Okay, I'm going to say one thing about this absolutely sickening day. It's bound to offend the delicate sensibilities of some people here, but whatever. Let's do this.
Every time something like this happens, people of certain political persuasions pre-empt the gun control discussion by saying stuff like "Don't politicize this tragedy!" and "Guns don't kill people, people kill people!"
Frankly, however, I've had enough of that. It's impossible to end the perverse, unnatural gun culture that has pervaded this country since its very birth, but it's not hard to finally say enough is enough and legislate. There needs to be the tightest regulations possible on gun purchases, particularly assault weapons.
The gun lobby will fight anything and everything done in reaction to this, if any action is undertaken federally. But if there is one sector of our society that I feel entirely comfortable saying needs to be regulated to high heaven, this must be it, because people are dying. And now kids are. There are common sense laws on gun ownership in most westernized countries. When will we join them? How many people have to die all for a guy's right to act macho?
Now's about the time that someone in the back of the room shouts about their right to defend themselves. And while that sounds nice in a text box in a comment section, let's get real here. You're not trying to protect your family by claiming the right to lug around your AR-15. You're taking pictures of yourself wearing camo, holding a completely unnecessarily powerful weapon for a civilian to have, and putting them on Facebook to get some precious Likes. You're not protecting yourself. You're compensating for something.