>>>So you think the president is actually focused on the possibility of some of his "friends" getting a piece of this $500million in their personal pockets? You know what - no matter what action is taken it's going to cost money - and in case you missed it 100,000 gun incidents in this country every year - some action HAS to be taken. And frankly as a taxpayer I think $500mill is a tiny tiny tiny price to pay if it keeps our kids from getting shot. If you think the president is somehow motivated by the financial gain of his friends with this cause I can't even begin to stress how strongly I think that's absurd.
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>>So which part of it is going to keep kids from getting shot?
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>Nothing will prevent it, of course. But isn't reducing it a worthy goal, so these things aren't happening seemingly every month?
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>I have said this before -- I am not viewing this as a knee-jerk liberal. But I don't think we should just say there is nothing that can be done and carry on with business as usual. Whether new gun laws are a meaningful solution, I don't know.

And what a lot of us are trying to say, and keep getting drowned out in the 'THEY GONNA TAKE OUT GUNS!!!!!111! hysteria is that new laws on gun ownership is not going to 'solve' the problem. Most of the rules/regs that people are screaming for already exist in most states - whether they are being enforced or not is more the question.

It seems to me that most of the perpetrators of mass murder with a gun have been diagnosed with some type of mental illness, THAT'S what we need to start addressing - strengthening and improving our mental health system. It's very, very sad that two of the largest mental health wards in the country are located in prisons.

So, it occurs to me that the question that really needs to be asked after something like Sandy Hook happens is not necessarily "How did he get his hands on these guns?" but "What was going on in his mind/life that this action seemed a reasonable response?"