A SAD DAY

There's a small town in Connecticut, that has been added to the ever growing list of communities, where innocent people were executed by a mass murderer.  The big difference this time, is that most of the victims were small children, who had their entire lives ahead of them.  As the day progressed, and the news of how many lives were lost got worse and worse, I couldn't erase this picture in my mind, of little children being slaughtered, and the terror that must have existed during their last moments of life. I've seen human carnage in my law enforcement days, but I simply can't imagine what this crime scene must have looked like.

With this latest episode of senseless killing, particularly the tragic loss of 20 young lives, it's time to do everything humanly possible, to prevent this from happening again.  No, I'm not talking about banning firearms.  The State of Connecticut already has some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, and this latest shooter simply took the guns from another person.  The rhetoric for banning guns was already heating up, long before the victims had even been positively identified.  It's not realistic to think that millions of guns can suddenly disappear.  What is a reality, is the fact that criminals will always find a way to get a gun.  The gun debate will rage on after this latest tragedy.

Before 9-11, it was almost unthinkable that terrorists would take over an airplane, and fly it into a building.  After 9-11, the government did what it's supposed to do, and that's protect it's citizens.  Airline cockpit doors were strengthened, some pilots were allowed to carry a gun, armed air marshals were put on commercial aircraft, the Department of Homeland Security was created, airport security access was enhanced, and finally, the military created contingency plans to actually shoot down an airliner that was taken over by a terrorist.  How many 9-11's have we had in the last 10 years?  0!

The psycho babble about this individual who did the unspeakable, also was a dominant theme in the news yesterday.  The big question that was being asked, was what triggered this guy to murder innocent people?  The simple, and plain answer is that evil does exist in this world of ours, and this poor excuse of a human, was evil.  The question is what do we do to mitigate potential threats like this in the future.  When it comes to protecting our children, our local, state, and federal governments must be more proactive, and take all reasonable steps necessary to keep our kids safe.  Security at schools has to be part of the equation, and armed personnel is a start.  We have armed guards protecting everything from banks, to shopping malls.  Is there anything more valuable than our children?  I think not.