Let's Stay Rational in Spite of the Grief

A final round of funeral services was held yesterday for the last of the victims of last week's killing spree at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

This attack was so heinous and senseless that it defies any rational explanation. What snaps inside a human being to bring him to perform such a depraved, evil act?  I doubt anyone can answer that question.

Twenty families were forced to live every parent's worst nightmare: receiving the news that their child had been murdered. Six adults at the school were also killed by the deranged gunman.

This is a senseless crime that forces each of us to take stock of our priorities. It reminds us that life is a fragile gift. It should cause us to hold our children a little closer, and to more earnestly appreciate the blessing of having our loved ones alive, healthy and near to us.
 
The people of Newtown need our prayers for healing, for comfort, and for the capacity to forgive and move on. The residents of this community have been emotionally shattered, and many of of them will never fully recover.

I cannot imagine how they must feel. I wish these wounded people could be left in peace to deal with the awful sorrow they must bear. I wish the liberal media would leave them alone, instead of using them as political pawns to advance another round of attacks on the Second Amendment.

American leftists are playing their usual game of "never wasting a crisis." They are callously exploiting the nation's grief over the Sandy Hook massacre to advance their anti-gun political agenda while people's emotions are raw.

It is important to remain logical and remember that it was a sick, evil person who killed those innocent victims.

It was a madman who murdered those children; a young man who was deeply mentally disturbed, and somehow failed to receive the psychiatric help he needed that might have prevented this awful tragedy.

Restricting the constitutional rights of law-abiding American citizens will not bring back the victims of Sandy Hook, nor will it prevent future madmen from committing terrible crimes.

Better processes for diagnosing and treating the mentally ill might have made a difference in this instance. A few trained and armed staff members at the school could have radically changed the outcome of this attack.

We live in a fallen world. There will always be evil people with evil intentions. We all need to take responsibility for preparing to defend ourselves against unexpected threats.

The police cannot be everywhere. As long as there are sinful people with murderous notions, there will be occasions when a law-abiding armed citizen may be all that stands between an innocent victim and a deranged attacker.

I wish this were not so. I wish we could just declare every public area a gun-free zone and know that our children would be safe. Unfortunately, this is a dangerous delusion that leaves law-abiding citizens defenseless against criminals who will always be armed.

A person intent on evil does not respect gun laws, or gun-free zones. All a gun-free zone does is advertise to criminals - "Come on in! We are defenseless here."

Again, I wish this were not so. I wish we lived in a kinder, gentler world. But we have to contend with the sad reality that there will always be evil perpetrators in this world, and they must be opposed with force. 

It is important that we understand and acknowledge hard truths, such as this simple fact recently declared by National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre: "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."