I hugged my son today, thinking of those who have lost theirs. It’s been one year since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. One year — and yesterday, there was another, as a high school student in Colorado opened fire with a shotgun and incendiary devices and critically injured a fellow student.
I still believe what I wrote last year the day of the Sandy Hook shooting, and reposted below. We need a combination of tougher gun control laws; better detection, destigmatization, and care of mental health issues; and the teaching of social-emotional skills in a culture that does not condone violence. It is increasingly frustrating to watch gun control bills die in Congress, but we must keep the pressure on our elected officials to keep trying. I was pleased to see President Obama call again for stricter gun control, and commit $100 million to mental health services, but that is only the tip of the iceberg.
May we as a society work to prove that we are better than these shootings show us to be.
