For everyone who feels sad about the tragedy do what you can to help calm the nerves of your friends and love ones. Talk to them, hug them, cry with them and let us mourn as not only a country but a world. These people were not just Americans but citizens of the world and people all over the world deserve respect and have their lives valued. If you are religious pray to your god. Prey not only with those that share your faith but those that have different faiths too. Know in your hearts that the people around you share your feelings of loss for people that most of us won't even have ever known regardless of what their god's name is or even if they believe in a god at all.
But even more important then that is that you talk about this tragedy and many others like it with others and what can be done to lower the rates and chances of it happening. Here I'll probably offend many but reality needs to hit home. Wishing that Adam Lanza didn't kill all these people won't help. Praying that it didn't happen or will never happen again will not help. Being a good community can help. Not making someone an outcast because they are "smarter" or "dumber" then you can help. Not making someone feel bad because they are different then you can help. If you know someone that is struggling with issues of anger reach out to them, reach out to those around them, reach out to those that can help them. Turning a blind eye to those that are made or even let believe to feel they are unwanted is all to often the cause of violence.
There is also another cause and one that one particular media organisation, Fox "news", will undoubtedly try to spin as not being relevant and that is guns. The guns that Adam Lanza used. The guns that were bought legally and while you may be for personal protection what good does it to to have so many guns in your house? Lets look at the guns.
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| .223 Bushmaster |
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| Sig Sauer |
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| Glock |
These weapons where legally purchased by Adam's mother who it seems Adam also killed. How did any of these weapons protect her? They didn't! It is simple as that. So Adam apparently killed his mother and took her weapons to kill 26 more people not including himself with weapons that his mother probably didn't know or care to store properly.
Talk to your politicians about appropriate gun control.
Don't let anyone fool you that more guns in the public realm = safer society. The numbers say different. America's homicide rate is more then 4 times that of Australia's rates. About 2 out of 3 (~66%) of people killed in America are killed by a firearm. In Australia it is less then 1 in 5 (20%). You can still have fire arms in Australia we just don't let anyone walk down to a local store and get one. Getting a gun licence is more then just filling out paperwork.
Why don't we see American style shootings in Australia? Well we did before better gun regulations was put into effect. Back in 1996 35 people were killed and another 23 wounded by Martin Bryant and from that we here in Australia got comprehensive gun regulations. Since then there hasn't been any mass shooting and despite growing populations both the number and rate of homicides has been dropping.
Not asking you to give up your gun if you have one. I'm asking for you to give up your assault rifles and weapons designed for mass killings and for you to be required to store that gun properly so that someone else can't just take it and use it as their own.
It is never to early to have this talk because to many of these events spark copy cats and the right time to talk about it is when the effects are fresh in our minds.
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