They are really evil. You should see what they are saying about the little 6-year old girl.
I haven’t seen it but if they saying something bad what does that say of those individuals? It;s wrong and they need prayer to change there thoughts
Joplin Mo., lost a great number of lives, I am so sorry for them their loved ones, friends and family members, however those that lost their lives and the wounded were at the mercy of a 24 year old man that felt that he needed to kill people. Neuroscience degree and I just can’t for the life of me understand how he can attend medical school and then go out and do just the opposite of the oath of doing all that is possible to try and save lives. wth!!!
But in all of these cases, school has become a disaster or they have flunked out before the shooting. Each one should have been prevented by a system regulating access to guns and amo that would pick up unstable people.
And yet Americans still seem to think it’s a good idea to allow the unhappy, the sad, the careless, in fact ANYONE to have guns. “A well regulated militia, being necessary for the preservation of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” This is simple and clear. A free state needs an army which needs arms. Individuals, lunatic or otherwise, do not.
Individual like me who have been around guns since the age of fourteen. Well as long as you mentioned militia.I fall under the state laws that I must follow which if you think about it makes an organized militia,The Cartels were given guns by our Politicians, with no organized or rules for them to follow and yet a border guard who must follow the same rules as I get killed and nothing happens to anyone.Think about what your saying —A criminal does not follow law nor do the insane— Yet those who do should be condemned for following the rules and laws because of someone who built bombs bought guns and still is harassing the police from his cell.
The second amendment was added because he British were taking the arms from the militias and those protecting themselves form the British rule.They wanted no Government to be able to take a right to protect themselves even from ours.
If there are rules for me to follow tell me that is not organized by the State and the Federal Government.I would defend myself and my love ones and friends. There are people who live in areas of this country where a fire arm is there survival .In other words no grocery stores.Not just anyone should own a gun just those who have the understanding oif what owning one means.If you understand that then make a better statement because the one you made does not have any ground to stand on.
No I do not wish to kill anyone, not even an insane person, but if it comes down to it,Yes ! I will defend myself an others even with out a gun in hand.Not saying what this boy did was right.I’m saying this boy had a very serious mental issue and there is more then just the guns involved. This should be thought out before any gun protestors raise the re signs in protest. If you also notice no one was there to stop this boy.No individuals,no law enforcement came to the rescue.
I pray for the healing of the community and condolences to all the family involved and glad my friend form that area was not at the movies that night.In time people will know what to do. For now it is time to heal an grieve for those who were part of this tragic incident.Prayers to all.
You are ignorant of the bill of rights. The people means all the people likeit does in the other amendments. Back in the day it meant everyone older than 18 had to be armed. Even a mother goose protects he young. You want someone else to do it. That is impossible. The Supreme Court agrees. The police have no duty to protect you and your family and they don’t.Deadly force can only be met with deadly force. You choose to be ignorant and defensless that is yours right, Stay away from my right. Every mass shootint since 1997 has occured in the false promise of gun free zones. They are a killers dream. Eliminate gun free zones. As you can see they rae not gun free.
Dear Citizens of Aurora,
I wanted to contact you and I did send an email to your chamber of commerce, but I just feel such a need to reach out to you at this time. Like millions of us all around the country, I have been spending hours in front of CNN watching the reports on your tragedy. There are certainly no words that can comfort or change things, but please, please know that thousands of miles away in southwestern Vermont, there are people who care. I send my prayers, thoughts, and deepest sympathy to you all at this time of such profound loss and I commend your law enforcement teams and emergency responders for what they are doing as they put aside personal lives and feelings to focus on the victims. This is something that we all will never forget, nor should we, but my hope is that, as you move forward, some of the pain will be pushed aside by happy memories of lives lost too soon. We stand with you, my friends.
Judith Pennock
Bennington, Vermont
See your missing the point as usual mr nut case perry….it’s a constitutional right to bear arms…case closed…so you can get off your knees with your mouth open begging for more…it doesnt matter if all guns were outlawed…criminals will get the guns thru other ways…and then you have a defenseless public.
Actually, it seems that YOU missed the point. He didn’t say “outlaw all guns”, he said modify the way in which individuals purchase them, “common-sense weapon regulations.”
Foolish old documents are just that and they can be rewitten. Poor legal decisions can be re-argued, and the law is never absolute anyway. It’s always a balancing act. That is why there are already gun regs on the books. They need to be used.
LOL…..HOW PATHETIC MR FAIRY…”PLEASE OBAMA MAKE IT THE LAST ONE” WHAT ARE YOU ?? A MOUSE?
If not for the right to bear arms there by individuals there would have been no Militia or Gorilla war fair or sharp shooters and we would be under a Kings Law.
This
boy had many issues other then guns and if you think that the laws that we do not enforce and do enforce will stop another massacre then your head
is in the sand.Because criminals still get guns no matter how many laws
on paper are written.Law Enforcement,Police,Teachers,Post Office
deliverers,and even Military have all had issues of people using guns to
kill.It is not a gun that kills it is the person behind the gun and the
brain an there thoughts that kill.
Whether its guns,bomb,knifes
,hands,poison,or even a drunk or drug driver behind the wheel.The person
who wants to kill will and the good person that does not shall not,You
cannot blame or even add to the gun laws that will not be enforced or
obey them.Criminals and unstable people will always have a way of terrorizing other people,Just look back at 911 and say you’ll Out law flying bombs. I expect those who are against guns should actually think back an look at history because they could learn from it.This is not just a matter of guns .
It’s a matter of this boys mind and why he did what he did.Why? When the dust settles then challenge what went wrong.A President saying anything about more laws should realize that they have no enforcement with criminals then they are redundant to the community who have them.I go by the laws and take classes since I was fourteen.The cartels received guns from our Politicians for nothing with no permits.and they killed one border patrol officers.What say you to that? This boy had more then guns he has a mental issue and that has to be addressed first.He’ is still harassing officers in jail .Do not tell me the things he did were because of guns,bombs or anything he was wearing at the time.
If he receives the death penalty then enforce it.Then you will get those who do not believe the death penalty is a deterrent.Do you think Obama would enforce the Death Penalty?That might stop the criminals and would serve justice.
This is an insane act done by an insane person,Do not judge other gun owners thinking it will stop crime by adding another law on paper that cannot be enforced on criminal or the insane. It’s commonsense —Thomas Paine —
”
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” *
I truly feel sorry for for the family’s of this tragic event but banning or even making laws on paper will not make sense if they are not enforced —just like the death penalty—This event should not be used against those who are sane and own guns. As to those who say were not Militia well the regulations I live under certainly fell like they are .For as long as the Cartels are govern guns by our govorment and I have to purchase under the laws of my State Then the state has formed a Militia and so has the federal government, under individuals who have purchase there gun Legally and not given to them.
*Thomas Paine
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_paine.html?gclid=CJbsv8DkrbECFQhN4Aod_hYADw#1PQbxvhRADKGXo3t.99
Here we go, lets control the guns…The usual response. Lets, while we are at it, take the cars from the people because thousands of people are killed each year by drunk drivers, let take away all the sharp pointy thing which may kill or wound someone…please people, I hate to say it but in this decaying world, lets, instead, have a few more poeple carrying guns…the police, which I have been one of for many years are not going to be there when you need them in that first 15 minutes of a threat such as this…they can only pick up the pieces…its up to you whether or not you are going to be the victim …..These gun laws only disarm the good guys, not the bad…This guy in Colorado would have purchased these illegally, if not legally…if not, he would have made gasoline bombs and thrown them thoughtout the crowd…Its not the guns, its the morals that don’t exist anymore…gun laws or not, it only going to get worse…personally, I rather be armed…you will too when the bad people come looking for you.
But every other country does it and has great success.
The idea that what happened here is somehow the president’s fault or that he has the responsibility to fix it is asinine. Gun control is orthogonal to what happened and even if effective Holmes would have just moved on to bombing which would have been even more deadly. If we poured half the energy we put into gun debates in this country into addressing mental health, we would be a much safer place.
Lots of social research looks to the availability of weapons as an enabler. Lock away the weapons and far fewer people will die. Most shooters will not try anything else. I think press coverage is also a factor for these types. If the media blocked their identity for even a few months, most would be deterred.
Lots of ‘most’s’ Sallyg. Just where are you garnering all that information?
As far as enabling, who would you blame when all the citizens, the stand-up citizens who don’t break the law but pay the price for same, start being killed by armed criminals? The government? The laws? The guns? Certainly not the criminals, that’s what they do for a living.
I agree about one thing, stop the coverage of the perpetrators.
Hi Andy – Glad you asked. You can check gun deaths for countries online. All other developed countires have gun controls of one kind or another and it is reflected in their vastly lower gun death rates. The US is a world wide scandal with its gun death rates, extremely high rates of imprisonment and for allowing 16,000 Americans to die yearly for want of medical care in an eggregiously wasteful medical system that otherwise provides excellent care for the well-insured.
The wiki has a good article. As for shooters seeking press coverage, I am speculating that virtually all shooters have committed crimes openly as they do not wish to hide their activities and they hope to become famous for them. Most shooters also leave various kinds of online posts, another ploy for coverage. It’s possible that this shooter’s posts have merely failed to surface to date.
By the Way Mr. Perry, I doubt that you have seen any bodies in Aurora or the surrounding communities with automatic weapons being used against their person, it already fairly controled by state and federal legislation. Don’t see any comment about outragous media coverage and death and gore on the silver screen…Oh yeah that right, it is protected under the right to free speech…Great thing that constitution isn’t it?
Mr Perry you are a fool and willing to let everyone know by puttting it in print. No Guns Zones are a killers dream. Every mass murder since 19197 have occured in no gun zones. The fact that liberal want to create more of them says they want more killings. AS crazy as these aberations and deviants are they know where there will be defenseless victims. Th is typical of liberals, they keep trying to pick up a turd by the clean end. There is no way to stop these deviants from doing these things. They have them worldwide from Russia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, etc. There are two ways to lessen the possiblity and that is to identify peoplee that are ill and violent. The other is to elliminate gun free zones which obviously a false promise.The only way to confront deadly force is with other deadly force. Let free law abiding people be armed. $ mass shootings have been stopped by law abiding gun owners. One was a CCW woman in a church in Colorado.W will let you find the rest. The media lies to us and won’t publish these events in a false manner.
You are just making up things. All other Western nations have proper gun control. Unlike the U.S., they have approximately one tenth as many shooting deaths as the U.S. does, about one tenth as many prisoners, universal healthcare as money can be diverted to this as it is not taken up with excessive policing and to run prisons, or welfare and community programs for those without healthcare. NO other country stands by while 16,000 people die for want of medical care every year as occurs in the U.S.!!! Shocking, foolish, incompetently governed nation. Every other developed country, except the United State, has got it together! Americans need to forget partisanship and make demands on government and then vote for the party which delivers. Unless a candidate will promise and deliver gun control, reduce military spending to fund schools and healthcare, and deliver unviersal healthcare you should refuse to even attend a rally. Hold out to the last minute and vote for your communities, not some ridiculous belief. That’s how you end this madness.
It’s time to stop the violence!. Visit http://www.healingthenations.com to see the new Stop the Violence car air freshener. Our motto is, “When the fragrance is gone, the message is still there”.
I sat in a room with almost 400 students after they saw a classmate killed by a gun shot straight to the heart at the end of a school day. Many of these kids were 17-19 years old, unarmed and scared out of their wits-much like the movie goers. It is not all about courage. It is also about life experience. It is about the death of trust, and belief that the good guy always wins. Quit bashing the youth as it only makes it worse for them to recover. Where was I? I was in a classroom doing after school tutoring when the shot rang on my campus-before Columbine, before schools talked about fences, and metal detectors and lock down procedures. But I am proud that even with loaded guns, we only lost one student that day and not the bus load the shooter tried to take. I locked my class down for 8 hours with crying, scared kids. NO police for hours, and not knowing when it was safe to open my door. So you want to talk about what they went through in the theater? I pray you never have to really know.
— Marquessa
[…] PERRY: President Obama, please help make Aurora's massacre the … Go to this article […]
Mr. Perry is a voice of reason in a sea of darkness. Once again we must bear witness to the madness of a lunatic, and listen to the gun lobby minority voice arguments such as “take away the cars because of drunk drivers” or other pithy arguments like “madmen love gun-free zones.” When is it enough? Why must automatic weapons be available on the open market? Who needs an AK47 to defend their home? In all of these incidents, when has a pro-gun rights hero stopped the violence? When? How many more American citizens must die before this nation stands up to the gun lobby and says, “NO MORE.”
the talk on the underground web is that he was payed to do this act.
this will be about the right to bear arms ,they will twist this to get that right taken away from us ….
— xbadd1x
The values you give your children is the problem, don’t blame it on a piece of metal whether a car or a gun…and your right, one day this nation will stand up and say enough….unless the Perrys of this world just push the real issues deeper into the darkness…Our sick society is the issue, Our media, which compares body counts in each horrific incident, is the problem….
How about right now? Americans can tell candidates their demands. Enter every poll, tell every canvasser what you want. Candidates will certainly listen. If enough Americans make demands, they will act.
What a well written article and tremendous conversation yu have started. Glad I referenced it today. If only we can get all the politicians on the same page to care about someone other than themselves. Now is the time.
Thank you from many, many who feel we may never be heard above the screaming of gunlovers and the “free speech” money of the NRA
Mr. Perry notes that the NRA is a tiny organization. I predict a single groundswell will put them on the ropes and once the tide really turns, they will be marginalized and soon forgotten.
Which part of the second amendment do you not understand? The supreme court has already ruled on the subject. Are you ready to undermine the constitution of the United States? Dictators start by taking away the rights of citizens to bear arms. By removing the right for US citizens to bear arms we will be doing the work of a future dictator even before he comes to power.
Not so fast. The ruling seems erroneous and can be re-argued and the amendment can be amended to consider modern life. Further, all law is a balancing act of competing rights and respinsiblities such as public health, and gun control regs are already on the books covering mental health status, but they are not being properly implemented and enforced.
You must be a member in good standing with the ACLU. They’ve been twisting and manuevering the constitution to fit their civil rights message for years now.
This the same SCOTUS that ruled Obamacare was a tax and not a penalty so they could rule it just? Cut it out.
Is there any truth to the rumor that the Century 16 Theater has a ‘no weapons’ or ‘no guns’ policy?
Just follow the money, it cost probably $20,000.00
to get all the stuff he had! The bullet proof vest, a ballistic helmet, a gas
device, a gas mask, military SWAT clothing and unidentified explosives were
also found in Holmes’ car, this stuff is hard to get. Why all the full body
stuff unless someone wanted to keep him alive? Where did the attorney come from
so fast? Why is the FBI grabbing all his computer stuff? You would have
to really be stupid to think
that he wasn’t under some kind of mind control!
So who is to blame? It is the PEOPLE OF AURORA,
they are the ones that voted to have a city with no concealed carry permits in
town, so why not hang a sign out here I am not armed so come and shoot me it’s
ok. There is no one going to rob or shoot someone if they think they will get
shot back. So the real guilty ones are: people that voted for gun control, the
police that allowed no carry permits in town and so on. There is not a
safer place in the world than to have people around you that have concealed
carry permits that are trained how to use their gun and if you have a concealed
carry permit you have to go through the training. So if there were ten people
in the show with concealed carry permits how many would have been saved? All of
them because the incident would not of happen. So I hold you responsible for
this action!
There is so much evidence to prove my point just
check for yourself, countries like Austria that have taken away guns and
countries like Sweden that train their youth in self protection. It’s simple
would you rob a bank or a casino?
David
If such an occurance is to be prevented, should we not be asking how a person gets such firepower into a movie theater? Does he walk past the ticket booth carrying all this and no one notices? Does he place it ahead of time in the therater and no cleaning person notices it? Did he enter the exit doors? Will exit doors only open from the inside? Are you not allowed to have a firearm in a theater?
How can it be that all this firepower was in the theater?
Rick. . can only figure out that he left all ammo and his “costume” in his car, bought a ticket, went into the theatre and took a seat in the front, then went out the Exit door and somehow propped it open, got the ammo and his costume from his car and went into the door he had propped open.
Reading Dave Perry’s words made me believe that sanity and wisdom do, indeed, still exist in this crazy world. However, reading the comments to Mr. Perry’s column changed my mind completely. I ask all the people who are so intent on being armed in 2012, WHY? Why do you need guns? If no one had a gun, no one would need a gun. Guns are for killing. There is no reason to kill. What is so hard to understand about THAT? Please keep up the good work, Mr. Perry, and do not ever, ever surrender to the violent, angry, vindictive, macho-types who feel that having guns somehow represent their (lack of) manhood.
Words cannot
express the sorrow I felt when I heard the news about this shooting incident.
My sincere condolences. Thanks for the heads up on the Evertalk memorial page
Christina. I will make sure to visit it.
I just signed the following petition addressed to: Members of Congress.
—————-
Ammunition Control is Nationalism
Ammunition Control is nationalism, and the firearms and tobacco should classify ammunition distribution as an national epidemic.
A person shall not purchase, have in his possession, or carry any ammunition unless he holds a certificate (in this Act called a ammunition certificate) granted under this section, and in force at the time. …
A ammunition certificate shall be granted by the chief officer of police of the district in which the applicant for the certificate resides, if he is satisfied that the applicant is a person who has a good reason for requiring such a certificate and can be permitted to have in his possession, use, and carry ammunition without danger to the public safety or to the peace.
A ammunition certificate shall be in the prescribed form and shall specify the nature and number of the firearms to which it relates, and, as respects ammunition, the quantities authorized to be purchased and to be held at any one time thereunder, and the certificate may on the application of the holder thereof be varied from time to time by the chief officer of police of the district in which the holder for the time resides. …
A ammunition certificate shall, unless previously revoked or canceled, continue in force for ninety days, but shall be renewable for a further period of thirty days by the chief officer of police of the district in which the holder of the certificate resides….
The fee to be paid on the ammunition certificate shall be such as is specified in the First Schedule to this Act.
If any person purchases, has in his possession, uses, or carries ammunition without holding a firearm certificate or otherwise than as authorized by such a certificate or, in the case of ammunition, in quantities in excess of those so authorized, or fails to comply with any condition subject to which the certificate is granted, he shall be liable in respect of each offense on summary conviction to a fine or imprisonment, or to both such imprisonment and fine….
—————-
Sincerely,
Michael Friend
NO THANKS. Just who do you think will own guns and ammunition for same if some inane diatribe such as yours were to be taken seriously?
All this says, broken down, is that government shall have control over who can own a firearm and the ammunition for same. Once again, NO THANKS.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is on the right track for calling for some kind of common-sense gun control from the Presidential candidates. As a Canadian, I can say many of us scratch our heads and think Americans are gun-crazy; this latest massacre in Colorado is yet another reminder of why. Your Second Amendment was written in the days of muskets. Just because your founding fathers wrote something first, and way back when- doesn’t mean they are right for today and forever. What happened to today’s people thinking for themselves? As a concerned neighbour I would suggest you think for yourselfs; don’t be toadies to yesteryears politicians. After all when scientists realize a new discovery or law of physics they rightly sweep away the beliefs of yesterday’s scientists: its called progress and we think of it as the smart and civilized thing to do. The same should apply to your stupid Second Amendment and the gun-crazy NRA fanatics. You are witnessing to many of your sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers needlessly dying. A couple of U.S.-bound Canadians were detained by U.S. customs agents recently at the BC border for carrying eggs with kids toys in them while from the U.S. into Canada come many of your guns. They are causing much harm outside your borders too.
Mark Fornataro
Victoria BC Canada
Dear Citizens of Aurora,
I wanted to contact you and I did send an email to your chamber of commerce, but I just feel such a need to reach out to you at this time. Like millions of us all around the country, I have been spending hours in front of CNN watching the reports on your tragedy. There are certainly no words that can comfort or change things, but please, please know that thousands of miles away in southwestern Vermont, there are people who care. I send my prayers, thoughts, and deepest sympathy to you all at this time of such profound loss and I commend your law enforcement teams and emergency responders for what they are doing as they put aside personal lives and feelings to focus on the victims. This is something that we all will never forget, nor should we, but my hope is that, as you move forward, some of the pain will be pushed aside by happy memories of lives lost too soon. We stand with you, my friends.
Judith Pennock
Bennington, Vermont
I cannot imagine the emotions that your community must be feeling at this moment. I had no other way to express my own other than writing this poem.
A Heart Still Broken
He took their lives
He took their hearts
Ripped those of their loved ones
inside and out
A tragedy one will never forget
Deaths one will not forgive
Justice must be served
For they had lives to live
They each had futures
They each had dreams
They each had the world in their hands
Each a new era of possibilities
One nothing but a child
Who did not deserve to die
And yet we sit here and ponder
We must ask ourselves why
He took their lives
Never thinking of what was to come
What harm he had brought
What damage he had done
We cannot let go of the past
But we must let go of them
But always remember their legacies
The life that shone from within
We must honor them in every way
Live well to make their deaths count
For they will not be coming back
They will never rise from the ground
We will see them eventually
In a world far away
A place of love and hope and faith
But until we reach that day
We must remember who they were
Act as though we were never split apart
For we may be in distance
But never in heart
© 2012 Marianne Salas
someone take this guy’s keyboard away – please!
Mr. Perry is much more pleasant and diplomatic than my request. I must insist that all politicians either tighten gun controls now or get out of office. Collectively voters need to stand together to change things. No excuses. This public health risk must be dealt with swiftly as would any other.
This is lying bs. All other developed nations have gun controls and one tenth as many shooting deaths as the U.S., a country that typically has 10 times more prisoners than other developed nations. You should have gun controls and spend your money on healthcare and education instead.
from Melbourne Australia – this hurts the world – as does the fact that this year Australia lost 35 people to death by Guns, and America has lost – TENS OF THOUSANDS. No, banning anything bigger than a hand gun won’t stop an idiot getting a gun, but it will stop mad people just being able to walk into a shop, it might stop people being able to get thousands of rounds of ammunition – who NEEDS thousands of rounds, only a really bad shot or a mass murderer! Let this be your last massacre that happened “because”, sure, you MAY get another one, but let that one be “despite our strict gun laws, despite the tracking of these weapons”. At least TRY and make a difference this time. Too many tears, too many families wrecked for ever. TOO MANY DEAD. Deepest Sympathy to the entire community.
My only disagreement with Mr. Perry is that he imagines it is up to the President, when in fact it is up to the voters. When voters demand all of the basic things that all other western developed democracies have, they will also have them. And it won’t cost a cent more than what is being spent now.
Another campaign stop for the prez, what a guy!
As the only purpose of automatic weapns is to kill large numbers of people quickly, is there any limit on what citizens can purchase? Should there be a limit? Can angry shooters buy tanks or warheads too? Is it wise to have automatic weapons in the public domain at all?
I believe the U.S, can designate a weapon to be ‘militarized’ or given a similar label for national security concerns such that it can no longer be sold in the marketplace. Can this be done for automatic weapons?
True. we are almost always a pattern of causes. But on that Obamacare – especially if the US went single payor (which could be private or public, but one legal entity to handle all payments) medical costs would instantly drop by 25%, all patients would still get the same private care from practitioners of their choice, harmful treatments would be curtailed, appro. 2 million healthcare jobs would be created, an unknown number of insurance jobs would be lost. Unknown numbers of Americans would become productive and able to work. 16,000 annually would not die cruel neglected deaths for want of care. Employers could still offer executive healthcare perks via private insurance. Costs are rising anyway, so with Obamacare or without it, you will pay more in the future. Why not control guns, demand military cuts and get Obamacare for almost nothing bu funnelling savings toward this? That’s what other nations have done. Forty years ago all had US-style heathcare. Now, all developed countries have universal care, some use private doctors and a few, such as Britain, use public doctors.
Have you every tried to get health care in those countries? If you really knew a lot about government run health care, you would know that the service suffers. There are many people who come from Canada and other such countries to receive care here because it takes too long to get appointments etc. and no not every citizen is treated the same. The wealthy and important still get taken care of sooner, and many elderly do not have the ability to get treatment like they do here because of their age. You would not see them spending much money to save a 70 year old person’s life from cancer. It is not worth the money. If you really looked into it you would see the mass numbers of people who cone here to be taken care of because if they waited till they could get the treatment they needed they would be dead. So these other systems that you are speaking of are not any better in fact the are worse. Talk to people who now live in the US but came from those countries and ask them how they feel about it.
Have you read the provisions in Obamacare or are you just listening to what the media tell you? Why are you looking for handouts like free health care? If you want health care, go get a job that offers it. Assistance for health care coverage should only be offered to the elderly and the disabled who can not work to get or pay for it.
I believe the U.S, can designate a weapon to be ‘militarized’ or given a similar label for national security concerns such that it can no longer be sold in the marketplace. Can this be done for automatic weapons?
First I want to say that my heart and prayers go out to all those who were injured or lost their lives in this tragic event and their families. No one should ever have to go through this.
First I am not a memeber of the NRA, however I am a 38 year old female who has grown-up around guns; even having a gunshop in our basement until I was 16. Hunting and target shooting was a part of my childhood as well as is has been a part of my marriage and raising my son who is now 16. I do not have a problem with certain gun control laws requiring background checks, however I do have a problem with people who want to say how many guns I can own, how much ammo I can have on hand etc.
A lot of the posts on here are blaming the NRA for there not being tougher laws, well the part that you are ignoring is that there couldn’t be an NRA if there were not millions of Americans supporting them. You are forgetting the fact that most Americans do not agree with your views; if they did you would see differing legislation. Perfect example: after this event, guns sales in the area went crazy. People want to protect themselves and they should. The police will even tell you they can not be everywhere. If you really want to educate yourself you can find many examples all across this country where gun owners have saved themselves or others. Can’t remember what state it was in, but not long ago there was a 12 or 13 year old girl who was home alone when two men broke into her home. When they heard that she was there and went for her, she got one of her families guns and was able to protect herself shooting atleast one of the intruders. Afterwards it was said that when looking at the backgrounds of the guys they would have killed her had she not been able to protect herself. You all seem to like to forget about these many instances because they do not support you agenda.
We as Americans need to stop being lazy and stop expecting the government to take care of our every need like protecting us, providing us welfare, free health care, free college educations etc. This country was founded on hard working citizens taking care of their own needs and helping others.. not people just looking for hand-outs. That is what has made this country great. If everyone went back to those values we would not have as many screwed-up people in this world.
Banning, greatly restricting guns, ammo etc. will not stop tragic events like these nor the other sad shooting events that occur in many of our cities. Look into the statistics, and I am not talking about ones from either side of the gun control argument. Most guns that are used in gun related injuries and deaths and I do not mean accidential shootings were not purchased legally. So at the risk of sounding like the NRA or the drons that you speak of the legislation will not reduce those crime rates that you speak of. To make a difference in gun related injuries and deaths that you can actually help prevent you should focus your attention to eduacting people about guns and how to use them; especially in the cases of children. Even if you do not own a gun you should teach your kids how to be safe around guns because you never know when they could be some place where there is one. From the time I was about 2 my dad took me out and shot pumpkins etc to impress upon me the damage that a gun could do and why I should not touch them. It took away my curosity about what they could do and impressed upon me that they were dangerous. If every parent did this I can guarantee you that the number of especially child related accidential shootings would be greatly reduced if not eliminated.
The great thing about this country is that in most cases the majority rules. Wake up America!