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Kate Jones

Partner, Institute for the Advancement of Service

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The time is NOW for people to stand up and say 'No More Assault Weapons" and not wait for the government to legislate the change.

Change starts when people change, not when governments legislate change. Think back to the days when driving drunk was socially acceptable, no matter who died in the process. Then Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) formed. The rest is history.

The time is 'now o'clock'. We will change our resopnse to violence and stop purchasing violence video games as gifts for our children, and stop patronizing films that promote violence, mayhem and murder. Glorifying the horrific has become the norm.

What happened in Newtown, CT should never happen again.

Remember Mahatma Ghandi's words: "Be the change you want to see in the world". The time is now o'clock!

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  • George QT

    • +3
    Dec 22 2012: I think the main problem is the american hero raw model: "We are the good guys, so we must hit, kill and destroy"... this quote from "Get Smart" a TV show from the 60's (people of my age should remember), makes a very accurate portrait of the american hero (real and fictional). Just think about it for a second and realize mass media has being implanting this message in our brains since a century ago: "good people can kill and destroy, just because they are the good guys.". This is obviously immoral, unethical and even inhuman. I can assure you, no gun control will prevent events like the Newtown, CT, as long as the american public gladly accepts as OK, heroes that don't mind killing and destroying. Heroes don't hurt, destroy or kill in order to save the day, that is exactly what makes them heroes in the first place... Neither violence nor guns are necessary to preserve peace, and the proof is that British policemen don't carry guns with them... an heroic act on itself if you ask me. Do you want a real change? then start by disarming the police, if the British could and Americans can't... hmmmm well... what else can I say.

    • specs 2

      • 0
      Dec 24 2012: A good number of friends became police officers (God help us) and I hear it anecdotally from them and elsewhere that the majority of police officers here in Canada will never fire their weapon in the performance of their duty during their entire career. These guys and a few girls face the unknown on a daily basis and have more reason than most law abiding citizens to have used their weapon but still they fail to do so. Why not?

      The police in Canada and Britain and elsewhere don't have to deal with the proliferation of guns and the gun culture that exists in the US today. There are something like 400,000,000 guns out there today in the USA. I would hope to see those numbers need to be reduced dramatically or nearly erased before we should ever expect police to be unarmed while on the job.

      • George QT

        • +1
        Dec 24 2012: Yes, of course. I did not said: "disarm the police tomorrow", it will be a process that may take several decades, maybe a century, but if the Americans don't start right now to think what do they need to do in order to disarm the police, events like the Newtown, CT will continue to repeat over and over again, and more frequently. I agree, one of the first steps they need to take is to reduce access to guns, however no gun control will have a positive effect unless it is accompanied by a shift in education, they need to get rid of the "cowboy like" kind of hero, to understand that real men (and women) don't need a gun to proof it, and most importantly they need to realize that guns without responsibility and self-discipline will only bring them self-destruction.

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