Sandy Hook and the gun control issue

In an op-ed piece in The Kansas City Star, columnist Cindy Hoedel wrote that she is tired of everyone in America not standing up to the "biggest threat facing our children's personal safety: the NRA."

Well, I'm a parent and NRA member. In addition to teaching my eldest daughter about G-d, doing the right thing, and being responsible and accountable for her actions... I also teach her that there is real evil in the world and that she has to be prepared to recognize it when she sees it and deal with it.

I made the heart-wrenching decision to have an honest talk with her about the evil that walked into Sandy Hook on December 14th. After I told her what had happened, she asked, "Why didn't someone stop him? Why didn't someone shoot him first?"

How do I tell her that Victoria Soto's sacrifice was the best she could do because us grown ups decided teachers and administrators could do no more?

Our nation is going to have to face the "gun issue." For the safety of our children, we need to remind those who think that somehow one more gun law would have made a difference, that guns are merely inanimate objects which are not responsible for the intentions of the people wielding them. A good person can use a gun to save the lives of children being threatened by a madman, while a madman can use that same gun to destroy lives. We need to remind those who would ban guns that even if we could somehow wave a magic wand and poof away every single firearm in this world, I know enough of history to know that evil men will use whatever tools they have at their disposal, be it box cutters, car bombs, fertilizer, knives, or sweet flavored kool-aid.

Many things failed those children that day, but it wasn't the NRA or the 2nd Amendment. The NRA did not put a gun in Lanza's hands or encourage him to break over 40 laws that day. The NRA did not make him shoot those innocents. The legal system, insurance companies, and medical community failed Nancy Lanza, though, in not enabling her to force Adam Lanza to get the mental health care he needed. Liberal lobbyists and Congressmembers failed those kids by declaring that school an easy target by labeling it a "Gun Free Zone." Now the President will fail other children by only confronting the issue of guns while ignoring the bigger challenge: reforming mental health care in our country by improving access and reducing stigma.

We CAN do more for our children's safety. But banning guns is not the answer.