patsylabrador Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 I can't imagine the sorrow in that town. Such a horrible thing to happen. I remember Dunblane and Beslan. Poor little kids. I hope the survivors are resilient enough to cope and get plenty of help dealing with the trauma. It sounds like the police did their best to minimise what the children witnessed. I would prefer the killer was still alive to suffer the consequences and full horror of what he's done. I feel like he's got off easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 It is awful beyond words . I am shocked that reporters had access to the surviving children so early before they had time to be counselled and process share had happened. I would like to think those lives won't have been lost in vain but I doubt the gun laws will be changed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicken bark Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 Awful, heartbreaking... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicester_H Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 It is awful beyond words .....but I doubt the gun laws will be changed Unfortunately, I expect you are correct - knowing (some) American's love of their right to bear arms, I fear their solution will be to arm the teachers ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saronne Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 Thank you for your comment, Hazel, that it's 'some' Americans who revere the current gun laws. As an American I've always hated my country's strange, lax gun laws and the perverse attitudes about ownership that some Americans hold. That's an opinion I've maintained, both here and when I lived in the States. I know of many, many other Americans who feel the same as me, but the NRA and other gun lobbies are very, very powerful in the U.S. Things really must change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickendoodle Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 It was brought home to us how different the gun attitudes are between here and the US on a family holiday some years ago. We went into a so called sports shop for a look around and there was a massive gun and hunting knife section. My girls were 11 and 13 and could roam about the shop freely. My 13 year old was so upset that we had to leave the shop. One of the assistants laughed and said that they often had that reaction from Brits ! I know the pro gun lobby rely on the "right to bear arms " from the constitution but that was written in the 1700's when there was certainly a need to defend yourself in the newly emerging country. We had laws from that time which sentenced people to death for stealing bread - that is no longer appropriate and it is also the case that land is no longer fought over in the US so the right to bear arms is no longer appropriate. However it is so ingrained in the psyche of some US citizens, who are also very vocal about it, that it will be very hard to change anything I think. We are very lucky here with our gun laws, which were tightened after Dunblane. I really feel for people in the US who do not agree with the lax gun laws as the situation is pretty hopeless. Those poor poor families Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 It is such heartbreakingly sad news. You just can't imagine what the families and the whole community must be going through. It really makes you think that something must be done about gun laws but it seems unlikely that anything will change, sadly. It appears the guns belonged to the killer's mother (legitimately, but you wonder why she had so many) and that he had mental health issues. His older brother hasn't had contact for a couple of years. I suppose the whole back story will come out in time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicester_H Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 As an American I didn't know that! Glad I didn't offend with a gross generalisation - most (but not all) of my american friends are anti gun and wouldn't dream of keeping one in the house. There was a good tweet on twitter "I just cannot understand a society where gun ownership is a universal right and healthcare is a privilege." H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Awful thing to happen. I struggle to understand violence anyway but to kill random innocent little children Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted December 22, 2012 Author Share Posted December 22, 2012 I was just reading that some of the children haven't been able to talk properly since the incident. A chap brought in a team of 'comfort' dogs for the children to cuddle and talk to. On one occasion a child asked for the dog to be with him when he spoke to the counsellor and played with the dog while they spoke. They've also helped adults, the idea grew after Hurricane Katrina. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 How sad . You have to hope that they're young enough for the memory to fade in time so that they aren't scarred for life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplemaniacs Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 So sad, hope the children find comfort with the dogs. How do you come to terms with something like that, hopefully lessons learnt from other disasters will be able to help the children and their families. I feel for the members of the emergency services who attended, hopefully they too will have support to deal with what they saw. Chrissie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 A lovely idea I have read about is that people have pledged to do 26 random acts of kindness, each one to honour the memory of a victim. Nice thought. Costs nothing, but achieves a great deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 A lovely idea I have read about is that people have pledged to do 26 random acts of kindness, each one to honour the memory of a victim. Nice thought. Costs nothing, but achieves a great deal. That's a wonderful idea and a great way of honouring them. The news was shocking but not unexpected given the rate of shoot-outs and ghastly gun crimes in the states. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 I find it astounding (but not unexpected) that the NRA's solution to this is to have armed guards outside every school . They just don't get it, do they . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 They don't. Also a lot of gun shops & Wal Mart have sold out of guns as people are stockpiling in case there is a ban Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 This, so sadly, seems to happen on a fairly regular basis in the USA- tho not, as far as I can recall, with such young children. Every such death is a tradgedy, however, but I just cannot understand how some Americans dont' 'get' the problem and still think its their RIGHT to carry guns - life and attitudes have moved on since The Declaration of Independance as others have already wisely pointed out on this thread. Its going to be a huge uphill struggle to bring about any change in the gun laws in the USA whilst this attitude prevails ........ how many more innocents have to die before change happens; its just HEARTBREAKING Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
