In Newtown, calls for more gun control

[alp227]

David Connors, the father of 8-year-old triplets who survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, has listened attentively to all sides of the debate in Washington about regulating guns in American society. But among those closest to the killing at his children’s school, he says, there is a singular view emerging, he said.

“Things are really raw here,” said Connors, a 40-year-old engineer. “The attitude towards the issue of guns here is probably more slanted towards ‘We don’t want to see them — and we don’t want them anywhere near our kids.’ ”

With the Senate headed toward a major debate next week on President Obama’s proposals to curb gun violence, calls from Newtown for stricter gun laws have grown louder.

“I certainly understand the need for guns for hunting and sports and also for self-defense in certain cases,” said Kevin Fitzgerald, 53, an employee at Ricoh Americas who heads Newtown’s volunteer disaster response corps. “But there is a reason why people are not allowed to carry bazookas or missiles in their back yards. Why can’t that be the same case for an assault rifle?”

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-newtown-calls-for-more-gun-control/2013/01/17/9975fc9c-60cc-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_singlePage.html

[freshwest]

1. Good - they are the most qualified poeple at the moment to understand this.

[bossy22]

2. their opinions and insights are especially important in this debate

but I wouldn't put them as the most "qualified" because I'm against the idea of the victim has "absolute moral authority". There is a reason we use impartial juries; that a man accused of rape doesnt have a jury of 12 rape victims. Their voices need to be heard in the debate but we shouldn't act as if they are "above" our questioning.

[Judi Lynn]

4. You bet they are. If not, who WOULD it be? Certainly not one who hadn't lived through it. n/t

[freshwest]

5. Yes, it takes experience.