Enough.

1. Thank you for articulating so eloquently what so many of us believe.

2. Absolutely. Thank you for these strong words. Would that we had legislators with as much backbone. There’s so much talk about the sanctity of “life,” but nobody will talk about outlawing guns which steals 19 lives and destroys countless lives in an instant.

3. Amen. Very well said. And it needs to be said. And heard.

4. Thank you for saying this so well.

5. Each of us has the power to do something to stop these senseless killings. At local, state and federal levels, in the next election and every election after that, vote for candidates who support the strongest gun control laws possible.

6. This is objective. If our government–the United States government–cannot stop these mass shootings, our government has failed us. When innocent people engaged in innocent activities are randomly gunned down for no reason, nothing else matters.

7. This needs to be said more and acted upon at the ballot box. Fortunately in CT we have legislators who do the right thing. Unfortunately this is not the case in TX, GA, FL and so many other states. When are those on Capitol Hill and State Houses throughout the country going to grow some balls and do what must be done to control the sale of guns?

8. Time to clean ???? the house and senate of the naysayers

9. We’ve tried to solve this “their way” and it’s not working. The time has come to put an end to this madness!

10. Thank you. Words matter and yours help. Enough is enough….but will it end?

11. …and what exactly should we have done, Heather? Melt down the guns? How about knives? Or cars that kill more people than anything else each year?
    Maybe close the border to stop the flow of drugs and illegals? How about armed guards and psychologists in schools rather than do- nothing administrators?
    How about Putting the clamps on Hollywood, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to slow down the flow of sick perversity to young minds on cell phones and computers?
    Parental oversight sounds logical. Maybe to ensure that young children are brought to the Lord in churches and synagogues to be well grounded in faith.
    Bottom line: we have a society that liberals have been dismantling for generations … by whom they elect, by what they teach in schools, by endorsing personal perversions and encouraging promiscuity, by allowing felons to go free, and by dividing the country at all turns along racial and socio-economic lines.
    It will take a lot more than emotional outpouring to solve the problem.

    1. What should we have done Michael? Point by point:

       1. Not melt down guns, restrict access to them. Texas has some of the loosest laws on the books, allowing an 18-year-old, who can’t rent a car or buy a drink, to legally purchase semi-automatic guns. No background checks. No waiting period. How about tightening up licensing, training and usage requirements, like the US does for driving automobiles (since you mention cars).
       2. Oh, you’re wrong on the car stat — guns have now surpassed cars as the number one cause of death for young people in the U.S. — a gory statistic no other country has earned.
       3. Speaking of gory stats, the US has more guns (300 million) than any other nation. We of course have WAY more gun deaths than any other nation too. And countries that took guns out of the public hands years ago, their gun death rates plummeted.
       4. All those other countries have violent movies, social media, facebook, twitter, cell phones, and computers. AND mental illness. What they don’t have — our gun ownership and death-by-gun rates.
       5. Putting aside the fact that your comment about closing the border is racist, let’s talk about the number of mass shootings perpetrated mostly by white supremacists and American-born U.S. citizens. These mass gun murders aren’t carried out by “illegals.”
       6. Armed guards and psychologists in schools? Also setting aside the calls for budget cuts that eliminate counselors and psychologists (even in Wilton), there were armed guards and police at the Uvalde school. And still 19 children and two teachers were slaughtered. Have you read the coverage since Tuesday about police standing outside Robb Elementary for an hour while the shooter was alive inside, still hunting children?
       7. Please don’t talk about grounding people in faith. Were the gunmen who walked into the Pittsburgh synagogue, the churches in Texas and South Carolina and elsewhere, and any innumerable houses of worship ‘grounded in faith?’
       8. What’s been dismantled are gun laws — many of which had been put in place by Republicans of yore (think those like Presidents Reagan and Ford). Instead, today’s sellout legislators like Abbott and McConnell and Cruz and others who’ve been bought by the NRA to block any possibility of sensible gun legislation. Many of these same politicians who claim to be pro-life don’t care about the lives of children and people of color and law-abiding citizens who have been senselessly murdered by guns. All in the name of gun-manufacturing profits.

       Yes, it will take more than emotional outpouring. It will take voting anyone who stands in the way of sensible gun laws out of office. It will take and having the courage to make changes that the majority of American voters support.

       • Waiting periods before gun purchases
       • Background checks
       • Limits on the type of firearms, the number of firearms and amount of ammunition any one person can purchase
       • Implementing better gun licensing, training, testing, health requirements, liability insurance, renewals and inspections — like we do for automobiles.

12. I agree with the editorial and all comments. Nothing will change until elected officials change. Guns are big business and lobbyists have a huge influence on politicians. Integrity and courage take a back seat and are non existant among some politicians.

13. Well said, thank you. Enough of the hypocrisy… save lives in the womb but OK to kill them later in school!?
    Unacceptable.

14. Well done, Heather!

15. Thank you Heather.

    If the gun lovers also love their children, siblings, parents and friends, and if they also value their freedom to be in a classroom, place of worship, concert, supermarket and movie theater, then come to the table in earnest to discuss responsible actions. There are common sense policies to enact that have proven to save lives (in states and countries) which have little to no impact on responsible gun owners.

16. Thank you so much for writing this editorial. This is yet another unspeakable tragedy and I think there’s a lot of consensus that we can’t go on living this way without taking action. Other countries have put common sense laws into place to help protect the public. There are a lot of groups that are working on multiple fronts to end gun violence and the horrific damage it is wrecking in our communities and schools. I wanted to list some resources that may be helpful in researching how best to support the change that is needed and sadly long overdue.
    Everytown for Gun Safety https://www.everytown.org/
    Sandy Hook Promise https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/
    Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America https://momsdemandaction.org/

17. These common sense safety measures need to be adopted by Congress NOW
    -Waiting periods before gun purchases
    -Background checks
    -Limits on the type of firearms, the number of firearms and amount of ammunition any one person can purchase
    -Implementing better gun licensing, training, testing, health requirements, liability insurance, renewals and inspections — like we do for automobiles.
    -As an addendum to limiting the type of firearms, also a mandatory buyback program for weapons of war. Australia is an excellent case study https://www.vox.com/2015/8/27/9212725/australia-buyback

18. Also restrict the purchase of body armor to those who actually need it. The gunman in Buffalo and Uvalde had body armor.
    Thank you for the article.

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