Part of the lethality of a gun is determined by the person behind it. However, the rules governing gun control are too loose and new legislation, screening and registration are needed.
How do emotionally ill young men get access to high powered weapons with huge magazines of ammunition?
Also, convicted felons who are not supposed to have access to firearms are getting them such as the man who shot the fire fighters over the weekend.
We need to stop ourselves!
Many individuals lack common sense or are in denial about their own children. Undoubtedly, Adam Lanza’s mother never thought he would do what he did.
Massacres of the innocent bring these the problems with weapons to light, but our national problem is huge. We have children who find a gun in the bedside table, or neighbors who get in a dispute over some petty issue, or an ex-husband murders his wife or  a wife murders her husband, or someone, in a time of sadness, commits suicide, or an innocent inner city child is shot in violent gang-related conflict or someone that has serious problems controlling anger gets out of control.
In the past, weapons were used to provide food on a daily basis. Not so now. For those that ethically, morally and responsibly hunt deer, fine. But we can’t even count on all hunters to do that.
People with severe mental illnesses should never have access to a gun. Not only are they a danger to themselves, they could be a danger to others. We need good mental health care, which is troubling when people across the country are being turned out of hospitals because of cost cutting.
Part of the lethality of a gun is determined by the gun itself. Two hundred years, even 50 years ago, guns were much less lethal than today. An automatic weapon is not needed to hunt. Who rights are more important-the right of innocent children to grow up or the right of people, some who might be mentally ill, to own a gun?
In addition, as a community, how are we doing? Do we reach out to our neighbors and friends in time of need?
There are no easy answers, but there never is. However, one thing we can do is make some laws and tighten screening.
Our country  as a whole needs to use some common sense.

Karen La Pierre