My son was sick today so I kept him home from school.  As he felt better later in the day we took him out for lunch as going back to school would not matter.  So we took him to his favorite restaurant.  While I went to post a picture of my food that would make The Fly curse and ban me for gratuitous gluttony, I saw the news about the shooting.  Needless to say it is speechless and words cannot explain the amount of sadness and grief I feel for those children, parents, and family.

My friends know that there is one thing I love and that is the innocence of children.  They say things that make me laugh after much time has passed over what they said and they can be brutally honest, often at times when you need to hear it.  I love the innocence of kids.  How someone could take the life of one is beyond any comprehension I have and I have nothing else to say.

I later posted the following comment to Twitter:

I remember as a kid we did tornado drills & went to the locker room, now my kid does active shooter drills & they lock the classroom

When I came back I missed President Obama’s speech so I watched reruns of it.  I will admit that I am not a huge Obama supporter or agree with his agenda or beliefs.  When I watched his speech I believe he did speak as a father and came through as a President and all I can say is thank you Mr. President Obama.

Now for those readers that want to talk about gun control, I believe iBC’s Woodshedder provided good information with a superb linkfest as titled “Who Do We Blame For The Connecticut Tragedy?”  There is good research information in here and worth a read.

As for my personal thoughts, I do not think that semi-automatic rifles need to be available to the public nor are needed for hunting.  I grew up in a state where they were allowed for hunting (MN) and moved to a state where they are not (PA) and needless to say from my experience, they are not needed.  On the flip-side, one innocent life is as precious as multiple innocent lives and a semi-automatic weapon is not needed for those that are proficient with the use and operation of a non semi-automatic weapon.  In my opinion gun control is not the problem here.  Just like a drug addict or alcoholic, if someone has the determination to commit the act they will find a way to attain the means.

For those of you that want to call me a gun freak or gun control advocate or even a hippy conscientious objector-type please note my history.  I grew up hunting/trapping my whole life and enlisted in the military serving in security forces and infantry with a deployment to Afghanistan with Lima Company 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines.  After my enlistment I’ve spent my time in protective services currently in the law enforcement field with semi-annual qualifications with full & semi-automatic weapons.  The above beliefs are mine and will not change.

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