My response to the two mass shooting in GA and CO.

[AZLD4Candidate]

I don't know how to express how I feel. Depressed that it happened again. Angry that those with power do nothing to stop it and actively work to enable it again. Confused. Disheartened. My wife, a foreigner, asked me last night if this will happen in my classroom or to her if she goes out when she comes here with her green card. I simply told her "I don't know."

I keep asking when is enough going to be enough. And this is an issue we, as Democrats, have ceded too much ground on because Republicans turned it into a bumper sticker it: "Good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns." "Outlaw guns and only outlaws have guns." Empty platitudes that sound good, but with a second of logical thought shows them hollow and empty:

1: In CO, a good guy with a gun, trained and ready to use on duty, was also killed.
2: With that logic, we should have no laws, since a rapist, murderer, embezzler, or theft will do their acts, laws be damned.

So, I will use this bumper sticker logic to counter it: "Your family or your gun. Which is more valuable?"

My heart goes out to those in pain and those who lost some of the most important people in their lives. Right now, I have nothing more to say.

[Hoyt]

1. Their gunz are more important. They'll couch it as if they are protecting family.

[AZLD4Candidate]

2. Sadly, you're right. Guns can't be replaced. Children and family members can

This is why I consider this a losing issue we've ceded too much ground on. I've lived in countries with universal gun control. Three of them have elections and democracy like us. One is a brutal dictatorship.

As "Inherit the Wind" stated: "I figure the man who has everything figured out is a fool. College examinations not withstand, it takes a very smart man to say I just don't know the answer."

Hoyt, I'm running for elected office and I can tell you, I just don't know the answer. But I am willing to sensible, pragmatic solutions so long as I can play devil's advocate in order to strength the position so I can present a good policy when asked later in the campaign.

[Hoyt]

3. I understand it's easy for me to rant here, but as a candidate you have to be careful.

I’d much rather have a moderate on gunz in office, than a gun control zealot on sidelines. Good luck.

[AZLD4Candidate]

4. I am not a gun control zealot. I grew up in the Catskills with guns.

My brother and I go shooting all the time because he's former army and got me back into shooting.

That said, you're right. Something needs to be done. I hope I can find a sensible answer.

Thank you for your words of encouragement.

[BigmanPigman]

5. Visuals go a long way.

Too bad you can't show a video of the mass murder in Las Vegas a few years ago. Also too bad the photos of the Sandy Hook crime scene couldn't be shown to let people know what happens when a certain type of bullet enters the body to do the most damage by exploding inside the tissue. I know you can't show stuff like that if you are running for office but it would be very effective if you could.

Americans saw photos of victims of the Holocaust during WW2 and many didn't believe the photos Eisenhower was smart and made sure military photographers were right there when the camps were liberated. He knew he would need those photos to prove what the Nazis had done and it worked.