I'm sure a lot of diaries will be written about today's events. I have two elementary school children, so when I saw the news today, and the profoundly disturbing photo of screaming children being led from the Connecticut school, I was quite affected. Gun tragedies are, unfortunately, not so uncommon nowadays, but this one hit me particularly hard.
Tonight, a friend posted a, "Why is everyone blaming guns, the guy was obviously mentally ill, why wasn't he getting treatment?" thing on Facebook. He's a friend, and I know he is pro-gun and that he owns guns. My first reaction was to insist that it is guns allow killing on this scale, and we need more controls. (Actually, that was my second reaction. My first reaction was, "Really, you are already turning this into a gun rights issue?" Than I realized, Mayor Bloomberg and others had already done so. He was just responding.
But the issues raised, both with guns and mental health are a bit trickier than we might like to admit.
