The Connecticut School Shootings (I Hesitate to Post)

Yesterday saw the horror of the murder of some 28 people in first grade classrooms in a grade school in Connecticut. I hesitate to post because people try to make such tragedies into political gains; I've made my own support for stricter gun control laws clear before (and commented on the constitutional scope of this), and I do not need to reemphasize it here. The tragedy simply leaves me bereft and at tears.

I have seen a number of interesting and provoking posts and comments about it, though, and I thought I'd round a few of them up.

• Professor Glenn Reynolds of the influential blog Instapundit quotes William S. Burroughs for the statement “After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it.” That's both a little true and a lot idiotic. This was a temporary step up for Professor Reynolds, though. His usual claim, which he's since reiterated in an editorial in editorial in USA Today, is that regulating firearms (which he always calls "banning" them) leads to shooting sprees. You see, if people are armed to the teeth, then the killers will be easily gunned down and criminals will be afraid to shoot anybody, or something like that. That is so stupid it buggers belief. Anyway, its patent dumbness becomes evident in a case like this as little first graders and their teachers can't go around carrying guns. It is an outrage that Professor Reynolds would try to politicize this situation given his prominent role in advocating for the type of weapon used in this situation, but he has.
• Meanwhile White House press spokesman Jay Carney said yesterday was not the day to talk about gun control but to determine what had happened and to begin mourning the dead. The President came under a lot of criticism for those statements, and later made plain that his position is that meaningful gun control must occur.
• Mike Huckabee said that the reason the gunman murdered 28 people, including 20 obviously innocent children, is because we have "systematically removed god" from schools. It's this kind of statement that leaves folks like Glenn Reynolds, of the moronitude, above, standing as intellectuals on the issue. 
• Kottke, who usually only posts a couple of times a day, had a burst of posts related to this issue. He links to:
• an excellent round up at Pro Publica of reporting on gun control -- a very worthwhile read;
• he points to a very well thought statement by Roger Ebert on major media's contribution through its coverage to the problem, and a similar compelling discussion of that same issue on Newspipe with Charlie Booker (a former BBC Four news series);
• he points to an article in The Atlantic about why the NRA manages to be successful in pushing its agenda even though its viewpoint is irrational;
• he has an excellent roundup of counselling articles;
• he points out, accurately, that through humor The Onion can often say things better and more honestly than straight media can -- Fuck Everything, Nation Reports, Right To Own Handheld Device That Shoots Deadly Metal Pellets At High Speed Worth All Of This and Report: It's Okay To Spend Rest Of Day Curled In Fetal Position Under Desk -- he misses, though, The Onion's great articles 'Right To Live Life In Complete, Stunned Horror,' Added To Constitution and 'Just Illegalize Us Already,' Nation's Assault Weapons Beg;
• he points to a Guardian article on the access and use of in the USA of guns by kids (a good article but you can get the gist just by searching "child shot gun" or the like on Google); and
• he points to several articles urging President Obama to act on the issue.