Time for action, not another shrug

DORRIS HENSEL | Olympia • Published December 24, 2012 Modified December 23, 2012

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It is time to examine the sorry mess we are in. On Dec. 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary, automatic weapons designed to kill, did. The unspeakable crime against those innocent children makes some of us convinced that our protection of the Second Amendment has trampled on the First Amendment, which among other rights, states the right of people to “peaceably assemble.” Now we have people afraid to go to the malls, McDonald’s, the post office or send their children to school.

Those who want a gun are usually given the right to buy one, but we have to ask: Why a gun that rapidly fires many rounds? For the military, yes, but for the recreational gun owner, no. We have too many unstable people, an inadequate mental health system, and the most dangerous of all, the availability of these deadliest of weapons. The American people deserve better, their right to peaceably assemble. It is time for action and not just a shrug.

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