79 Comments

• kaydog1 | Dec 31, 2012, 07:17 AM EST

  It would take a colossal amount of gall for the very President who sent thousands of automatic weapons down to the Mexican Drug Cartels as part of "Operation Fast and Furious" and "Operation: Gunwalker" to show his face at the funerals of ANY victims of gun violence. This President's gun gifts to the Mexican narcocartels have been proven as used to kill thousands of innocent Mexican Citizens, and at least three US law enforcement agents that we know of - where are the President's tears for THEM and their family members? How about a few tears from Obama for the so-called 'collateral damege' from all the drone strikes he has been illegally unleashing upon the citizens of governments we are NOT at war with? No, if Niall wants to paint Obama as 'the Prince of Peace'in the gun-violence debate, then Niall is going to have to use a lot of blood-red paint, as Obama's hands are drenched in the stuff, from murdered Middle-Easterners to aborted babies, the man is awash with other people's innocent blood. Please spare me the hypocritical crocodile tears. The problem with Obama-supporters (like Niall), is that they will NEVER criticize this President, or hold him responsible for ANY of the evils he has done. The rest of us, however, have no such indifference to his transgressions. Put your idol back on your own altar, Niall, we won't worship him with you.

• SherLinton | Dec 20, 2012, 02:11 PM EST

  Yeah - Odumba should attend the funerals of the thousands of children and women that he helped to kill with drones in a war that will NEVER end in the Middle East. Cry for those children that have been systematically drugged out and sent into society as zombies - not able to interract with society. Big Pharma has done a great job of creating drugs with suicide and violence written into them. Why so much violence in the USA? The never ending drug ads are coming from a government that is the biggest DRUG CARTEL in this part of the world! They run drugs across the border at an astounding rate and our own border guards are being killed by guns provided by Pistole and Strap on Janet. The USA has a corrupt Communistic gov't and will be overthrown by citizens of the USA who still uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights given to us and bequeathed to us by GOD - Yaweh, Yashua - not by the Communists. Communism never worked any place so why are we being subjected to destruction because this fake pres has gone insane with the thought of World Domination. We want Washington out of our lives and out of our wallets. The middle class is dying and it's Washington's fault.

• SingleDonald | Dec 19, 2012, 07:07 PM EST

  I agree with shop tom & dublinduke! I can only accept abortion if the baby has Downs Syndrone, or other serious pre natel defect. Then, the procedure should be performed as early as possible-certainly not at the 6 month mark, or beyond! Concerning guns, I would like to see a ban on the assault weapons. These are made to kill people, NOT to hunt animals. I am anxiously awaiting the NRA's statement, to be issued on Friday. I sense they will soften up their position, ever so slightly, in the wake of the tragedy in Connecticut. Interestingly, a high school classmate posted an interesting statistic, on Facebook. Where guns are illegal, an average of 22 deaths occur, before the police are able to arrive, to stop a mass murderer. Where guns are legal (such as Texas), an average of 2 deaths occur. Doesn't this tell us something? It takes time for someone to call 911, and for the police to arrive on the scene. However, with ordinary citizens being able to carry arms, it wouldn't be long before the demented person would be shot by a good samaritan! Also, that nut likely wouldn't go on his killing spree in the 1st place, knowing that he would likely be shot soon after his shooting began!

• seanomelb | Dec 19, 2012, 06:42 PM EST

  shop tom has conceded defeat on this debate by his silly puerile comments.

• DanOLoingsigh | Dec 19, 2012, 05:51 PM EST

  If the citizens of any country think the periodic slaughter of innocent children is a ‘price worth paying’ to preserve their gun-owning rights, that’s their business…they just need to pray that the next maniac, or the one after that, doesn’t turn up at the gates of their child’s school…

• shop tom | Dec 19, 2012, 04:58 PM EST

  Why is it that those that are so against the right to own guns are also the same that are so for the right to kill babies in the womb?

• seamus60 | Dec 19, 2012, 02:55 PM EST

  Seano. The gun lobby know less guns is less bucks to all the backroom recipients. Thats all that matters to them.

• seamus60 | Dec 19, 2012, 02:26 PM EST

  Very very sad to all concerned. Yet just another groundhog day in America. No doubt we will have many more articles of this nature. Just imagine if that nutter Timothy Mc Veigh had of got his hands on an assault rifle.

• olovely | Dec 18, 2012, 08:31 PM EST

  Put children before political ideologies. Start with a ban on assault weapons.

• seanomelb | Dec 18, 2012, 06:50 PM EST

  The gun lobby know less guns will mean less deaths.They use the "mental health"issue as a crutch to defend the indefensible.

• eiriamach | Dec 18, 2012, 06:08 PM EST

  @darragh S, maybe he didn't just snap. Jason Sickles, writing on Yahoo: "In stockpiling ammunition, smashing his computers and killing his mother as she slept, Adam Lanza undertook considerable preparation before shooting up an elementary school on Friday, a former FBI profiler said. 'He didn't just snap. This takes a lot of planning,' said Mary Ellen O'Toole, who worked for 15 years in the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit where she studied psychopaths and helped capture killers. 'It's time we stop putting out the mental health issue as an excuse that he didn't know what he was doing,' she said. O'Toole said people with Asperger's [Lanza had this neurological syndrome] ... aren't known to commit such violence and that too much is being made about Lanza's mental health."

• eiriamach | Dec 18, 2012, 05:42 PM EST

  If everyone had to submit to real psychiatric testing before purchasing a gun, the NRA would have no gun-toting members left to pay dues. Not one of those "guns and God" people could pass a real test.

• sirpeter | Dec 18, 2012, 11:39 AM EST

  I bet Thomas Jefferson & company never thought flintlock muskets would end up as semi-automatics.The right to bare arms..As Dr Phil would say..How's that working out for ye?

• southside77 | Dec 18, 2012, 11:19 AM EST

  Please remember Obama is a first class atheist. Not only does he not go to church he views those as do as simple minded nitwits. So you will not see him in a church any time soon.

• JayFay | Dec 18, 2012, 04:30 AM EST

  Darragh, he snapped and had easy access to a gun. If he had snapped and didn't have access to a gun, things would have been very different. This thing isn't complicated you know.

• darragh S | Dec 17, 2012, 10:31 PM EST

  These days you know that mental illness is often a temporary state caused by something in the environment or social sphere. I was reading the Finanical Times review of work place statistics and one thing that took me by suprise is the rate of work related psychosis. One think no one has touched on is that this shooter was a A student in a high level core discipline. This same kind of psychosis often has other consequences and we are familiar for example with Suicide by Asian Students whom are pushed to far. Its not so much that this guy was influenced by the preper scene or the gun lobby and its not the constitution but more that he snapped.

• Joe Glackin | Dec 17, 2012, 10:11 PM EST

  These statistics can be misleading regarding the pro/anti gun control. How many murders were carried out by legally held weapons. Legally owned that were stolen and those bought on the streets are mainly used .A nutter with a legally held is frightening but if he hadnt one Im sure hed get it easily enough. No disrespect to the Army or Police generally, but how many of them, serving or ex, fully trained etc committed murders.The US has experienced this in Fort Bliss Texas. That is also a fact when it comes to the Occupied 6 of Soldiers /Police shooting dead children counties of Ireland

• dublinduke | Dec 17, 2012, 09:10 PM EST

  While you are talking about the loss of innocent young lives in the US don't forget the 1.5 million babies slaughtered by their mother's in abortion mills in the US so far in 2012.

• Donegal6 | Dec 17, 2012, 09:03 PM EST

  When radical islam takes over in England make sure to call the bobbies! The hell with that I want to protect myself. How many gun deaths in the US were dirtballs getting killed dealing drugs or attempting to rape someone that was armed? The US also has a much much larger population and most of the crimes occur in large urban centers with very strict gun control ensuring law abiding citizens are easy marks for the parasites. Why do think Bloomberg and all the hypocrites carry guns! They know that if you want to rob someone all you have to do is convince yourself they are not an off duty cop or a ghetto person and they will definitely not be armed. Bingo! easy mark. When Goetz turned around and plugged those animal on the subway for attempting to rob him everyone in New York cheered!!!! But he went to jail for a mandatory 1 year for simply having the gun. You will never erase over 200 years of history justifying a revolution and armed revolt! Our Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms. The trick is how do you keep the guns out of the hands of criminal and crazies? No law to date even in essentially total gun controlled cities and states has eradicated that. It's like automobile deaths 30, 40 50,000 dead a year including small children. How do you legislate against morons driving too fast and too aggressively. Darwin takes care of it. Obamacare should equal major psychiatric care and if religion works for many people and it helps to hold families together it shouldn't be mocked. Intact families that get help when they need it, can show kids that there is a society that is caring and structured and it starts with the fundamental building block. The family.

• seanomelb | Dec 17, 2012, 05:59 PM EST

  The gun lovers like Lanza's mother have one thing in common a siege mentality.

• SeamusMartin | Dec 17, 2012, 05:41 PM EST

  Someone suggested that President Obama attend all the funerals. I think all representatives, senators should attendalso; Charleton Heston too. Ya got a Problem, right there in the USA, with a capital "P" that rhymes with "G" and stands for GUNS!!!

• aloistmartin | Dec 17, 2012, 04:29 PM EST

  STEVENSTAR@ " Even the Devil can quote scripture"

• Happyhippo | Dec 17, 2012, 03:04 PM EST

  What the hell was a mother doing with a deadly fully automatic assault rifle firing 60 rounds a minute in the first place,people make an issue from the fact he was refused a gun licence and blame the shooter not the weapons,its ironic that the gun he used to kill his mother was actually her own legally held weapon,but in America the freedom to carry arms is inshrined in the consitution, so the killing sprees will have no effect until the laws are updated,and if the powerfull NRA have their way there wont be any change ever,the price of freedom is murder on a large scale until the people that matter are hit.

• YellerBelly | Dec 17, 2012, 01:53 PM EST

  Amen! That piece of paper called the constitution is outdated and some of it does not apply to our world and society today. If you are so fearful of and paranoid about this wonderful democracy we live in then I suggest ya move out. But it might be hard as many countries do not allow the ownership of weapons. Perhaps its best like in Roman times to put every nut owning a weapon to show off their bravado and play the John Waynes they believe to be and have them shoot each other. Not our children. Who needs an automatic weapon for hunting answer me that? A civil society is one based on mutual trust and respect not living not threatening each other with carry to conceal. Have faith in our country's laws and justice system. Plus if you are in a situation where you feel you need to use a friigin weapon, stay away. Like dad says, nothing good happens after midnight so go home.

• maryosullivan | Dec 17, 2012, 10:14 AM EST

  This morning MSNBC TV reported 10 young Afghan girls were killed by an exploding mine, over 1 million Iraqi children have died for want of medicines since 1991, medicines which the US refuses to sell to them. One must come to the conclusion ,given the little interest shown for these facts ,the lives of Afghan and Iraqi children are worth close to zero

• IrelandNorth | Dec 17, 2012, 08:24 AM EST

  What's with the GB comparator, Niall! Surely a comparison between Irish and US stats would have been more consonant. Notwithstanding our very own slow motion civil war apres IRA/BA ceasefire in 1994.

• JayFay | Dec 17, 2012, 05:16 AM EST

  Darragh - overall homicide by any means for the UK is 1.2 per 100,000 population. The same figure for the US is 4.8 per 100,000 people - 4 times higher than any Western European country. So it's hardly the case that blunt trauma accounts for equal amounts of murders in the UK when there are simply 4 times less murders overall in the UK - end of story. As I said below, somebody on a rampage with a knife won't kill so many as somebody on a rampage with a gun. And knife weilding youths in London during the Afghan war? I live in London - can't say I ever met one of them.

• stanchaz | Dec 17, 2012, 05:09 AM EST

  Words well written, sir,

• darragh S | Dec 17, 2012, 04:28 AM EST

  Please! UK Stab Force and Blunt force Trauma statistics thanks. If you remember the knife happy teens of london stories we were getting at the peak of the Afghan war for example. This is what happens, and in the future when were carrying around laser guns and homing laser beams etc they will be complaining about that to back on earth with there guns.

• JayFay | Dec 17, 2012, 02:54 AM EST

  Yes Schlomo you're right, guns don't kill people - people with guns kill people. How many does an unarmed person kill? Maybe one. How many does does a person with a knife kill? One, maybe two. How many does a person with a gun kill? 10, 20, 50 if he's 'lucky' How many people are killed accidentally every year by their own bare fists? How many are accidentally killed every year in handling a knife? And how many are accidentally killed every year in handling a gun You just keep telling yourself that classrooms of kids need to die so that you can keep up your pastime - if it helps you feel better.

• 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.

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

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

• 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...

• 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

• 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.

• 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.

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

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

• 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..

• 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 ...

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 !

• 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.

• 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 ?

• 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.

• butlerreport | Dec 16, 2012, 06:29 PM EST

  Bloomberg's own police wounded 13 by standers recently in a shoot-out. That shows how much he knows about gun control. The gun owners in NYC are cops, politicians, judges, select businessmen and citizens...and criminals. Who said the killer of these children was a psycho? Most mass killers are not nuts. Evidenced by the amount of planning put into what he did. Adding a label makes us feel safe by pretending he's not one of us. He was. And he was a criminal; a murderer. 187 million Americans own guns officially. Unofficially the number is much higher. They do so for self defense and because they enjoy shooting. They hurt no one. The 2nd Amendment was designed to allow an armed populace to deter a despot government, foreign or domestic.

• seanomelb | Dec 16, 2012, 06:22 PM EST

  Put your three cornered hat in the wardrobe jetanoone and join the 21 first century,BTW park your siege mentality with your hat.

• McNamara31 | Dec 16, 2012, 05:40 PM EST

  etsnoone I'm sure the mother of the shooter who had an arsenal in her home felt the same way and there are 20 dead children because of that thinking. It's not 1776, and there is no reason to justify assault weapons in anyone's hands.

• Sparklet | Dec 16, 2012, 05:34 PM EST

  Yay, go Seanomelb. Spot on.

• jetsnoone | Dec 16, 2012, 05:31 PM EST

  Niall, the USA is king free and we have the Bill of Rights.... England's people failed on both accounts. We must thank the gun toting patriots of 1776. We the descendants of those brave men will prevent communism from ever taking over America....Putting mental patients in hospitals is the solution but you liberals have no stomach for that.

• seanomelb | Dec 16, 2012, 05:20 PM EST

  The moronic reasons given below by the pro gun types beggars belief and the morons at fox trot out the usual dopes who favour guns and their answer is to give guns to teachers.I think the root problem is the siege mentality Americans have been conditioned to in the twentieth century perpetrated by government propoganda a "red under every bed" or "those blacks want to rape our women" or "all mulims are terrorists". Grow up and put the love of your children before your love of guns.I wonder how Bush feels today he lifted the ban on assault rifles,.He has the blood of twenty children on his stained hands.

• Sparklet | Dec 16, 2012, 02:50 PM EST

  Katiemac, have the decency and the respect not to turn this into another diatribe about Irish/English history - it's not relevant in this case, and we're talking about the here and now, not what might have been justifiable in the past. Your comments are very insensitive to what happened in Conn. because if nothing else, you're diverting the attention away from the tragedy.

• bobby | Dec 16, 2012, 02:43 PM EST

  @1MADCELT you say Britian has a total population of 2 large US cities. Britain has a population of 60 million people. Europe has over 500 million people, and gun crime nowhere near as bad as the states.

• Maccy | Dec 16, 2012, 02:42 PM EST

  Those who are mentally ill outside of the USA (typically) cause harm to themselves, not the lives of innocent citizens. Mental Illness is not a US phenomena and it will always exist, despite the very best healthcare provisions. The difference; firearms enable those of mental instability to inflict their grievance on a mass level. It also allows for the desensitisation of weaponry usage which causes a whole host of negative implications. 'Way Curious', take it from somebody who works in research - just because an article is in the Harvard Journal does not make it fact. You don't know who funded said research or what provisions were in place to make it unbiased and accurate.

• bunkerisland | Dec 16, 2012, 02:05 PM EST

  Let us keep our feet on the ground! This recent tragedy is one of many and breaks the hearts of all parents and others around the world. The destruction of innocent children shatters our faith in government but our Congress neglects to any action beyond expressing grief. It is a bit unrealistic to expect the President to attend each funeral as much as he may wish to. We need action beyond the expression of grief, legislative action that Congress needs to move on after an extensive dialogue with the citizenry. We need a consensus on meaningful legislation. "Brian22" makes some interesting and important points.

• McNamara31 | Dec 16, 2012, 01:41 PM EST

  What justifies over 310 million guns in American households? That's insanity in itself.

• Nicomax | Dec 16, 2012, 01:31 PM EST

  A country willing to launch an invasion of a country who had not done us any harm, and then mess up the effort to the extent of losing over 5,000 people and injuring for life another 25,000, all costing us well over a $ billion is not one likely to understand it's own gun problem.

• baldoyler | Dec 16, 2012, 01:28 PM EST

  10.49am comment

• baldoyler | Dec 16, 2012, 01:24 PM EST

  read my earlier post 10.20am.....if people with mental problems were looked after by society, these atrocities would not happen. Alcoholicism is an illness but lots of people look down on people with this illness. Mental illness too, society does not offer enough help to these unfortunates. Ban guns? knives? swords,hammers,chainsaws?,cars? acid,? hammers? cars? baseball bats? they are all lethal in the wrong hands.

• WayCurious | Dec 16, 2012, 01:08 PM EST

  He killed his mother and stole her guns, so laws were broken to acquire them. He was denied purchasing a weapon. Furthermore, you initial premise is incorrect. Volume 30, Number 2 of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy (pp. 649-69 "Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? A Review of International and Some Domestic Evidence," explains why Euro numbers are less and concludes no only that there is no correlation between gun ownership and violent crime, but instead concludes a negative correlation: as gun ownership increases, murder and suicide decreases.

• 1MADCELT | Dec 16, 2012, 12:52 PM EST

  By the way I and many others like me, served in the U.S. Armed Forces, and we're not raving lunatics shooting people up. A firearm is a tool. Nothing more. You use a nail gun the wrong way it will kill you.W taking them away from the carpenters now?

• katiemac | Dec 16, 2012, 12:46 PM EST

  Don't you find it just a tad ironic that an Irishman would encourage Americans to be more like the English? In point of fact, had the Irish had the right to bear arms, the English yoke would have been lifted centuries earlier. If you truly are appalled at the events of the US, and they are plenty horrifying, then perhaps your efforts should be directed at the Mental Health industry. We have thousands and thousands of kids and adults who are dangerously deranged, some from an accident of nature, others from recreational drug usage, who are being turned lose on the public on the basis of some honor system medication program. The psychiatric community sits back smugly pleased with themselves for having placed such folk back into society. But at what cost when they chose not to take their meds?

• 1MADCELT | Dec 16, 2012, 12:42 PM EST

  your #'s are off , you can't take a country the size of the State of Texas and equate it to a country the size of Europe. not to mention population differences.Britain has the total population of 2 large U.S. cities. so inflate your numbers out, and you'll most likely find that the U.S. has less murders than you think.

• brian22 | Dec 16, 2012, 12:40 PM EST

  A lifetime diet of violent films and videos, an "I'll show you" attitude, easy access to the perfect assault weapon.... sadly the clock is now ticking to the next massacre! America, you are slow learners.

• dianeejohnson | Dec 16, 2012, 12:26 PM EST

  Your statistics are right on. It is ridiculous how the NRA can hold the country hostage. It is way past the time for the President and our legislators to act. The gun lobby is going down!

• McNamara31 | Dec 16, 2012, 12:22 PM EST

  adyoflarkspur... Americans are truly addicted to "their guns". There are over 310 million guns in American households and most gun owners owning at least four weapons. Yes, this is a form of "mental illness in itself" and the pusher to these addicts is the NRA.

• McNamara31 | Dec 16, 2012, 12:06 PM EST

  The NRA has created a world where there are 88.8 guns per every 100 Americans and suburban housewives think it's ok to have their "homes" stocked with hi powered weapons. Let me guess...I bet she loved to listen to Glen Beck and the FOX crowd also. And if you want more instances of the unbelievable insanity and recklessness of NRA lobbyists and their puppet politicians on the state level; colleges around the country are now allowing students to "carry". Roughly 350 colleges and universities in 39 states have joined the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, a project of the group Gun Free Kids. However, lawmakers in roughly 25 states have introduced bills to allow some form of concealed carry on college campuses in the past two years. So before you send you child off to school check the state laws for guns on campus and in the dorms. Only in an America that cowers to the NRA could this become a reality.

• Towngate | Dec 16, 2012, 11:53 AM EST

  Well daid,Niall! - not an event to be taken lightly. Children at that age in particular are the essence of wonder and innocence. I just question why, in a sophisticated part of America their Teacher was the Registered Owner of a 'Sig Sauer', A 'Glock' and a '.223 Bushmaster M4 Carbine'! ~~~ Btw: Please don't expect the current flaky POTUS to do anything other than what he is told to do! Sláinté

• Towngate | Dec 16, 2012, 11:50 AM EST

  Elsewhere on this this website a poster repeated the dumb adage "Guns don't kill, people do." In fact, it takes both. What we have in the U.S. is freedom run amok where almost any type of firearm can be purchased by almost anyone, including criminals and the mentally deranged. We have almost 300 million firearms in civilian hands, many of those being high powered, high velocity, assault-type weapons with high capacity ammo clips that have little application to, say, deer hunting but are highly suited to mass murder at close range. Appallingly, that is their purpose and their appeal. And state legislatures are going further: concealed weapons in schools, in church, in bars, on trains - the insane logic being, more guns, more safety, less crime. The world looks on in horror.

• ladyoflarkspur | Dec 16, 2012, 11:29 AM EST

  I am concerned that Irish Times is not a very well-balanced journal any longer. I have enjoyed your stories in the past but as an Irish-American, I find this story very ill-timed and very inflamatory. Our nation just suffered a terrible tragedy and you are attempting to use it as an excuse to shove your opinion down your readers throats. I think this incident needs to open a discussion on how the mentally ill are treated, identified and diagnosed in America; obviously there are huge gaps in mental health that need to be addressed. But as one of many, many, peace-loving gun owners, I find it very offensive that you blame solely guns for this horrific tragedy. A gun is merely a metal object; in the hands of a mentally unbalanced or drugged person, it becomes a killing device. As does cars, knives, hammers, and many other objects. I suggest Irish Times avoid inflammatory, wildly unfactual pseudo-articles and stick to what they do best- writing Irish-based, impartial news articles. Otherwise, this American (and many others), will be canceling our subscriptions and moving on to more balanced new-reporting websites. Thank you.

• antoman | Dec 16, 2012, 11:04 AM EST

  There is a nationwide mental illness in America. Its called gun culture.

• baldoyler | Dec 16, 2012, 10:49 AM EST

  Niall this is complete bs!! popuulation of G.B.=58M, Aus,=21m, Canada=35m, and USA 313m!!! so your analysis is not based on per capita. Usa does need tighter gun control laws, but that will not solve the problem Most of these macabre acts have been carried out by individuals with severe mental health issues.Currently there is nothing much in place to help people with mental health problems. They are looked at by society as nutters when in fact they are sick. The Usa needs to help these people earlier in their lives and not ignore them.

• Silling | Dec 16, 2012, 10:20 AM EST

  Sugar is the problem. Americans are poisoned from the stuff. It makes people aggressive. We used to make bombs from Weed Killer and Sugar when we were young.

• HorsesInMdstrm | Dec 16, 2012, 09:46 AM EST

  Wayne LaPierre of the NRA should also attend the funerals. Perhaps he could persuade the grieving families why guns must be so accessible.

• eileenkny | Dec 16, 2012, 09:38 AM EST

  On Black Friday alone, over two hundred thousand guns were purchased in the US. What is the mentality that says asking for and/or giving someone a gun as a gift, on the day Jesus was born, is a good thing? I'm appalled that people have to die for this conversation to be held. I don't really have a problem with people owning a rifle for hunting, but there is absolutely no reason that anyone, other than the police and military should be allowed assault weapons!

• like2tweet | Dec 16, 2012, 08:50 AM EST

  Portia you need to take your pills

• Portia777 | Dec 16, 2012, 08:36 AM EST

  All falling for the brainwashing I see. Most mass shootings are done by those programmed to kill. The murder of those children is all designed to draw people in and feel that removing guns will stop the SACRIFICE of innocent children to their god. No, killing humans is only part of the scene, soul sucking to keep soulless ones alive is the real issue but few people are aware and fall into the e-motional trap all played out on screen through brainwashing. Dunblane was similar sacrifice and its facts are covered up for 100 years, why?

• 2ndrepubalik | Dec 16, 2012, 08:18 AM EST

  America - wake up ! The NRA is the most powerful lobby in Washington - why ? To protect the sales of guns , bullets and other armaments that are being used against it's own citizens and thier children. Gun related crime is totally out of contyrol because there are no controls ! Like2tweet is right - the Figures don't lie !!!

• like2tweet | Dec 16, 2012, 08:03 AM EST

  The figures don't lie