"Have you heard the news? Have you heard the news? Some people win, and other loose Have you heard, have you heard the news?" Because it's another one of those mass shooting here, in the US. Yes, we almost got used to them all, there were so many already, it seems like our daily grind... Except that this time, the victims were 20 innocent children from ages 5 to 10 on top of 7 adults. And it makes a huge difference. And let's hope that the tears, that Obama was shedding at his statement, will lead to some serious action towards gun control in this country. Because if it happens that access to the guns and violence go in pair and are proportional to the number of deaths per capita, then there is something wrong and something needs to be done. How many more people need to die? How many more of these tragedies need to happen? The TV now has its specialists -- amongst those on economy, foreign and domestic policies -- on mass shootings: here's a woman that covered Tucson, Columbine and Aurora tragedies; here's a man that wrote a book about Columbine, etc., etc. They know how to approach the subject and are extremely reliable in their reporting and knowledge. CNN trying to interview the kids on air. A little girl who probably is just dreaming to be in her mother's arms and not in front of the camera somewhere outside and cold (steam coming out of their mouths, red noses and ears). Really?! I mean, do you really need to go that far, do you really need to make these kids go through more trauma by asking what this "horrific event" meant for them?! And what do you think? That it was fun!? You just said it was horrific... NRA posted a "More guns. Less crime" picture to their facebook page in the morning on the day, before the events, though. Afterwards, they were as quiet as a mouse, non-existent almost. They cover themselves with the 2nd amendment, that people interpret as their right to bear arms and protect it as their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Well, lives have been lost, liberties have been infringed, and happiness have been destroyed for those kids and their families. But the 2nd amendment still stands, in its fatal (literally) misinterpretation and consequences... US has more deaths from guns than most countries in the world per year, per capita (Honduras and Mexico have it even worse, god help them). The states that have more strict gun laws report way less deaths. Despite the violence rates and numbers of guns owned dropping, 5 of 11 deadliest shootings in the US happened since 2007. By controlling the number of guns, you can control the number of homicides. Unless you see how the shootings affect people's opinions on gun control -- they don't... Twitter is steaming hot with people requesting change in gun laws. There are petitions being signed for both (believe it or not) limiting gun access (one on the White House site has gathered more than 60k in a day), and expanding it ("Every teacher in every classroom should have a gun. To protect our children!" -- a paraphrase, not a direct quote). The nation is divided. The politicians mainly stay silent (it's a very touchy subject, super unpopular, so no one likes to talk about it, it's like this hot potato that everyone passes along and no one wants to deal with), having been backed by the NRA in a lot of cases, they shut their mouths stuffed with dirty corporate money. Is Obama going to change anything? Our hopes are with him, he has nothing to loose anymore after winning the reelection, maybe the tears will bring on the change (we all believe in)... So that was another day in the news, in America... Sources: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/ http://mark.reid.name/iem/gun-deaths-vs-gun-ownership.html