Just another Left-Winged-Opinion: Sandy Hook Elementary School

Dear Mr. President, 

I do not claim to be unique. I do not claim to be any different than the 314 million other residents of the United States. I know my thoughts and opinions are not one-of-a-kind, and that countless others share them. The statements expressed in this article have been and will be repeated for generations and generations to come. 

Today 20 school children, many under the age of 7, were gunned down in their class room.  A school, meant to foster growth, to promote education, and to shape young minds was violated in the most heinous of ways.

As I listen to the new coverage a recurring theme occurs: 

     “What can we learn from this shooting?” 

     “What we can take away from this?” 

      “How does this resemble the attack in," Another year... 

    

      “The gunman was," Another age. Another Name... 

      “We are reminded of the shooting in,” Another City. Another State… 

When does it become too much? How many more lives, innocent lives, lives just beginning, have to be taken before we do something?

Millions of people share this opinion yet we live in a country where a person diagnosed as a threat to themselves and to others has access to weapons capable of taking lives. Weapons capable of firing 100 rounds per second. Weapons that go above and beyond “self-defense” and a “constitutional right.” A, “God-given right,” some would argue.  

But God had no part in this. 

I’m not interested into getting into a political pissing match on gun control. That is not my intention. What I care about are the lives of 20 children. Jesus Christ, 20 CHILDREN in body-bags and the 6 adults who died, undoubtedly, trying to save them. 

My heart aches for the families of these children in Newtown, Connecticut. My heart aches for their families and the families of those lost in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Aurora, Colorado, Tucson, Arizona, Blacksburg, Virginia, Littleton, Colorado, Springfield, Oregon and countless other cities in this Country, the “Greatest Nation in the world,” where lives were extinguished in the blink of an eye, and where scars exist still today.

I am sick. Exhausted. Another National Tragedy has shaken us to the core and brought our leaders to tears. Our hearts are broken. Again. Now what? It has been said that in the wake of these events, "Now is not the time to talk about gun control," well when in the hell IS the time?

The system has failed. The system continues to fail. In one sense or another, we are doing something wrong.  

And it’s time to change that.

- Kimberly M. Totleben 

   Erie, PA 16506