My heart is breaking

[KitchenWitch]

They are currently releasing the names in the Red Lake High School shooting.

:cry:

I feel so sad, and helpless - I brought children into this world...and I cannot guarantee their safety.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. :^( I cling to the illusion that "it can't happen here" but I know full

well that it can, esp on days like this. :cry:

[LynzM]

2. I know, dude

:hug: The world has never been a safe place to raise kids, as scary as that is. You just do the best you can for them. :hug:

[Fleshdancer]

3. My heart goes out to the families...

hell, I cry for the entire community. I can't begin to imagine.

[KitchenWitch]

4. This Indian reservation is about 3 hours NW of where I am

We also had a shooting about an hour and a half north of here about 2 years ago.

They just showed a photo of the shooter (who killed himself) and from his photo I could tell that he had a lot of emotional pain, and that perhaps he had been bullied...not that it excuses what he did, but it certainly explains it.

I suffered bullying in high school and although I never snapped, I certainly wish that teachers and administrators would take bullying more seriously.

[no name no slogan]

17. My dad's family is from around there

And the whole area is just heartbreaking to look at. So much poverty, so many people in pain and in need of help.

One of my coworkers used to deliver the Bemidji newspaper on the reservation when he was in tech school. He was delivering when they had the 'uprising' there about 20-25 years ago. He remembers driving by shacks that had little more than a canvas blanket over the door in the dead of winter-- in a region where -20° isn't unusual in January.

What a sad, sad state of affairs. :cry:

[Spacemom]

5. I know exactly what you mean

My heart breaks for the world that my children have to grow up in.

:cry: :cry:

[Redstone]

6. Well, the answer is more guns, isnt' it?

You just know there's some Gun Nut somewhere, right now, saying "Well, if the teachers had been armed, they would have been able to defend the other students and shoot that one before he shot as many kids as he did."

And God forbid that anyone should suggest to a Gun Nut that maybe there should't be so many of the fucking things in the US, or that maybe they should't be so easy for anyone to get his hands on. No, don't dare suggest that...you'd get flamed about The Sacred Right To Have As Many And Any Kind Of Firearm That You Want, That If It Gets Taken Away America Will Collapse Because We Won't Be Able To Defend Our Families From The Criminals...

Adding a feeling of anger to the sandess and helplessness.

Redstone

[KitchenWitch]

7. there is anger for me too

I wonder if the gun nuts have ever really read the second amendment - and therefore gleaned what the actual intent was of that particular amendment.

[Redstone]

9. Are you kidding? You think they'd EVER admit that

the intention of the Second Amendment was to provide for the 18th-century version of the National Guard, and at the same time save the States the expense of providing the rifles for their militias?

Even though it's damn clear that's what it says?

Save your breath. Gun Nuts are more fixated on their guns that the worst sort of Holy Roller fundamentalist is fixated on his religion.

I don't even bother trying to talk to them anymore.

Redstone

[KitchenWitch]

11. I know

The gun nuts around here say it is all about hunting (Minnesota), but why do people need semi-automatic weapons to hunt birds and deer?

[CanuckAmok]

8. And right now on CNN.com....

More Schiarvo.

http://www.cnn.com/

CNNewspeak.

[madison2000]

10. we should not allow this to happen

I can't imagine having to be afraid to go to school because of this sort of thing...

[TrustingDog]

19. a bit off topic but... Aaron Brown last night had a

show about child abduction. What I came away with, with great disgust, is that we have to teach small children how to defend themselves from the fucking bastards the system lets loose over and over again. Guess if you're in such an awful situation as to have this happen to you - IT'S YOUR FAULT! The parents fault and the children's fault for just not being wise enough in the ways of defending yourselves.

[latteromden]

12. They're talking about it on Norwegian radio right now... I swear, I

thought, "It can't happen in Minnesota. Nothing ever happens in Minnesota. Things don't go wrong here."

... but they did.

[KitchenWitch]

13. It has happened twice here in the past 5 years

both shooters were related to police officers. One was a deputy sheriff's son, and the Red Lake shooter was the grandson of a reservation police officer....what does *that* tell you?

[_TJ_]

14. forgive my ignorant question

this is in *NO* way meant to be a criticism of the united states.

But in pretty much every country in europe it is next to impossible
to buy a gun.

This type of tragedy almost never ever ever happens here.

Would America never consider following our model?

Surely we all have something to teach each other. I really think
you would benefit if you had a similar outlook to ourselves.

Just my opinion.

[KitchenWitch]

15. The gun lobby in Congress is too rich and powerful

to ever allow the US to follow a European (or Canadian) model of gun control. To these people gun control is akin to swimming in hydrochloric acid.

[paula777]

16. TJ, yes, 49+% of america would consider following your model

The problem is the 51% of americans who don't have any sense. The rest of us are stuck with what the hillbillies decide and they LOVE their guns.

[jswordy]

20. I own four, and I intend to keep them.

I am all for restricting guns we don't need, the high-power military types.

I am for making safer guns, that are harder for kids or unauthorized persons to fire.

I am for a mandatory and thorough background check and waiting period.

I am for gun registration and tracking, and I am for federalizing gun sales laws.

I am liberal as hell, but NOT -- nor will I EVER be -- for a ban on guns. If that makes me the boogey man, so be it. Fact remains, for every criminal or nutcase out there with a gun, there are thousands of law-abiding gun owners. If as a nation, we did all the things above, and across the board, that would suffice.

To ban guns outright is to overthrow the very priniciples on which this country was founded, the right of a people to stand up against a government in armed insurrection if need be.

Let the flaming begin. LOL.

[no name no slogan]

18. Good points, but...

the same thing did actually happen in the UK, several years back. A schoolyard shooting that killed a number of kids and a teacher, too, IIRC.

Something like this can happen anywhere-- unfortunately it happened here too. The availability of guns is not always the reason, although IMHO it plays a part.

Part of the responsibility has to be placed on gun owners. THEY are the ones who don't secure their weapons and ammo properly. THEY are the ones that let kids and crooks steal their guns for criminal purposes.

It's not just the fault of the guns-- it's the fault of careless and negligent GUN OWNERS.

[_TJ_]

23. Yes then they changed the law

That was a target shooting gun. Now you can't even get one of
those in the UK.

[redqueen]

21. No parent ever can guarantee their childrens' safety.

It's very sad that so many children fall through the cracks... only to grow up prone to acute anxiety or depression... we're so isolated from each other. There's too much hostility... too little love.

Tragic how these nutjobs ranting about the culture of life seemingly care little or nothing about anyone's QUALITY of life. No concern for homeless children or children living in poverty -- which usually means a household brimming with stress, which causes health problems... I really don't understand these people's thinking processes at all.

[Left Is Write]

22. I wish I could give you a hug.

It's always heartbreaking when these things occur, but it really smacks you in the gut when it happens near "home."