The recent Suicide of Rev. Rick Warren son was accomplished with a fire arm purchased on line with the serial number removed.

How do you purchase guns on line with not registration?

Greed is behind all the gun issues.

Guns bring violence to all.

Contrary to what Rep Gohmert from Texas said, there is no reason to believe the principle of that school would "have taken down" the shooter if she had had a gun. You have only to look at the shooting at the Empire State building this past summer as an example of what happens in shootout confrontations.

There, a guy kills someone with a gun. Two cops confront him. He draws his gun and they have a shoot out. Yes, the cops killed him. But they also ended up wounding or injuring 9 bystanders. These are professionals. That's how they make their living. Yet they hit 9 other people besides the shooter.

There are also quite a number of cases where cops, trained professionals, thought someone had a gun, drew their own weapons and killed unarmed people. Amadou Diallo comes to mind. Four cops fired over 40 shots and hit him 19 times, but he wasn't armed.

Our knowledge, care, treatment and coverage of mental illness is in the dark ages. Not to excuse his horrific act or generalize about all persons with mental illness, but Adam Lanza (and other such mass shooters) was a terribly troubled young man. My observation is that people around these at-risk youths invariably see signs of trouble, but it is not addressed. I believe that is because mental illness is still taboo in our society and has not been taken seriously. I would also add that insurance companies make it extraordinarily difficult to access quality care.

It is time that the US join the rest of the world's developed nation and implement policies that make gun ownership difficult. Canada is one of the safest country one can live in. And it is not because there is a gun in every home, but to the contrary.
The areas suffering most from gun violence are usually place border American cities (Windsor, Ontario and Vancouver, BC, across from Detriot and Seatle, respectively.)

Something tell me that the meaning of: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." has shifted to be more that the drafters of the constitution intended.

I believe the US can afford one the right to own a (one) gun for self defense or sport (odd application of the word), but the government has an intrinsic obligation to ensure that those approved for such ownership, have the fortitude to do so responsibly.

The direction the US should move in is as follows:

1. Ask for justification in cases where one request a gun for safety.
2. Require references and recommendation for hunting gun.
3. Have extensive background checks in all instance
4. Require mandatory licensing, with classes, and yearly renewal.
5. Ban all gun with greater fire power than the police (i.e. civilian vs. law enforcement categorization) from civilian purchase.
6. Allow only well regulated target shooting ranges, the police and military to own assault weapons.
7. Outlaw existing ownership of high capacity gun and institute a buy back program to reduce the amount currently in circulation.
8. Institute a tracking system for every gun manufactured in, or imported into, the US. With tracking, it should be easier to identify illegal gun sales.

The men who wrote the 2nd amendment had muskets.

Steven Smith just made an assertion that was ridiculous and without academic or journalistic rigor- claiming most gun owners today are not single firearm owners but actually amassing armories to handle future degeneration of society. I wish John had picked up on the absurdity of that observation. - liberal listener who still expects intelligent guest interviews

In Florida, my child is in catholic school. In response to pedophile priest activities, you cannot volunteer at a catholic school in any capacity until you complete an in-person course on recognizing signs of pedophilia/sex abuse AND submit to a background check AND be fingerprinted. Surely the US Federal government can institute a similarly stringent set of requirements for citizens who choose to exercise their @nd amendment right to own a gun.

The one very simple thing I have not yet heard anyone talk about was this: In both this tragic school shooting and in the Oregon shooting previously, in neither case, did the shooter own the weapons they used. In both cases, the people who owned those weapons should have kept them in a gun vault at all times. I can guarantee you that buy spending an amount equal to about half or less than half the value of an .223 bushmaster rifle, one can own a gun safe that nobody in going going to be able to break into unless they know the combination.

Sure, let's have a good conversation about gun control. However, let's start with something really simple, such as securing the guns we do own!

John

Why does the debate around curbing gun violence never include efforts to increase education. NYC hith schoolers receive lessons on HIV prevention and around bullying/bias harrassment, but nothing about preventing gun violence?

According to its website, the NRA has 4.3 million members.
There are more than 207 million registered voters in the United States.

Let's use our voices, force our representatives to truly represent us and change the laws on gun control.

Surely this can be done...

We as a society do not offer solutions for mentally ill children; this needs to be corrected.

Assault weapons should be banned.

I cannot fathom why this mother had guns under the same roof of a mentally disturbed son! Survivalist? These weapons certainly didn't help her survive. I am sorry that she had to lose her life, but she carries much of the responsibility for the death count in Newtown.

Did the president cry for the 160 or so children killed in drone strikes? Who cares if they are from other countries right? Probably did the cremation of care anyway.

I am the author of When Your Friend's Child Dies. As I listen to so many professional counselors talking, I get horrified. Even worse, are the religious leaders of the community. There is not one newly grieving parent who finds comfort in the words that tell them their child is in a better place with God. There is not one newly grieving parent who wouldn't snatch their child back from heaven. No one should ever, ever tell a person how to grieve or even assume that they know how to grieve because they have lost a parent or even a dog. The pain (and there is actually physical pain for a few months)from losing a child will last the parents' whole lives. There is no getting over it and there is no easier way through it. We must listen to the parent but never coach the parent. With all the well-wishing being expressed across the planet, that is appreciated but won't help a bit. The fact that this is so public makes it different from most. If you just "look inside" the book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/When-Your-Friends-Child-Dies/dp/0966665503 you may find some hints on what to say and NOT to say. And, so important, remember that there are hundres of kids who die every day and their parents need just as much support.

We need to change the way we think about guns and power . Assault weapons are about power. We need to start a "I am really powerful. I don't need a gun" campaign. Only changing social attitudes will really work to change the situation.

Oh but Isaac in Portland, sports cars don't kill, speed does...

Look, the tired excuse that guns don't kill ppl, ppl kill ppl, is one of the sorriest most lame excuses I have ever heard. See if it makes any difference to the person who has been killed or the family and friends left behind.

A dear friend Barb Monroe was shot in her classroom along with two other professors at the University of Arizona Medical Center Nursing School by a Gulf War vet who screamed out for help many times (chemical warfare exposure in Iraq). My friend reported him to her administration, that she was worried about him. He shot himself and left behind a 12 page note explaining the mental health desperation that brought him to this heinous act that has forever impacted all of Barb's family, friends and former students and staff at UA nursing. Until we are willing to spend some of the 1% currently exempt taxes and all contribute a bit more to mental health programs and outreach, mass shootings and human nuclear meltdowns will become even more common. If not, than there must be a ban, not on assault weapons...there are too many...but on the bullets and magazines that give them utility.

Why do people have assault weapons? Can you interview people who have these weapons and ask them why they have them?

Trying to curb violence by banning assault weapons is like trying to reduce car crashes by banning sports cars.

Don't overlook the responsibility and contributions of the parents in this case.

Many times kids in an emotionally and psychologically abusive home don't have a voice and when they do speak up, no adult will believe them because we adults, yes, you and I are pre-biased to blindly trust the parent over the kids who are branded 'violent troublemakers' acting out.

What venues do kids have in these abusive households (apart from running away from home) to get help?

Children can be guided if the parents are responsible, loving and take the time to do so.

OK.. I have to say something. Where was the father? Her older son left her alone too. Dealing with her son is difficult for a family much less all by yourself. He didn't even call his son after the divorce.. I can not judge that is for God to do. I will say the blame rests equally on his shoulders.

Keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally-emotionally unstable is not as easy as it might sound.

An adult relative has been twice detained by police as a danger to himself and twice placed in a mental-health facility for evaluation. These red flags create no restrictions on his buying/owning guns. Last time, the police at least confiscated his weapons. He got all of them back.

The stickier issue underlying this is an adult who has mental-emotional issues but who steadfastly refuses to get professional help.

"Caroleon from New York" tells us that Nancy Lanza "stockpiled... automatic weapons."

As far as I know, that is a completely innacurate statement. Credit the NRA, for refraining from that sort of wrong-headed speculation, and indeed all commentary on public policy and critical legislation until the facts are known.

If The Takeaway is going to engage in the gun-law debate, it really ought to start with educating the public radio audience on basic gun design and mechanics.

I can't get beyond the fact that the shooter's mother extolled and stockpiled guns, including automatic weapons, knowing all the while that her mentally disturbed son lived under her roof. That she too was killed doesn't absolve her of responsibility for the death of these little children and the adults who tried to save them.

as I posted on my Facebook Saturday, this raises the question in many different arenas. 1) We as a nation have an ever growing population of developmentally dissabled people, 1 in 80 children is on the austism spectrum, though we all are on it at some point.
2) we are not limiting the amount of normal healthy food to people, which helps to prevent these children, mostly boys, from becoming developmentally disabled. It isn't just what they eat or what prescriptions they take, it is what their mothers were eating, taking, doing.
3) limiting good vitamin supplements to these people also increases the issues as these boys (mostly) exhibit these behaviors because of brain chemicals, hormones, that don't work or are blocked by environmental chemcials
4) every day, we sane people are putting more and more of these chemicals into the environment, and into our bodies, that cause many of these behaviors, that limit normal metabolic function
5) the issue here isn't that we take away the "low hanging fruit" as you mentioned, but that we address what is causing the increase in developmental disabilty, because though the gun issues are huge, there are more subtle issues that damage families and people's lives daily as they deal with their children.