LETTER: Tragedy in Newtown was a ‘manmade’ one

Talk about it

To the Editor:

There will be many views on what could have been done to prevent the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. They have my sincerest sympathies.

On many of the major networks the discussion is gun control. The tragedy in that school was manmade. The guns used were a means to produce this violence, but the violence could have happened without them.

Human nature would never allow sane persons to do this. Apparently, he wasn’t sane, so human nature’s laws didn’t apply. This crime was done by guns, legally possessed guns owned by his mother. She should have known not to allow him access.

It’s evident that this person wanted to inflict as much damage to his community as he could. In attacking its youth, he succeeded.

This was done with a gun, but he could have killed as many or more by simply T-boning a school bus. For a mind filled with hate and no sense of self preservation, death of innocence is easy.

Some guns are used for crimes. Most never are. My guns are used for hunting, protection of my livestock and my family. For most farmers, our last line of defense is a gun. Most would-be intruders know this and don’t bother us. Our Founding Fathers knew the importance of self-protection and added it to our Constitution.

There needs to be a conversation about how we can better protect our children. Maybe it’s having armed school security, and making sure that unstable people do not have access to guns. Video game violence, for me, is a starting point. Taking away guns from law-abiding people isn’t the answer.

A final thought. I don’t know of any gun owner who wouldn’t have picked up their gun and ran to the protection of these, or any, children. In that case, the gun is a very good thing.

Tags: video games, opinion, updates, letters, guns, newtown