I interrupt this flow of posts about cancer to bring you just some plain ol' Carrie thoughts.

We'll be back on Wednesday with an update on Harv....

I believe in gun control. I don’t understand why people feel that they need access to guns… I know it’s our constitutional right, but WHY do we need them? HOW exactly am I safer if my neighbor has a semi-automatic weapon? And, who needs a machine gun to go hunting?

But that’s not my point today. My point can be found in the following disjointed thoughts:

• The one who killed those children did not own a gun. All four (!!!!!) guns belonged to his mother. (Why did she need FOUR guns?)

• He was obviously mentally disturbed. And, I believe he would have found a way to kill someone or something regardless of the availability of guns…but having guns available just made the situation way more awful.

• What prevented him from getting the mental help that he needed? It saddens me that he was so disturbed and found no help that calmed him. My guess is that he was tortured in his mind for a while… he was messed up. He was in pain. It doesn’t excuse the killings, but it’s an explanation.

• Everyone is upset because there were so many children killed… not just children like in the Columbine massacre and the other situations, but kindergarten children. And, I’m upset about that, too, but every.single.day. there are thousands and thousands of people (whose lives were just as valuable as those 5 and 6 year olds) around the world who are killed…. They live with perpetual violence. They are children and adults who just happen to live in violent parts of the world, or who live in the middle of drug dealing/gang wars, etc. They see violence. They die. They watch their families die. Every dang day. And, because it’s not at “home” we don’t feel it, but it’s there.

• I agreed with people who said that the media is focusing too much on the perpetrators of these crimes and less time on the victims… and then I read a point that makes sense. The media is just doing its job… We don’t want to know, but we also don’t want to NOT know. We’d blame them if they didn’t report and we blame them if they do report.

• I think the bottom line is that we’re all sad. We’re all grieving. We are trying to blame someone so we can explain things… It can’t be explained in a way that we’re all gonna like. It was awful. The killer was in hell before he shot the first bullet. He should not have had access to guns. Those twenty-some people should not have died. AT. ALL. 

(P.S. I don't want to get into a debate...I know you won't all agree with me and that's fine...)