Gun Control

Just a thought as the hue and cry gains momentum to take away the guns from American gun owners: the guns used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting were all purchased legally and registered to their legal owner, who was shot to death with one of her own weapons. The mother apparently knew that her son was "troubled," the parental euphemism for mentally unstable and/or socially outcast, but she kept the problems to herself. Perhaps she blamed the schools for behaviorial issues as she chose to remove the boy from the system and "homeschool" him instead, reinforcing the "troubles" that perhaps led him to commit the horrific crime that ended both his mother's life and his own, as well as the 26 other victims of his mental imbalance.

No one who owns a gun ever thinks that anyone will use the weapon to harm others, much less themselves, but sees the weapon as a tool to use when they are confronted by hostility and potentially lethally situations.

We need better insight into the people who contact our lives and not be afraid to say out loud that so-and-so is potentially a lethal weapon in and of him/herself. We see the signs, but we are prohibited by right to privacy laws from saying anything. The finger is always pointed at the person who stands up and states aloud what others may be thinking: this person is "troubled" and potentially violent. Police cannot "profile" possible criminals without subjecting themselves to harassment and civil rights violation charges; teachers have to tread lightly when discussing the real classroom behaviors of students in their care because the child the parent sends to school is often not the same child the teacher greets each morning; bosses have to avoid discrimination lawsuits by watching every single word they utter that someone/anyone may take offense to; neighbors have to mind their own business.

We have gun control; what we lack are the channels for controlling the people who use guns to commit crimes.