So clearly I'm a bad blogger. Only 3 posts in and I've already become lazy about it, but today my heart is so heavy that I simply have to let out my feelings.
(This picture is so haunting to me)
I'm sure you've all heard about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 26 people dead. 20 of those children. 10 days before Christmas. I've been watching the news all day. I can't stop. I'm in such awe that someone could do this and I can't fight the tears. Hearing the kids talk about what happened is heartbreaking. How scary that must of been for them. Hearing those gunshots, being huddled into the corner of their classroom, watching their friends die, being told to close their eyes and hold hands as they are escorted out of the school by the cops. It makes me so mad. These children have seen too much today.
My heart aches for the people of Newtown Connecticut. I can not imagine how it would feel to drop my child off at school, where they are supposed to be safe, where their little minds are supposed to be molded and stimulated, and to get a call a few hours later that some psycho took their precious life. I can also not imagine picking my child up from school after they had witnessed something so horrifying. What would you say to comfort them? How would you ensure they felt safe again? How could you let them out of your sight ever again? I just don't know. I pray for the parents of the survivors just as hard as for the parents who lost their children.
Clearly something needs to be done to stop these things from happening in this country. I don't believe that taking our guns away is the answer, however.
Right now on MSNBC, they're talking about a football player who gave up his guns in response to some other tragedy. They're saying that maybe if Americans see someone famous giving up their guns they will do the same. Well maybe they're right, I'm sure there are plenty of people who will jump on that bandwagon, but you know who won't? The people who shouldn't be allowed to own guns in the first place. The people who are mentally ill enough to go to an elementary school and kill 20 sweet innocent children. I don't know about you, but when that sick individual comes knocking on my door I want to have the means to protect myself and my family. Taking guns away from the American people will NOT prevent things like this from happening. What it will do is put us law-abiding innocent people in far more danger. It will leave us defenseless against the people who can and will break the law.
I'm all for more strict background checks or whatever they can come up with to keep guns out of the wrong hands, but I hope that it doesn't come down to leaving innocent people defenseless.
Maybe we should focus on the reason people commit these crimes instead of the means by which they commit them. If we included a mental health screening as one of the requirements to own a firearm maybe that would cut down on some of these tragedies. I don't have the answer. I realize most criminals would find some way around that, but it would be a start. I also think gun owners should not allow their children (or anyone else) to have access to their guns. They just said the guns Adam Lanza used were his mother's.
I'm not a politician. I hate politics. So I'll stop there.
I just pray that God is embracing the people of Newtown tonight. I pray that he's doing what he can to bring them peace and comfort in this extremely difficult time.
God bless you Newtown.
No comments:
Post a Comment