Gun Laws to be Revisited in Wake of Newtown Connecticut Shooting

So will now be the time that leaders have the courage to participate in meaningful discussion about gun laws? Not log ago, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was gunned down in Tucson in 2011. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) tweeted, "No words can console the parents of the children murdered at Sandy Hook. We share our prayers and our grief over these horrifying events." Comments like those made by Nancy Pelosi are echoed time and time again, but still the violence never seems to stop. This time in Connecticut it was innocent children, in their elementary school, 20 victims between the ages of 5 and 10 years old now dead.
So a call for gun limits are now echoing again, but will the call fall on deaf ears? Other such incidents, the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 and just recently in Aurora, Colorado in 2012, are just added horrific and heartbreaking incidents that affect everyone. Yesterday it was an Oregon mall shooting. This time, parents all across the country are affected, wondering if their children are safe at their school. The TV reporters are passing the word that the children are safe in schools, but how can the news media make such false accusations now, especially since this happened in such a small community  in an elementary school just this evening in a small town of just 27,000 people.
Do all schools, no matter where they are located, have metal detectors? The fear now is that there may be copy-cat killers wanting to carry out a similar crime.
How do you limit guns when you have the second amendment to the Constitution giving the people the right to keep and bear arms? You have a right to possess a firearm, but will they limit the sales of them or should they?
In some states, you don't even have to give your name. All you have to do in the state of Texas for example, is to first decide what type of gun you want to purchase. Shotguns and Rifles are easier to purchase than handguns. Then you have to pass an FBI NICS background check, which is required by law. But you are allowed to possess a firearm on the premises where you live after 5 years have elapsed since your prison or parole term has ended. They use whichever term is later.
There is no waiting period in Texas when you buy the gun from the dealer. If you passed the FBI NICS background check and receive your CHL (if required), you can walk out of the store threat same day with your gun.
After shootings similar to the school shooting, the purchase of hand guns, especially since the news reporters have reported which types of guns used, become popular and sales rise dramatically. It is my opinion that gun control laws must change in the State of Texas, and sales should be limited. The Second Amendment to the Constitution still guarantees the right to bear arms, but it should not give users of firearms the right to target innocent victims for a kill. Presently, there is no way to stop a cold calculated killer from using his guns illegally  so essentially we are giving purchasers of handguns their right to do what they please, at a consequence which always seems too late to make a difference. .

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School Tragedy in Connecticut - 20 Children Killed

At approximately 9:30AM Eastern time, a tragedy unfolded in Newtown Connecticut. Sandy Hook Elementary School will now forever be known as one of the worst school shootings and tragedies in American History, located in a small peaceful town of just 27,000 residents 60 miles northeast of New York City.
There were 28 people killed, one off of the school campus, including the gunman found dead in one of the classrooms. Twenty children, between the ages of 5 and 7 years of age, five people employed by the school including the principal, Dawn Hochsprung were killed, including the gunman who pulled the gun on himself at the end.
Just 10 days to go before Christmas, and almost two dozen families lost a child in this tragedy.
When the President was informed about the tragedy, he addressed the public in a tearful message, stating "Our Hearts are broken today" and called for "meaningful action" to prevent such shootings. He ordered that flags be flown at half mast today.
The tragedy unfolds further as the gunman, Adam Lanza, age 20 from New Jersey, walked into what was originally thought to be his moms classroom at this school and just started shooting. Further investigation proved that his mother was not employed by the school. The mother of Adam Lanza, Nancy Lanza was also found dead today at her home. Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother just prior to driving to the school with three guns, all registered to his mother. An investigation including questions of Adam's brother, 24 year old Ryan who is now in police custody for questioning. Other people, including one of his friends and his girlfriend is still missing in New Jersey.
The following is the video of President Obama as he made statements concerning the tragedy at the elementary school.

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Susan Rice Steps down as a Choice for Secretary of State

Susan Rice - Permanent U.N. Ambassador

In a most recent turn of events concerning the choices of a new Secretary of State to replace Hilary Clinton during President Obama's second term as President, the one person who most fills the bill has decided to withdraw her name from consideration. John Kerry most likely will now receive the nomination from the President. Why did she change her mind? It was because of a  Republican controversy surrounding her name to be the nominee by President Obama. Susan Rice wrote a letter to the president and has decided to withdraw her name from the possible list of candidates. It was not a decision that the White House helped her with, rather than a self calculated decision to withdraw at this time. Her involvement surrounding the Benghazi issue had everything to do with her decision.
Led by John McCain, the Republicans did everything possible to say that she was not qualified to do the job of Secretary of State, just because she did her job to report on Benghazi as she was told. She provided the best information that she had at the time, but the Republicans, led by McCain said that she was misleading and that she made mistakes in her reporting, thus she is not qualified to be the next Secretary of State.
To me, the Republicans led by McCain himself should be ashamed of their actions. The only thing the Republican party now seems to represent is to block everything that President Obama wants, and this action is proof that the Republicans plan no changes on how they will think during the second term.
Was Susan Rice truly qualified to become Secretary of State? I say that she is qualified and here is just a glimpse of her resume, someone truly educated, someone who should be considered the best of the best.

1) Served under Bill Clinton and was recommended that he tap Rice for a high-level State Department post on African affairs in the late 1990's.

2) Valedictorian of her class with "superior leadership skills: and "left behind a remarkable legacy" "that included a revised honor code still used at the school," John Wood wrote.

3) A Bachelors degree with Phi Beta Kappa honors at Stanford University while she also won a Rhodes Scholarship to study international relations at Oxford University in 1986.

6) At Oxford, she earned the Chatham House-British International Studies Association Prize for the top doctoral dissertation in the United Kingdom in international relations.

7) An international management consultant position at McKinsey and Company in Toronto, Canada.

8) Director of International organizations and peacekeeping in 1993 in Washington, DC.

9) In 1994, she toured the war-torn country of Rwanda after the genocide campaign there killed at least 800,000 people in a little over three months time.

10) In 1995, she became a special assistant to the president and senior director of African affairs at the White House National Security Council.

11) A senior fellow in 2002 at Brookings, specializing in the study of U.S. foreign relations.

12) National security and foreign relations adviser for Obama's 2008 campaign.

13) Became a U.N. Ambassador as President Obama called her "a close and trusted adviser" and said she "shares my belief that the U.N. is an indispensable -- and imperfect -- forum."

14) Washington insiders characterize her as being very ambitious and aggressive, very personable, likable, charming, smart, funny and down to earth.

15) Very serious and someone you do not want to cross or get in the way off, which some may say is to her advantage or something against her, but in any case, very determined to do her job well.

Even after the false accusations by the Republicans led by John McCain, who apparently still seems to be upset for loosing the Presidential race to Barack Obama in 2008, still shows his resentment and apparently tried to make others feel as miserable as he most certainly is now.

In light of all of what has happened, President Obama has accepted Susan Rice's decision not to accept the position of Secretary of State if it was ever going to be offered to her, but the President also made the following statement...

"I have every confidence that Susan has limitless capability to serve our country now and in the years to come, and know that I will continue to rely on her as an adviser and friend," the president said. "While I deeply regret the unfair and misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the strength of her character, and an admirable commitment to rise above the politics of the moment to put our national interests first."

It is just too bad that warmonger John McCain doesn't have the same interests, as he would rather be a warmonger and keep our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and is in favor of prolonging the wars. Just because he happened to serve in a prior war, and was a prisoner for a length of time, doesn't make him qualified to be Secretary of State, but thinks that it gives him the right to judge others. In recent comments made by John McCain, he felt that it was no ones business on the decisions he makes and openly stated the fact that recently in an interview and that others should not judge him. Instead, that gives him at age 76 the right as the judge and jury for Susan Rice. In light of a few of his most recent decisions, maybe it was good that he wasn't elected President in 2008.

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