I recently made this comment on Sean Faircloth's wall:

I'll say something I tend to keep quiet about: I am nominally pro-2nd amendment. When I look at the statistics, I see both sides of the debate cherry picking with reckless abandon, so I tend to leave it alone.

I think firearms law reform can and should be discussed, and some meaningful action should be taken. There's a negotiated line already in place about what kind of weapons it's safe for people to own or not, and that discussion should continue.

However, the facts of the matter make it clear that even eliminating firearms of all kinds won't prevent broken people from committing terrible acts– the pro-gun lobby has been waving around that Chinese incident like a shield. But it is worth talking about: less people die when it's a knife versus a carbine, but it's also clear that gun laws will mitigate this kind of terror, not eliminate it.

To eliminate it, we have to look at the source, which again as the pro-gun lobby likes to say, is the person, not the gun. If we could remove the stigma from mental health care, and provide a medical infrastructure that actually served citizens and society, we'd be a lot closer to eliminating the problem. As a progressive, that continues to be my focus.

It's a real shame that the people most opposed to socialized medicine tend to be the same people who think the 2nd amendment is the most important thing in the world.

Becky is an educator, so I have to admit that school violence is a subject with a personal edge to it for me. Personally, I don't care what kind of weapon it is– I want it kept as far away from use in a school as possible.

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