Sandy Hook, Three Years On

The massacre that took the lives of 20 small children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT happened three years ago today.  In the immediate wake of the shootings, most Americans were so horrified and disgusted by the bloody rampage by a mentally ill teen with a semi-automatic weapon that gun safety laws, including limits on magazine capacities and stronger background checks, were being discussed and seriously considered, and supported not only by a vast majority of Americans, but a majority of NRA members. The angry outrage was so pervasive that the gun manufacturers lobby went silent for weeks, not wanting to draw further attention / shame to themselves. Congress seemed shaken out of its normal business as usual style. Then…..nothing on the Federal level.  Proposed assault weapons ban: defeated.  Proposed background checks on most private party firearms sales: defeated. Some states, Connecticut in particular, were able to pass more stringent gun safety laws, but as after every rampage, the gun manufacturers lobby was able to count on its coin-operated legislators to protect its profits and defeat most measures.

We recall some pundits asking, in reference to gun control laws after the Newtown massacre, "if not now, when?" It's become, in the minds of many, "not now, not ever," and until we muster the common sense and decency as a nation to vote the enablers out of office, that's the way it's going to be.

A Year Later

With tomorrow being one year to the day after 20 school children and 6 school workers were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, we have this.   And it's not just tomorrow and its awful anniversary.  Here's what gun violence is doing to this nation's children while we go along with our daily routines:

- In the past year, there have been 27 school shootings.

- 194 children under the age of 12 were killed with a gun.

Think about that the next time you hear an N.R.A.-bought congressman or a pundit squawk about unfettered Second Amendment rights.  Gun control has to become the number one issue upon which the majority of Americans who favor restrictions cast their ballots, otherwise there will be no change.

Meanwhile, the gun nuts are fundraising off of the Sandy Hook tragedy.  There isn't a place in Hell hot enough for these parasites.