Japan Today
world

Somber remembrances mark anniversary of Sandy Hook shooting

18 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

18 Comments
Login to comment

And of course they say the more guns the safer, what a joke...

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Obviously Americans place a higher priority on guns than they do on children's lives. What a disgusting culture.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

I guess people here don't realize that murders in America, gun-related and otherwise, have been declining for decades. Since 1960, murder rates have declined by more than 30%. On the other hand, news stories reporting murders have increased 100%. If you read the news every day, or watch the movies and dramas put out by the entertainment industry, you would think the streets in America were running with blood. It is not true, America is a very safe place.

Who cares - you have 30,000+ shooting deaths/year. Kids getting shot in the face at schools. And you call America safe? What a joke. Ask any non-American in the world what they think to that, and you'll get a real answer. Ask an American the same question, and as often as not you'll get some sort of justification like the above.

America does not have a love affair with guns

...he says, right after posting this:

This means that Americans want to keep their guns

Exactly. Americans love their guns. They would rather live in a state of circumstances that allow for 20 kids to get shot in the face by legal guns than have their guns taken away. Now you can say:

America has a love affair with freedom.

But that's the brainwashing speaking. Who in the world doesn't love freedom? What country in the world don't the people want/love freedom? And we all manage to get by without shooting each other, and our children, in the faces.

Since he obtained the guns illegally, what difference would a change in the laws have made?

He used legal guns, which he may have obtained by stealing from his mother (we will never know if she gave them to him). Re-read that legal guns. In a civilized society, where people don't love their guns more than their children, there wouldn't be legal guns to steal. So to answer your question, a change in laws would prevent people from legally owning guns, preventing other people from stealing the legal guns.

Should we make driving illegal

Driving: Primary purpose - moving people and goods. State of civilization if we suddenly banned driving - society would collapse, with no goods being moved. Guns: Primary purpose - shooting and killing people. State of civilization if we suddenly banned guns - a safer, more civilized society.

Apples and oranges comparison. If you want to make accurate comparisons, then you need to find something as equally useless to society to compare it to. Because comparing driving to guns is comparing apples to Saturn.

There is no possible way of getting rid of them, not even making a serious dent in the number of them.

Great logic - we've already screwed things up so bad, we may as well not even bother trying to fix them. Well as long as you want to think this way, then your kids are going to get shot in the face. As I said earlier, Americans would rather live in a situation where their kids can be shot in the face, than give up their precious guns.

And even if it were possible, owning a gun in America is a right, not a privilege.

And that just goes to show up the screwed up morals in America. Owning weapons being a right is something the rest of the world considers about as stupid as any other example of anything coming out the US - and there is some pretty screwed up stuff coming out of America these days.

But the number of people killed with guns was quite low.

You mean compared to other American cities. Make that comparison to the civilized world, and you will find that that the number of gun deaths was ridiculously high. Pop your head out of the bubble sometimes if you want to see how things really are.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Cool! 30,000+ shooting deaths/year are all human sacrifices to the American god of guns. When foreigners kill a fraction of that amount, the result is Homeland Security; this, though, is simply who we are. There will be nothing done about it, and the next mass shooting is just around the bend (and I don't even worry that the NSA monitoring this site would consider that a threat; it is simply a matter of fact).

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Unless the Senate (and those who oppose the scary NRA idiots) wake up, these worst kind of murders will continue to happen in the US.

If it were only as simple as that.

No, the problem is the American love affair with guns. They would rather have the right to shoot children in the face, than have their guns taken away. This is a disease in the American cultural psyche. This is not along political lines, as there are just as many gun loving liberals in the US as there are gun loving conservatives.

Basically the country is broken. Any country that lets 20 kids get shot in the face, then decides that there is no need to change existing gun laws, is a broken country. I wouldn't even let my child into the country, much less to be raised among this diseased line of thinking. Because all they are doing is raising their next generation of gun lovers.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

WA4TKG: Guns were OUTLAWED to private citizens of Mexico more than twenty years ago. See how well THAT has worked for THEM ?

Guns are OUTLAWED to private citizens of (insert a couple of hundred countries here). See how well THAT has worked for THEM ?

sangetsu03: I guess people here don't realize that murders in America, gun-related and otherwise, have been declining for decades.

I guess that means the state of mental health care in the US has improved. Right? And video games and TV shows must have had a massive reduction in violence to cause such a drop in violent crime.

At the moment, the number of guns in America is nearly equal to the population. There is no possible way of getting rid of them, not even making a serious dent in the number of them

I agree that taking all of them is impossible. What we should work towards is making the current stock safer and getting them out of the hands of the wrong people. I keep hearing gun owners say they agree with that premise, but none of them are willing to challenge the NRA on the issue so in the end their gestures are meaningless. And I suspect they like it that way.

Just remember that dead kids, 194 of them since Newtown, paid the price for your Constitutionally protected hobby.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The argument that the guns cannot be removed is a fallacy.

1) If guns were made illegal, most of them would be turned into police. The average person wants to abide by the law, and while they may not agree with it, they would rather turn in their weapons thank not be compliant with the law. This would get rid of most of the guns. 2) The flow of new guns into the country (or being created in the country) would stop. If it's illegal to own guns, then there is no more industry to support the sale of them. 3) Any guys left could be collected by attrition. A cop pulls someone over for speeding - finds a gun in the car and confiscates it. A cop visits a house for a domestic violence call - finds guns, confiscates them.

There would be a period of time, maybe 2-3 years, where the criminals would be armed and the populace wouldn't. But then you get to live in a civilized society! Win-win!

There is however one reason why my above points are moot, and why it could never happen. To make this decision in a democratic society, it would involve a critical mass of people placing the needs of society over their own personal security for a few years, in order for it to work. And well, we are talking about America here, the country that can barely even keep their own government working, much less uniting the people to work for a safer future and a more civilized society.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

All those little angels and their educators sacrificed. May they all rest in peace and their families be comforted. Those of us who remain need to make sure that their deaths were not in vain, and do something about gun laws and mental health issues in the United States.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Unless the Senate (and those who oppose the scary NRA idiots) wake up, these worst kind of murders will continue to happen in the US. Let's just hope the next nutcase (or someone who becomes a nutcase but isn't necessarily one now) doesn't try to break the current record of 20 children. It sounds terrible to say but it is the unfortunate truth. The bottom line is that if there are no guns, there can be no gun deaths. It's as simple as that.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

The parents of Newtown are also pleading with vice president Joe Biden for more study on brain research.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Right now the only mental health factors that will result in a background check denial in a firearm transfer are involuntary commitment or being adjudicated mentally defective (for example, being declared mentally incompetent to stand trial). One option is to pass new laws to add diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia or other similar diseases to the denial factors. While it is true that there are not enough resources to enforce existing gun laws fully, that doesn't mean that sensible new laws should not be considered.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

America does have a very long history of violence.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Guns were OUTLAWED to private citizens of Mexico more than twenty years ago. See how well THAT has worked for THEM ? Now, people are at the mercy, LITERALLY, of every scumbag on the street that is ILLEGALLY carrying a gun. Try to DEFEND THAT, go ahead.....I can hardly wait for the RATIONALIZATION of this comment.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

1) 4600 Americans were murdered last year by guns while only 4 Japanese were murdered by guns. US homicide rate is 6 times more than Canada, 16 times more than Germany and 33 times more than UK.

Why? In Japan, only 1/500,000 is registered as a gun owner in Japan due to a strict Japanese gun law.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/01/28/these-are-japans-highly-restrictive-gun-laws-the-polar-opposite-of-americas-second-amendment/

2) US gun related violence was 484,000 last year.

Why? An easy access laws to guns and family structures in US society are broken. The most recent school shooting in Centennial Colorado was committed by a 18 years old HS student. Most important issue everyone needs to rethink is that he purchased his own gun legally as he passed a background check. The chilling fact is that It took only 80 second for this tragedy to end. He was not a villain. He just flipped.. This tragedy could have been well avoided if we have a better parenting and a counseling skills to our children. Sad reality is that some parents are not even matured enough to have any children their own.. It is very important to grow up with children (no talk down, please) and sit dawn to talk during diner time. What had happen to this rule that has been forgotten in our daily life? No more eating quick and go around the kitchen island. We all need to sit down and eat and talk no matter what.

I can go on and on for this issue, but I do not want to bore you. Some one asked me what I do once before. I am a retired civil servant, but currently working for a gun control issue.

If you know the good reason why we have to deal with the school shooting every other week, then our conscience is speaking to us to do it right and we need to make this place as a better place to live. Together, we can do this to end the gun violence..

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

To make guns illegal means only thugs will have them in private hands and likely use them against us.

Better to look at the society and a gun. Certainly mental issues are a factor. Easy swift suicide tool. Hollywood, video games and some music video genres glorify guns. Gang use.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Unless the Senate (and those who oppose the scary NRA idiots) wake up, these worst kind of murders will continue to happen in the US.

I guess people here don't realize that murders in America, gun-related and otherwise, have been declining for decades. Since 1960, murder rates have declined by more than 30%. On the other hand, news stories reporting murders have increased 100%. If you read the news every day, or watch the movies and dramas put out by the entertainment industry, you would think the streets in America were running with blood. It is not true, America is a very safe place.

As for the Senate, the reason they don't do anything is because they must obey the will of the people. If the people wanted guns banned, then the senate would do so. But the senators know that if they do ban guns, they will be replaced in the next election. This means that Americans want to keep their guns, and is an example of how democracy works, right? That you may disagree with it is irrelevant, you are free to leave anytime you like.

No, the problem is the American love affair with guns.

America does not have a love affair with guns, America has a love affair with freedom. The government of America is described as being "of the people, by the people, and for the people". It is a classless society were all are equal. Any American citizen has the right to self defense, the defense of others, and the right to arrest others who commit crimes. By law, the military and the police do not have rights above those of regular citizens. Police officers and soldiers are regular citizens. A regular citizen can arrest a police officer or soldier if they commit a crime. There are no "subjects" in America.

Any country that lets 20 kids get shot in the face, then decides that there is no need to change existing gun laws,

The man who shot the children did not have the right to own a gun. He tried to buy a gun, but the existing laws prevented him from being able to do so. He submitted to a background check (which all gun buyers in every state must submit to), there was a hit on his name, and the sale was denied. The guns he used were stolen, not purchased, or otherwise legally acquired. Since he obtained the guns illegally, what difference would a change in the laws have made? Should we make driving illegal because unlicensed drivers kill 10,000 Americans every year? Or are vehicle-related deaths somehow less obnoxious than gun-related deaths?

At the moment, the number of guns in America is nearly equal to the population. There is no possible way of getting rid of them, not even making a serious dent in the number of them. And even if it were possible, owning a gun in America is a right, not a privilege. The second amendment was written with the same ink, and on the same paper as the other amendments. If it can be removed, so can the others.

For myself, I was a law enforcement officer for more than 10 years in a large American city, popular in Hollywood and video games as an especially violent place. But the number of people killed with guns was quite low. Gun deaths of children occurred, but were almost without exception accidental. Many times more children were beaten to death by their parents or killed in traffic accidents than were killed with guns. I have seen quite a few deaths (many hundreds) in my time, guns were rarely involved. Of gun-related deaths, most were suicides, many were in self defense, or accidents, and others were murders. Nothing like in the movies or video games.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

We already have 20,000 guns laws on the books and the over 100 million gun owners in America have never hurt anyone with their guns. We don't need anymore laws, but I do agree that more should be done about mental health issues.

-10 ( +2 / -12 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites