I'll apologize now for all of the reposting from Facebook.

After Friday's horrific school shooting in Connecticut, my 23 year old daughter impressed me with a post she made to her Facebook page (quoted for your reference below) regarding the shooting and it's fallout.

Keeping to my promise in my first blog post to share with you my rants and raves, I'm posting her post, a couple of responses she received from others and my 2 responses.

The good news is that only one person responded to my daughters post calling for gun restrictions but lots of folks jumped in to point out the lunacy of that position (of course, I was one of them). Another person (foreign female) posted a question (also provided below).

While the information provided is based on actual FB posts, the names have been changed to protect the innocent (and naive). Also, FB doesn't facilitate the use of paragraphs. I've inserted them here to improve readability.

Originally Posted by Ginsue's Baby Girl

While my heart and thoughts are going out to the families involved with the CT shooting (and the recent OR shooting), I'm finding it rather disconcerting how many people still think the answer is to have stricter gun laws. The gun didn't shoot itself, a person did.

And limiting the rounds in a magazine/getting rid of "assault rifles" and "100 round magazines" isn't going to make a damn difference. My HANDGUN holds 17 rounds. Someone can have a couple of those and still kill as many people as this trash did.

People have GOT to wake up and realize it isn't the gun's fault for what a human decides to do with it. Criminals are going to obtain a gun no matter what the law says, so making them illegal or banning certain kinds only make it harder for law abiding citizens to have quality protection over their own lives and easier for criminals to do their bidding.

Please stop pointing the blame at the guns. The unhealthy, unstable people are to blame, their choices, their lack of control and grasp on reality are all to blame, not the gun. I believe in our 2nd amendment, and so did our forefathers, the answer isn't to change it.

[Dang, she makes this dad proud]

Originally Posted by BrainwashedFemZombie

The movie theater shooter got his guns legally. Maybe if assault rifles were banned and 100 round clips were outlawed that tragedy never would have happened.

Originally Posted by theGinsue

The events today sadden me deeply. I'm utterly heartbroken and I urge everyone to pray for those affected.

BrainwashedFemZombie: My comment is not intended as a personal attack on you but you need to realize that you're a victim of a calculated effort to brainwash you on behalf of the mass media and those who won't rest until every gun is banned.

First off, semi-automatic firearms, particularly rifles like the AR-15 or publicly available (NOT the ones used by governments or insurgents overseas) AK-47 are NOT "assault rifles". An assault rifle is a specific type of firearm which VERY few outside of the military or law enforcement can possess. In fact, true assault rifles are so heavily regulated that they already are, essentially, banned. The firearms you've been brainwashed into believing are so dangerous are almost identical - operationally, functionally and technically - to most other firearms that aren't nearly as demonized. The difference's lie in aesthetics (appearances) that DO NOT effect how the firearm operates.

Secondly, the capacity of the magazine (you and the media call these "clips") means nothing. Anyone intent on doing harm with a firearm yet limited to using a 10 round magazine would simply carry lots more magazines. Anyone who practices for a 1/2 hour can perform a magazine change in LESS THAN a second. The truth of the matter is that higher capacity magazines have a higher operational failure rate. This is the case in the Aurora Century Theater shooting. The shooters' 100 round magazine jammed causing the shooter to drop the "evil assault rifle" very early on in his attack and switch to another firearm. In fact, he did more harm with his shotgun than any other firearm.

-- Firearms are tools, nothing more. In the U.S., more people die in automobile deaths every day than from firearms in a week or even month, but no one blames cars, they blame the drivers. Wouldn't this problem be solved if we banned automobiles? No one blames a computer for child pornography, they blame the pervert. If we banned computers, cameras and video equipment would this not solve that problem? No one has yet blamed a fork or spoon for me being fat. So, why then do we blame the tool for the improper (and in the case today, the evil & despicable) use of a firearm? If this person today hadn't had a firearm to accomplish his goal of terror and murder he just as easily could have used kitchen-based chemicals to make explosives to get the same death toll.

Until we find out what has happened in our society to make PEOPLE think that this is the way to behave, we will continue to have tragedies like we saw today, regardless of the tool used.

Originally Posted by NaiveFemForeigner

While I understand all of you Im just wondering why these tragedies keep on repeating themselves in the US? And to me it seems more often than anywhere else. I know you have more citizens than we do, but I'm still curious as to why?

Originally Posted by theGinsue

Across the planet, but particularly here in the United States, we have adopted a societal belief that an individual is rarely responsible for their actions. Individually, and society as a whole, look for anything else we can attribute blame to.

We're seeing the continued rapid disappearance of personal responsibility, morality, respect and decency coupled with an ever increasing desensitization to suffering and death (ultimately a loss of value for human life).

I'm afraid that the events like those at the Aurora theater, the Oregon mall, and this weeks schools shooting will become much more commonplace. Folks, we've slipped over the precipice of sensible and respectful behavior. Those who would do harm to others no longer feel compelled to behave appropriately. Their gloves are off and they're coming out fighting. All that remains for the rest of us is to decide we will not allow ourselves or our families to become victims and to take measures to ensure this remains true.

Thanks for reading. Please be vigilant, be safe, and may God bless you.