I asked a friend of mine in England if he was following the Sandy Hook events and subsequent discussion about guns.
Here was his response:
It is a great tragedy what happened to the young Children at that school. This is going to happen again and again until the American people are sick of it and rise up against the gun lobby. Those people have blood on their hands. The people of Europe think the Americans are in the dark ages when it comes to gun laws. You can quote me on your blog and let people know what we think. Its very sad that family’s are without there Children this Christmas and the rest of there lives – Carl.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Mr Quinn, Again you can find people on both sides of the issue. You are only care for the opinions of people on your side of the issue. I dont really care what Carl thinks and I’m glad he can speak for all the people of Europe. I’m sticking to my opinion until my last breath. The gun lobby doesnt make the laws and they didnt write the second amendment. The ” Gun Lobby ” is made up of regular citizens from every state in the union and not one of us pulled that trigger. Was Sandy Hook a tragedy? YES. Was it the gun lobbies fault? NO! NORMAL people dont MURDER anyone. There are millions of law abiding firearm owners in this country.
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You are certainly entitled to your opinion as is everyone else. But don’t you find it interesting that we are debating guns, an instrument designed to kill. Are we in such a state that guns are a way of life?
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Mr. Quinn, I guess it all depends on how you were raised. My father taught me to treat every firearm like it was loaded, always keep it pointed in a safe direction and always know your target and whats beyond. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my first BB gun(probably an assault weapon by todays standards. It held more than 30 rounds and was semi-automatic.), my first bullseye, my first clay bird, my first time firing a hand gun. Firearms are not responsible for murder. Murderers are.
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Perhaps, Tim, you could feed your apparently inborn infatuation with shooting things with a sling shot or a bow and arrow which would be more challenging and rewarding for you than an assault rifle with a 30-round magazine?
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No, Tim, Mr. Quinn is quite objective. The question that you and your kind cannot answer or refuse to answer is: Do the “millions of law abiding firearm owners in this country” need to own military assault rifles and magazines holding 30 or more rounds for any reason whatsoever? These weapons are designed and produced to kill a great many people in a short amount of time. Why do “law abiding citizens” of the greatest country in the world need to own these weapons of mass destruction? Answer that question, if you can.
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Jerry, I’m quite accurate with a bow, crossbow, sling shot, throwing knives and even lawn darts and horse shoes. Seems the only thing your good with is your sharp tongue. By the way New Jersey mandates a maximum of a 10 round clip, but I would get 30’s if they were legal here. I’m not condoning anyone to commit MURDER. The crazies as you put it should be identified, and prevented from owning firearms. Also here in New jersey the law says firearms must be locked to prevent minors and unauthorized users from using them.
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I’m happy to hear that New Jersey is trying,Tim. I am also impressed by your governor. He could have a big future, if he could slim down a bit. However, would New Jersey’s “locked up weapons” law have prevented Adam Lanza from getting his mother’s assault rifle and large magazines? I cannot conceive of a way of identifying mentally unstable people in advance, but I can conceive of a way to stop them from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
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Tim, I don’t believe that the authors of the 2nd Amendment to our United States Constitution could foresee that over 200 years into the future “the right to bear arms” would mean that any citizen would be enabled to slaughter 20 innocent children in their school with military weapons. How can people like you defend and support such carnage?
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Jerry, Thanks for your verbal assault. Myself and my kind dont support MURDER, but we do believe we have a right to own the firearms of our choice. A single shot is one round to many to the anti crowd. Check out http://www.gunbanfacts.com/. Not that you”ll be objective or open minded. You see it your way and I”ll see it mine.
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Tim, you are condoning arming crazies with the capability of slaughtering 20 innocent little children in only minutes. How can you live with yourself?
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The crux of our problem regarding gun control in this nation today is that mentally ill people can aquire weapons, (which were invented and are produced for use by our law enforcement people and our military forces,) and slaughter innocent children with those weapons. That is the problem that we need to solve and solve very quickly. It is time for the American people to rise up and stop the chances for this kind of bloody carnage to happen again. Learn from England, Australia and Japan. Those nations took action and stopped their atrocities. As our president said today, “anything can be accomplished by the will of the American people and nothing can be accomplished without the will of the American people”. And Churchill well said that we Americans always try all of the alternatives before we settle on the correct solution. Let us stop killing each other in the greatest nation in the world!
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Mr. Quinn – ask your friend Carl how many people are murdered in England with guns each year – the number is astonishingly low – even when adjusted for the difference in the two populations – Martin Bashir of MSNBC quoted the statistics recently, but I did not make a note of them.
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It is 1/39th the US when adjusted for population.
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I also think it is sad that we don’t have enough money for facilities for the mentally ill anymore. We always have enough money for people who don’t belong in this country, but not enough for our own citizens who need care. Most of the people who have been responsible for these tragedies are mentally ill. Where is the outcry over this and why has it taken so long to do something. Where was the outcry at Fort Hood? Look at the border of Arizona and Mexico. The ranchers in our own country have to keep arms because the drug and human smugglers are traspassing on their property and entering their homes. They need arms to protect themselves. The border is not safe. My daughter is a special ed teacher and she thinks we should be caring for these people in proper facilities rather than on those who are living off our taxpayer money who are illegal in this country.
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