The Deaths of Children
The disasters go on.
Each day.
Newtown (Connecticut, USA) recently lost 20 of its wonderful children - aged just 6 & 7 - to a gunman. Take a look here and read about the children.
The school also lost its teachers and the Principal who were trying to stop the disaster. One of the teachers was Victoria Soto who helped the children but was killed herself.
On Instagram someone posted a picture of hers out of respect. One commentator, Sufiyan Ayyad (who writes under 'heyimacrab'), had this to say:
Is he much different from Adam Lanza, the killer at Newtown School? I doubt it. Should someone question him? I think they should!
*****
There's Bill Quigley
• Human Rights Lawyer
• Law Professor at Loyola University New Orleans
• Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights
He talks to President Obama about the children who have died:
Remember the 20 children who died in Newtown Connecticut.
Remember the 35 children who died in Gaza this month from Israeli bombardments.
Remember the 168 children who have been killed by US drone attacks in Pakistan since 2006.
Remember the 231 children killed in Afghanistan in the first 6 months of this year.
Remember the 400 other children in the US under the age of 15 who die from gunshot wounds each year.
Remember the 921 children killed by US air strikes against insurgents in Iraq.
Remember the 1,770 US children who die each year from child abuse and maltreatment.
Remember the 16,000 children who die each day around the world from hunger.
These tragedies must end.
******
but, then, there is also
Larry Pratt
Gun Owners of America's Executive Director
“They have blood on their hands"
A gunman whose name we do not need to memorialize took advantage of our gun control laws to slaughter some 20 children and seven adults in a Newton, Connecticut elementary school.
In addition to the gunman, blood is on the hands of members of Congress and the Connecticut legislators who voted to ban guns from all schools in Connecticut (and most other states). They are the ones who made it illegal to defend oneself with a gun in a school when that is the only effective way of resisting a gunman.
What a lethal, false security are the Gun Free Zone laws. All of our mass murders in the last 20 years have occurred in Gun Free Zones. The two people murdered a couple of days earlier in the shopping center in Oregon were also in a Gun Free Zone.
Hopefully the Connecticut tragedy will be the tipping point after which a rising chorus of Americans will demand elimination of the Gun Free Zone laws that are in fact Criminal Safe Zones.
One measure of insanity is repeating the same failure time after time hoping that the next time the failure will turn out to be a success. Gun Free Zones are a lethal insanity.
We must tell our elected officials that they are acting as the criminals’ friends as long as they continue to support legislation that only protects criminals, not decent people
Oh, and we must also insist that these criminal friendly elected officials not even try to blame gun owners and our “gun culture” for what a criminal did. Had a few of us been available with guns at the Newton school, most of the victims might still be alive.
Should someone question Larry Pratt? Yes. In a mental hospital, preferably.
*****
The GOA has said that the National Rifle Association - a group that is extremely popular during elections by their supporting guns - always stays quiet in such moments and plays possum.
Should someone sensible in the NRA - and I am sure there are sensible people there - talk to its crowd? Yes! Yes! Yes!
*****
I know there are children all over the world, including in Pakistan, Palestine, Kabul, Iraq, even Israel, where they are bombed, tortured, turned into gunmen themselves, maimed, killed — and a lot of angry bursts on the Internet ask why some of us are crying about the Newtown children, only. This is not true! We cry over all of them. But this was a rather different tragedy. One gunman killed these babies ... not a government or its allies. We must as Bill Quigley said, put a stop to all this, about all the children, everywhere. We must bring laws and enforce them. But we need to make sure that this solitary gunman's acts are not repeated - there or here - or anywhere.
Remember the 20 children who died in Newtown Connecticut.
Remember the 35 children who died in Gaza this month from Israeli bombardments.
Remember the 168 children who have been killed by US drone attacks in Pakistan since 2006.
Remember the 231 children killed in Afghanistan in the first 6 months of this year.
Remember the 400 other children in the US under the age of 15 who die from gunshot wounds each year.
Remember the 921 children killed by US air strikes against insurgents in Iraq.
Remember the 1,770 US children who die each year from child abuse and maltreatment.
Remember the 16,000 children who die each day around the world from hunger.
These tragedies must end.
******
but, then, there is also
Larry Pratt
Gun Owners of America's Executive Director
“They have blood on their hands"
A gunman whose name we do not need to memorialize took advantage of our gun control laws to slaughter some 20 children and seven adults in a Newton, Connecticut elementary school.
In addition to the gunman, blood is on the hands of members of Congress and the Connecticut legislators who voted to ban guns from all schools in Connecticut (and most other states). They are the ones who made it illegal to defend oneself with a gun in a school when that is the only effective way of resisting a gunman.
What a lethal, false security are the Gun Free Zone laws. All of our mass murders in the last 20 years have occurred in Gun Free Zones. The two people murdered a couple of days earlier in the shopping center in Oregon were also in a Gun Free Zone.
Hopefully the Connecticut tragedy will be the tipping point after which a rising chorus of Americans will demand elimination of the Gun Free Zone laws that are in fact Criminal Safe Zones.
One measure of insanity is repeating the same failure time after time hoping that the next time the failure will turn out to be a success. Gun Free Zones are a lethal insanity.
We must tell our elected officials that they are acting as the criminals’ friends as long as they continue to support legislation that only protects criminals, not decent people
Oh, and we must also insist that these criminal friendly elected officials not even try to blame gun owners and our “gun culture” for what a criminal did. Had a few of us been available with guns at the Newton school, most of the victims might still be alive.
Should someone question Larry Pratt? Yes. In a mental hospital, preferably.
*****
The GOA has said that the National Rifle Association - a group that is extremely popular during elections by their supporting guns - always stays quiet in such moments and plays possum.
Should someone sensible in the NRA - and I am sure there are sensible people there - talk to its crowd? Yes! Yes! Yes!
*****
I know there are children all over the world, including in Pakistan, Palestine, Kabul, Iraq, even Israel, where they are bombed, tortured, turned into gunmen themselves, maimed, killed — and a lot of angry bursts on the Internet ask why some of us are crying about the Newtown children, only. This is not true! We cry over all of them. But this was a rather different tragedy. One gunman killed these babies ... not a government or its allies. We must as Bill Quigley said, put a stop to all this, about all the children, everywhere. We must bring laws and enforce them. But we need to make sure that this solitary gunman's acts are not repeated - there or here - or anywhere.
Labels: Activism, Education, Events, Media, News, People, Rant
posted by Zakintosh at 12/18/2012 04:02:00 PM
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