And so on. As the small victims lay dead, speculation ran rampant. Today's quest is to be first with family vignettes. I for one am willing to wait for these stories to be told. They will be no less heartbreaking a few days or weeks from now, or whenever families feel ready to talk.
Meanwhile, the issue of gun violence got worked over from all angles, but with a growing notion that guns must somehow be better regulated and not fall into the hands of would-be killers. Again, there are multiple aspects to this topic, but I hope the goal will not be thwarted this time. Read what our new District 12 Congressman, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, has to say here.
Plainfield's attempts to curb gun violence have included Operation Ceasefire and now ShotSpotter.
The former fell to state budget cuts in 2010 and the latter is still being refined. The mayor also announced a gang truce last year and led a campaign to leaflet high-crime neighborhoods with advice for parents to know what their children were carrying in their backpacks.
The just-released 2011 Uniform Crime Report does not break out gun violence as an aspect of violent crime, nor does it record the number of shootings, so it is hard to quantify. Perhaps there is another measure that illustrates its harm.
I remember the assasination of President John F. Kennedy a month after my son was born in 1963. It made me wonder what kind of world I had brought him into. The fatal shootings of Bobby Kennedy and Malcolm X added to my fear that society was somehow becoming broken. Now mass shootings of students have become a sad recurrence, Newtown being the worst. At the same time, popular culture glorifies guns and gunpower. Children now prefer balloon assault rifles to cute balloon animals at fairs.
--Bernice
Some people are crazy and do not need guns to kill. -- The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, four other adults and the bomber himself; at least 58 people were injured. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–11 years of age[1]) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest mass murder in a school in U.S. history and the third-deadliest non-military massacre in U.S. history, behind 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing.
ReplyDeleteWhy are the people who will harm us better armed than the people who are to protect us?
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to the victims and their families... The Politicians will do their own grand standing to further their self importance. Nothing of substance can or will be done. Anything true and meaningful is lost on politicians from both sides... as that's how they see it... a side on which to take a stand.
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