#remember sandy hook

[smt1977]

Think about THAT, Congressman.

[alienatedyouth85]

Human tragedy

I still remember the afternoon of March 16th, 1996. I remember getting picked up by my aunt from school and seeing the news on the TV as I walked in the house. Even at the age of 10, I recoiled in the horror that while at school, a man called Thomas Hamilton had walked into Dunblane Primary School, a primary school not unlike my own, and opened fire on a P1 class with an arsenal of handguns. A total of 16 children died that morning, along with their teacher. 15 others suffered injuries as well, before Hamilton turned one of his pistols on himself, committing suicide. To show how far reaching this could have been, a young student called Andrew Murray was in a classroom not even yards away from the gymnasium this all occurred. Said master Murray, better known as Andy, went on to win both Olympic singles gold in Tennis at Wimbledon and the US Open Tennis Championship this year. Murray was at the epicentre of arguably the worst peace-time shooting tragedy ever committed on UK soil. An incident that effectively brought about laws that made it practically illegal to own a handgun in the United Kingdom. I make a note of this now in the aftermath of yesterday's events in Newtown, CT leave such a bitter taste in the mouth. Learning of the events last night brought back the horror my 10 year old mind went through that terrible day in 1996. I'm sure you have similar memories of similar times as well, be it Columbine, Virginia Tech or any other mass murder. I'm sure Andy has the same thoughts as well, given his proximity to such horror himself. But if someone like Andy can come through that kind of horrific scene and become a well respected and inspirational character, I'd like to hope the same can be said of the surviving pupils in Sandy Hook Elementary. I hope we hear of great feats of the young people who have had their lives disrupted on such a large scale. I also hope that, just as in the aftermath of Dunblane, this is the moment Americans take a look at themselves and wonder how necessary the Second Amendment really is. What is the real price of trying to keep an archaic right to bear arms? Is the cost of 20 young lives enough to keep a right that destroys hundreds upon thousands of lives each year? If all Americans want to honour and remember the young who've had their lives cruelly snatched away, then maybe it's time to consider lowering arms. Only then will this kind of horror end.