I haven't spoken out about this issue earlier, as it is such an emotional issue -- and because the emotions people are experiencing are both strong and volatile. I saw no need to "stir the pot."

Personally, I have conflicted feelings about personal gun ownership. I recognize that as a US citizen, the right to bear arms is a right our forefathers thought we citizens ought to have, and I hate to see rights taken away from us.

On the other hand, I believe the reason our country's founders made the right to bear arms law had a lot to do with the fact that as a fledgling country, we didn't have a significant militia.

So we needed citizen soldiers who could be called up on a moment's notice. And of course, there were areas of wilderness, where settling pioneers would need to protect themselves from bears, coyotes, and other wild beasts.

And I also believe that our forefathers had no anticipation that we would someday be talking about ordinary citizens packing assault rifles -- with semi-automatic shooting capabilities and large ammunition clips -- as a means of personal protection.

But getting back to the present, I just read in the Washington Post that, as previously promised, President Obama will unveil a sweeping set of gun-control proposals at midday tomorrow.

According to sources who ought to know, we can expect that it will include an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and limits on the number of bullets magazines can hold. All reasonable, IMHO.

The announcement, to be delivered at the White House, is also expected to include a slate of up to 19 executive actions that the Obama administration can take on its own to attempt to limit gun violence.

At the same time, I heard on the news this morning that there are people in Texas who are advocating for arming our teachers. The idea, as I recall, is not to arm all teachers, but to adopt the "air marshall" concept, and have some teacher in each school who is "packing a gun." The idea being that not knowing WHO is actually armed will be a deterrent.

And I saw another video clip that was about some man who teaches gun handling. Since the Newtown shootings he has been offering his class free to teachers, and so far over 500 teachers have taken him up on his offer.

So I know teachers must be worried. They correctly see that places where lots of people congregate, like schools, workplaces, movie theatres, and even shopping malls, are places where mentally deranged people with grudges go for target practice. And who wants to think about being stuck in one of those places when the next crazy person goes on a rampage...

Home schooling, telecommuting and internet shopping are not the answer. We all have the right to move about at will, and not be confined to our homes for our safety.

And of course, staying at home does not guarantee one safety. We've got an epidemic of domestic violence, as well.

So how are we going to solve this gun situation? Let's talk about some ideas here.

Personally, though it's rather simplistic, I like Ann Curry's idea that we each do 26 acts of kindness in honor of those who died in Newtown. But I can't say that I've yet started my own kindness campaign...

Maybe I'll make that a goal for the coming year.

How about you? How are you dealing with this issue? I'd like to know...

And finally, I've just gotta say one more thing: Wouldn't it be great if we could be worrying here about "the right to 'bare arms' as we age and our upper arm muscles sag," instead of this? (Sorry, the punster in me just couldn't be totally controlled...)

LOL...that's a good one. WB and I do not own any guns. None. Don't want one. Don't have any in the house. The darn things scare me to death....LOL...

Pun intended!

Anne, I wish I was smarter in some serious way because I cannot think of anything we can do unless we start to come together as a society. Everyone seems to have their favorite theory: video games, movies, the NRA, the liberals, the conservatives, the mentally ill, and on and on.

To me, it's a bit of everything. There's no clear differentiation between the good guys and the bad guys but we keep pretending there is. Yes, I know the vast majority of people will not shoot and kill someone, but most of our 'ordinary' shootings are not the result of lunatics. They are from people who lose their tempers, who want to settle scores, who handle guns unsafely, and yes, outright criminals.

We seem to keep thinking there will be a magic bullet but we already have over 300 million guns in circulation in the US. Maybe I'm stupid here, but the proliferation of guns doesn't seem to be stopping anyone from domestic violence or road rage or getting back at someone or whatever.

In fact, we have now started blaming the victims: "She should have had a gun," "The teachers should be armed," "there should be someone in the movie theater armed," etc. Oh, so now it's our fault for getting in the way of the shooters.

Did you know there's a growing movement that says Sandy Hook was a hoax? That Adam Lanza was hired by Obama or some leftist to give the gun grabbers some leverage? I'm serious about this. A man right down the road from the school who took in some traumatized kids and their bus driver is now being hounded as some Jew liar (I'm sorry for the language, but there's no point in pretending.) The haters are out in full force.

What on earth have we come to? Remember back when those anti-segregation creeps bombed that church and killed those little girls? As I recall, the entire nation stopped and wept for that level of depravity. No matter what one thought about desegregation, we were not going to sacrifice our children or our churches to hate. And we changed: slowly, but we changed.

But now, look at us: We had EIGHT killings last year resulting in the death of at least 4 people. We have had 62 such killings since 1982, not counting the 87 or so nameless people who get killed every day. The only thing that has made us start to pay attention was 20 children getting killed. We sure haven't wasted too much time on all the grownups who get picked off; didn't these people have families? Weren't they part of communities?

The NRA just released a shooting app for kids. Isn't that nice? All we can think about is that we need to arm our teachers because they don't have enough to do and we need to impeach the president. I honestly wish he would not sign any executive orders because, even if they are profoundly sensible, they will only inflame people even more. Maybe we could try and be a little nicer; I don't know what to do.

I agree, at that time U.S. didn't have police forces.

By the way, for whatever reason Americans who support gun possession or the present situtation, get annoyed whenever Canadians comment.

I don't know why...it's not as if in Canada we're living in an airy fairy world. Sure, we've had shootings with the past few weeks across Canada.

But pro-gun folks aren't out there foaming at the mouth nor are there mass gun sales.

Get a dog, as I've said before. They're more fun.

Guns may be a money making business..just as tobacco is so despite health studies....is there an area that exists due to firearms..

and if so is this big money.

I think it's a huge money-making business. If there are 300 million guns in circulation, that's a lot of money there, not to mention the ammunition.

Orchid is correct: it's a bit odd that we respond to mass shootings by stocking up on guns and ammunition, but that's exactly what we are doing. People who attend gun shows say they have never seen anything like it, so there's a bunker mentality.

Me, I remain skeptical. We have nothing approaching a well-ordered militia -- just the freedom to own guns. That would be fine if we weren't getting to be as much in danger from our neighbor who has a bad temper as we are from the criminal who would steal our car. What does this say about us as a people that we don't seem to care?

Not sure what it says, Ellemm. But I am all for Orchid's suggestion to get a dog for protection. No plans for guns in this house.

I suspect there are guns in my sister's house, Her husband is a retired Episcopal minister. But he is also a sportsman. He hunts deer and maybe ducks. His annual trips to do this are epic...

I also would anticipate that my brother, who lives in Texas, has guns of some sort in his home, as I believe they are a part of social entertainment there...

For example, I think he's taught his college-age kids to shoot skeet, a typical upscale Dallas social activity as I understand it. (Not that I really do understand...)

Believe I will call him and ask him to share his thoughts.

I understand being a sportsman. My first husband is. And my son is. But why does any normal everyday citizen need an assault weapon? Or a machine gun. Or whatever you call them where round after round can fire in rapid succession? That I don't get. But now that I think of it, I don't killing deer either.

Members of gun clubs here have visits from the police to confirm they are of sound minds..a register is kept.Farmers have a license to shoot vermin...foxes.They are visited also.Guns must be locked safely in a cabinet.Police do not carry guns..only in certain situations are a squad called in.Terrorism for example or hostage situations
Still tragedy happens.But when we had a school shooting the nation examined policies.The vast size of a nation (U S )with great diversity is one factor as is it pioneer spirit,however can change not be sought.if you are against big business then Government will have areas of voters and support but in my mind people matter most..especially children who are gathered in a school

The US prides itself on "rugged individualism", whatever that means, and doesn't like "Big Government" telling people what they can or cannot do in their private lives. And all that leads to quite a dichotomy; it's not okay for government to take away our guns, but it is okay for government to tell us who we can love and whether or not women can have control of their own health care. It's not okay for government to regulate things that can harm us (GMOs, Coal, Carbon dioxide, etc.), but it is okay for government to tell us who we can or cannot marry. I think you get the picture.

There was a recent arrest of 3 teens with a gun at school in Toronto. But it is very rare:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toro...article7552039/

And the police who monitor schools and specialize in social media crime...say the teens in Toronto tell one another: "It's just stupid" to have a gun.

This is the way the U.S. must go : make gun possession just socially unacceptable and gun possession as a sign of paranoia.

As for hunting: really I don't live out in the Arctic to hunt. I enjoy farm raised bison, etc. Good enough for me.