Rapaire, sorry to say because it sounds kind of crass, but at least there was only one killed with the knife. A gun changes that equation considerably.
Slag said: I don't believe they are teaching that difference in the schools today. The NRA's legislative goals are to protect the second amendment rights. Everyone has the right to defend their life, the lives of their families and friends and neighbors and ultimately the right and responsibility to defend their nation. They firmly believe that without this right the nation would sooner or later degenerate into a tyranny with NO rights of the individual. And this was the exact same fear that was expressed by the Founding Fathers and the framers of our Constitution.
I don't think the onus should be on the schools. Parents need to teach their children the difference between freedom and license. I also do not believe the NRA is so altruistic and balanced in their goals. They have become quite paranoid and extreme and I say that having gone to their classes for young teens when I was the only girl in attendance.
Our administration has fostered a Culture of Fear. It has always been there, but the bastard shrub has had almost eight years of growing it to gargantuan proportions until it invades the lives of everyone even those who feel very secure. We cannot build a Society of Peace based on a Culture of Fear. When we give all of our energy, spoken and written words, and thoughts to the negativity of a Culture of Fear, we reap the results. When we give over our thoughts, words and deeds to Peace, we reap a much more positive result and can help end the violence suffered such as the past day.
Ours is not the same fear the Founding Fathers held when contemplating their tenuous hold on freedom. They had a much more positive outlook, they were fired up with excitement and frontiers of new beginnings. Today's fear lacks any balance thanks to the shrub and others and thanks to the People buying into it totally. Seek a Culture of Peace through whatever appropriate actions, thoughts and words you may and help our poor old world to overcome the pervasive violence of today.