Nick Gillespie: 4 Awful Reactions of Sandy Hook School Shooting - And Thoughts on a Better Response

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee, filmmaker Michael Moore, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, crusading journalist Geraldo Rivera, and countless others immediately weighed in on the horrific mass shooting at Newtown, Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School. That they didn't seem to know what the hell they were talking about didn't occasion any humility on their parts.

Now President Obama is vowing "to take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this."

Reason's Nick Gillespie lays out the essential starting points that should inform all discussions of gun control and suggests

Acknowledging the horror of what happened and mourning for innocent lives snuffed out and families destroyed by the incomprehensible act of a madman is precisely what the country should be doing right now. If it seems as if that is a passive non-reaction, that's because too many people understand what mourning entails. After that can come a policy battle that can be fought with passion but not with emotionalism and ignorance of relevant, basic facts standing in for rational analysis and honest debate.

Comments

[A Serious Man]

My favorite was Salon's article titled "NRA: A Lobby for Criminals", where they basically accuse the NRA for orchestrating every mass shooting in recent years. I think left-wing paranoia about the NRA exceeds that of the Kochtopus.

[Michael Ejercito]

Are law and order types orchestrating the shooting of unarmed black men by police?

One great argument against banning guns is that we invariably hold the military to a higher standard than civilians.

If civilian abuse of guns means we should prohibit civilians from having guns, how much more so does this apply to military abuse of guns, like what happened in Panjwai, Kandahar?

[sloopyinca]

"Never let a tragedy go to waste."

/Every asshole ever

[sloopyinca]

What's the over/under on the number of days it takes Obama to come out with some "Executive Order" creating some unconstitutional regulations on handgun purchases? My guess is he'll do it in about a week and call it "a Christmas present to America's children" or something equally craven.

[A Serious Man]

What I notice about the commentary about gun control is that it really illustrates how impotent the left is and pathetic they are when they lose big on an issue.

If Obama were to do something like that they would elevate him even higher than they have done so already. I mean I honestly think he could stage a coup and his supporters would be okay with it if it meant gun control.