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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Gun toll; America 9,369 dead, Great Britain 14 -- get the picture? Obama should attend all the funerals in Newtown after massacre

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Gun toll; America 9,369 dead, Great Britain 14 -- get the picture? Obama should attend all the funerals in Newtown after massacre

Posted on Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 07:21 AM

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A vigil was held in front of the White House on Friday night for the victims of the Connecticut shooting.

Here are the statistics; Murders with a firearm in one year: Great Britain, 14; Australia 59; Canada, 144: USA, 9,369.

Are we crazy or has the rest of the world got lucky?

The fault lies in ourselves it seems. Gun violence is out of control.

I think President Obama should attend the funeral of every one of the 27 killed in Newtown, Connecticut.

That way he might show he is serious about efforts at gun control.

His spokesman Jay Carney made one of the dumbest comments in presidential press secretary history when he said on Friday, the day of the tragedy, that this was not the day to talk about the guns issue.

If not Friday, when? Before the next massacre happens?

At a time when the very heavens are screaming for action, Obama and his risk averse staff don’t get it.

The country wants action on this issue and they want it now.

It is appalling to see foreign leaders including the Queen line up and offer sympathy to the U.S. government.

I understand a gesture like that after 9/11 but the foreign leaders should be saying, “Hey America, get your gun house in order.”

The killer had legally held guns, he broke no law. We gave a complete psycho free access to guns -- where did we go so badly wrong?

That is the lesson here, the image of the U.S. worldwide once again is of a cowboy nation where they shoot school children, don’t they, in defense of their Second Amendment rights, a Second Amendment by the way, that is heavily qualified by its caveat sentence at the beginning.

I don’t think Thomas Jefferson and company intended for the right to kill little innocent children to be part of the plan. Amazingly, we have been suckered in these past few years into that position.

But it is time to cry halt now, before another lunatic somewhere decides he wants to top what happened in Newtown and kill even more of our children.

Obama must know there are issues that he must tackle before they fester and bleed and damage America’s soul even more.

The gun issue is now the key one of those.

He should listen to Mayor Bloomberg, the voice in the wilderness these past few years, and follow his plan.

At least then we might have some common sense applied.

The murder of more children seems to be the trade-off for keeping the gun lobby happy.

Can we really live with that? We know this country can do a lot better.

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79 comments

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cillowen | Dec 16, 2012, 11:37 PM EST

please skip over windbag shouter(s) from an erin gone broke now that's chutzpah fer ye.

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cillowen | Dec 16, 2012, 11:33 PM EST

A nation that is mentally ill trying to convert others to adopt such a model.

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STEVENSTAR | Dec 16, 2012, 10:37 PM EST

@pilib04 | Dec 16, 2012, 07:54 PM EST Stevenstar, you are no more in Ireland than I am. Nice try, however, if you were in Ireland you would know that Sinn Fein is 2nd largest political party in Northern Ireland and climbing in the Republic. Also, Irish can talk without shouting. Your are more likely a New Yorker who likes to scream.>>>>>>>>>>> HAHA MATE THAT IS HAILLARIOUS IM IRISH I LIVE IN IRELAND I WAS BORN HERE WANT MY IP ADDRESS TO PROVE IT ???....SURE I DONT LIVE IN NORTHERN IRELAND I LIVE IN SOUTHERN IRELAND NEAR CORK... YES MAYBE SINN FEINN ARE NUMBER 2 IN N IRELAND BUT N IRELAND IS A SEPARATE COUNTRY TO S IRELAND .. SINN FEIN MAY BE THE UNSONG HEREOS IN YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL ENQUIRER IN THE STATES BUT OVER HERE IF YOU CAN EVER AFFORD THE PLANE FARE COME OVER AND SEE FOR YOURSELF SEINN FEIN ARE TOTALLY NOT RELEVANT TO IRISH POLITICS OR CULTURE WHERE I LIVE, NOT IN 2012 SORRY MATE...

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JimmieM | Dec 16, 2012, 08:27 PM EST

Wow only 14 dead...must be getting kind of crowded no wonder you can't get a taxi or a seat on the bus

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seanomelb | Dec 16, 2012, 08:04 PM EST

schlomo Be proud of your guns and wash the blood of 20 children from your NRA stained hands. Australia had fifty gun deaths last year (pop.24 million) we had a gun buyback (2000) and new gun laws.The incident of gun related deaths dropped from 500 to 50 do the math. Americans have a siege mentality almost bordering on paranoia hence high gun murder toll in the good old USA.

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pilib04 | Dec 16, 2012, 07:54 PM EST

Stevenstar, you are no more in Ireland than I am. Nice try, however, if you were in Ireland you would know that Sinn Fein is 2nd largest political party in Northern Ireland and climbing in the Republic. Also, Irish can talk without shouting. Your are more likely a New Yorker who likes to scream.

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sqeyes48 | Dec 16, 2012, 07:46 PM EST

In place of the Prez have the week kneed Congress that makes the laws attend....

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STEVENSTAR | Dec 16, 2012, 07:40 PM EST

@aloistmartin | Dec 16, 2012, 07:00 PM EST The Irish can`t really on Pacifism and the EU to Guarantee their Freedom ! ... Down with Gun Control ! ... Support Sinn Fein ... Support a United Irish Republic Now !>>>>>> MATE IM IRISH AND I LIVE HERE IN IRELAND AND I THINK YOUR COMMENT IS PRETTY SICK.. FIRSTLY ITS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS WHAT WE DO IN IRELAND AND I THINK ITS A PRETTY OFFENSIVE COMMENT TO YOUR FELLOW COUNTRY MEN GIVEN THE MASSACRE AT THE SCHOOL.... WE NOW HAVE PEACE IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND THANKFULLY ITS HOW WE WANT IT ..THANKFULLY SINN FEIN ARE ARE PRETTY EXTINCT OVER HERE IN IRELAND NOW AND ONLY RELY ON THE GENEROSITY OF AMERICANS WHO SEEM TO THINK THEY HAVE SOME CONNECTION TO THE OLD COUNTRY.. NOT SO .... SO GIVE OVER AND SORT OUT THE PROBLEMS IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY AND FORGET ABOUT WHATS GOING ON OVER HERE..

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STEVENSTAR | Dec 16, 2012, 07:35 PM EST

THANKFULLY AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CULTURE ARE WORLDS APART.. I WOULDNT LIVE IN A COUNTRY LIKE AMERICA IF YOU PAID ME.. THEY CARRY GUNS LIKE WE CARRY MOBILE PHONES... I THINK WHAT HAPPENED IN THE SCHOOL IS PLAIN EVIL... THERE ARE ALOT OF DECENT AMERICAN PEOPLE BUT MY VIEW IS THAT THERE ARE AN AWFUL LOT OF THEM THAT ARE NUTTERS ALSO, AND THATS WHY THEY HAVE THIS PROBLEM WITH GUNS.. IM JUST THANKFUL I LIVE OVER HERE AND DONT HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM... IF THERE NOT SHOOTING INNOCENT PEOPLE IN CINEMAS ITS KIDS IN SCHOOL .. SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH A SOCIETY LIKE THAT ...

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Mary Jo | Dec 16, 2012, 07:31 PM EST

The WHO said 15,000 young people were killed in Europe every year, with 40% of these deaths involving knives, but much of the violence could be prevented by using a public health approach. That's just the young people murdered by knives. Where's the count for the older people and children? So, the problem isn't guns. It's crazy people. So where are the questions directed to the Psychiatrists and psychologists and doctors that misdiagnose these lunatics every day.

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Schlomo | Dec 16, 2012, 07:09 PM EST

Thank goodness we're NOT the UK. Guns don't kill people, crazy lunatics do. I am a proud member of the NRA and will always support the right of "sane" citizens to own weapons.

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aloistmartin | Dec 16, 2012, 07:00 PM EST

The Irish can`t really on Pacifism and the EU to Guarantee their Freedom ! ... Down with Gun Control ! ... Support Sinn Fein ... Support a United Irish Republic Now !

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PiperMac52 | Dec 16, 2012, 06:59 PM EST

First off America is NOT Britain. In fact ironically we have a second amendment as a result of the oppression of England directed at the original Colonies. We fought a revolution in order to gain independence which only succeeded because those colonists had arms. What your article fails to mention is that people in those countries that have prohibited private firearm ownership the people are left defenseless and many are killed by those who do not follow the laws. FBI statistics show that in communities that have liberal right to carry laws crime rates are much lower. We also have numerous laws on the books on every level: Federal, state and local which regulate every aspect of firearm ownership and magazine size. Obviously criminals ignore these laws while law abiding citizens are at their mercy. Then there is "fast & Furious" where the Dept. Of Justice under Eric Holder encouraged gun dealers to sell weapons to Mexican drug cartels resulting in the death of Border Patrol agent Brian terry and numerous civilians. What a fine example. No one has been held responsible as of this writing.

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aloistmartin | Dec 16, 2012, 06:51 PM EST

Newtown, Connecticut Church Bomb Threat: St. Rose Of Lima Evacuated … What`s Really Going On ? … To Blackie: All such Acts, will Originate in the form of Sociological Statement, or Ideological Message.What becomes such a message in the mind of the Mentally Depressed, is a Societal Issue not resolvable by Gun Control... There Is No Difference; Between the Indifference of Bourgeois Capitalist/ Bipartisan Plutocracy, ( Global Warming, Austerity, Class War, Sectarianism ) The Hedonism and Violence of our Cultural Media, The Ruthlessness and Impunity of Unrestricted Predator Drone Warfare, The Murder of Innocent Civilians by PTSD maligned Soldiers, and Adam Lanza`s Shooting and Killing of 20 Innocent Children in Newton, Connecticut... Its not the Guns that need to be Socialized; Its the whole “Dog Eat Dog” Philosophy, from the Bank Mortgagors, to the “Confidential Records” of the Central Intelligence Agency. ( Show me yours, and I. will show you mines ! ) ... So the real question, is rather; How does America make Society, Safe for its Children, ( And Great Grand Children ? ) without turning the Whole World into a Bagram AFB, or EU Peace keeping Zone ?

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Woodman | Dec 16, 2012, 06:32 PM EST

There are millions of firearms in the hands of law abiding citizens. Pass a law and take them away? We have strong gun control laws in NYC and the stop and frisk effort by the cops to enforce those laws has been called "racism" by Dowd's fellow travellers.

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