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This is something that I don’t understand, never have, probably never will……

More guns, really?  Please tell me how putting more guns on the street, in homes, and in schools can possibly be a good thing?  I can see no good coming from this kind of mentality.  Arm principals, arm teachers, arm administrative staff?  What kind of training would they need to have, because I’m not sure that knowing how to fire a gun would have been enough to stop what happened in Sandy Hook.  So, instead of staff development days several times a year, we would have trainings at the local firing range?  These are some things that pop into my head….

  • police have guns but they still get shot and killed
  • when do the teachers decide to pull out that gun, when someone acts suspiciously?
  • I just have visions of schools turning into shoot-outs at the ok-corral
  • I look at the statistics of the US compared with Europe – the main difference?  Stricter gun laws and severe punishments
  • our problems will not be solved by putting more guns out there…..they go so much deeper

I’ve heard many things being discussed in the media lately.  Video games, violent tv shows and movies, guns, mental health, etc.  Not once have I heard any discuss the breakdown of families and morals.  Each week I read responses from children in our religious ed program, grades 1-8.  So many of them talk about the hurt and the pain they feel after their parents divorces.

It’s time we wake up!  There is no one answer, there is no easy answer – and throwing money or guns into the mix is NOT a solution.  Real change takes work, it takes sacrifice.  We need to put ourselves last and others first, we need to listen to our children and spend time with them.  Quality vs. quantity?  That’s adult talk….your children need quantity time, even if you are busy at home, your presence there makes a difference to them.  Children can’t think like adults, they can’t process the same way, they don’t understand.

Please, please wake up!  There is good in Newtown right now.  People are pouring out their sympathy, love and prayers, but we must make this a REAL change.  That is the only true way that we can honor these people.