What's wrong with this picture?

[L.L. Bartlett]

A gun.

That's what's wrong.

That someone, without a felony can, in almost every county in this country, go out and buy a gun and then use it to kill 32 innocent people.

Okay, I've been silent for a long time, afraid to voice a real opinion lest I offend any of my readers, but if haven't made the connection that it really is guns that kill people, not just people, then you're an idiot. If you don't embrace the concept of gun control in this country where it's far too easy for any mentally unstable twit on the street to go out and buy a gun, then you are a certifiable idiot.

If JFK, RFK, MLK, and John Lennon's assassinations weren't enough for you...if Columbine and countless other school killings weren't enough for you...if the killing and maiming of innocent little Amish girls last fall wasn't enough for you...and now the Virginia Tech massacre, then what will it take to convince you, Mr. and Mrs. Happiness-Is-A-Warm-Gun, that there's a very serious problem in this country?

When I was a senior in high school, a kid who was a junior pulled out a gun and blew out his brains in front of our vice principal. This was 1973, friends. And why was it he killed himself? Because the school determined he didn't have enough credits to graduate a year early.

If that boy hadn't had easy access to a gun, would he still be alive? I'll bet he would. I'm ashamed to say it, but I hope his parents--his father in particular--feel monumental guilt to this day. If Mr. Macho hadn't felt the need to have a gun to confirm his manhood, his son might be alive today. Yes, sir, you might have had beautiful little grandchildren to love and admire.

Instead, today this man's son is nothing more than bones moldering in a grave.

Sorry, Grandpop!

Just yesterday a student at local RIT (that's Rochester Institute of Technology) was arrested for possessing two automatic weapons (both illegal in this state) and 300 rounds of ammo. He's now in jail--exactly where he belongs.

Our founding fathers had no idea that one day there would be such destructive firearms as automatic weapons our citizens would wield upon each other. When they talked about a well-armed militia they were worried about an invading force, not some screwed-up kid who felt entitled to take 32 others' lives before he (cowardly) took his own life.

If you NRA members have even a spark of humanity within you, how can you live with yourselves?

What more will it take before the majority of Americans stand up and say "We've had enough!"

Oh, I forgot. We did. Last election. Our government didn't listen to us then, either.