From the desk of Steve Elliott: I will make no attempt to "make sense" of the horrific tragedy that devastated the community of Newtown, Connecticut, and has shaken our nation. How can we make sense of the senseless murder of twenty children and seven adults? How can we make sense of one deranged individual who was in such a dark place that he shot his own mother, murdered children and then killed himself? Yesterday, my church -- like I'm sure countless places of worship -- paused to pray for the families, their community and our nation. Our president spoke, on our behalf, words of comfort and support. Now, as we move

These are ABC News videos showing the human tendency to fail when suddenly confronted with gun violence. __________ Why is it that everyday people focused on doing their jobs, tending to families, or enjoying entertainment think they can suddenly snap into being Jason Bourne or Rambo in a flash? You are kidding yourself if you think your sporadic gun training against a static cardboard target is sufficient to neutralize an armor wearing maniac with automatic weapons. You are not Dirty Harry. You are a regular person whose mind is engaged in real life while the maniac takes you by surprise. Fantasizing about being Rambo does not mean you can shoot at a predator without killing innocent bystanders. Let's be realistic. Matt Damon plays

This drawing illustrates the response from the DON'T CHANGE ANY GUN LAWS crowd. Point noted, although it doesn't account for any open area gatherings. Tailgating, anyone? 200 people lined up for the newest iPhone? 30,000 marathon runners? The truth is that our society must change, and that means addressing the tsunami of military grade weapons available to people. And don't get hung up solely on mass shootings. Every singular shooting is a crime against humanity. Here are some local names for you: David Whitlock. Yalanda Parrish. Michael Bishop. Mahmoud Hindi. Darren Pickerill. Steven Pettway....and a thousand more. Out of control people exercising their "rights." It's time to address how to improve our country so that every open air stroll doesn't

Tell me about it, kid. The garage door opener hasn't worked for 6 months because I can't figure out how to open the slot on the keypad.

Terry Meiners Yesterday Some of my friends weighed in on today's tragedy (see adjacent thread). Now I see their wisdom. Let's have all school teachers trained with semi-automatic weapons pointed at the classroom door so that each time a person enters, the teacher can cease instructing and then call out "Friend or Foe?" If the teacher gets no answer or the child forgets that day's code word, the best thing to do would be to shoot first and ask questions later. Better to be safe than sorry. I mean, that COULD HAVE been a mass murderer coming in, or just an 8-year-old delivering a poster tube. Sure, police officers receive ongoing weapons training yet some of them are still killed in the