19 children and two adults murdered in school shooting in Texas

It's beyond appalling.

I once saw a short piece on Facebook of a young man in the US in a liquor store who tries to buy alcohol. "Sorry son, you're too young." Then he goes to a shop to buy cigarettes, "Sorry son, you're under-age." Subsequently he goes to a gun shop. "Of course son, which type of gun would you like?"

It's just not civilised. The US in films and TV puts forward a glamorous image of itself which is at odds with the grim reality. So sad.

Those beautiful little faces beaming out from the newspapers today. It's heartbreaking.

I remember how shocked we were the first time we went to Walmart GG.

I have never forgotten shopping in a Walmart Store in Haines City. The two youngest children wanted new character swimming towels the adjacent section was the weapons and ammunition counter…

Whitewavemark2

It simply shows a very skewed society.

Where children are regularly taught what action to take should a gunman enter the building.

Where freedom to own a gun takes precedence over a child’s life.

Where those supporting the right to own a gun deny any right to a woman to choose whether to continue with a pregnancy.

Where overt Christianity produces a society with the highest murder rate in the world.

There is nothing to add, except:

A country where anyone can walk into a supermarket and buy a weapon along with their groceries.

What kind of society is this?

RIP to all those small children and their teachers
And all the others murdered because of a skewed belief in the right to bear arms.

Why would any ordinary citizen need an automatic weapon? This is for military use. If they must have guns then a hand pistol is all a person needs for keeping under the bed.

For the record, I expect Piers Morgan will be hammering this tonight on his programme and will probably have an aggressive argument with one of the USA gun lobby. Last time he did that he tore them to shreds, which was very satisfying.

Horrifying in every respect.
There are even US politicians who think teachers should be armed!

The vast majority of Americans support tightened laws around guns, and yet still nothing is done. Depressingly, I don't think even this atrocity will result in real change. It's a sick society that allows a teenager to walk into a shop and buy two guns.
Those poor, poor children and their families.

So tragic. I think if I lived there this would encourage me to home school my children, I would worry about them every single day.

Smileless2012

It's heartbreaking. Some of the children so badly damaged that their parents probably wont be able to see them to say goodbye.

Shredded, Smileless, ripped to unidentifiable pieces. Can only be identified by DNA.

The horror is unimaginable...

How dreadful. I've just read that this young man walked into a gun store on his 18th birthday and bought two assault rifles. Because he could.

It's heartbreaking. Some of the children so badly damaged that their parents probably wont be able to see them to say goodbye.

How very sad, and appalling. When will America learn?
It's absolute madness.

I wonder if they ever look at the gun laws and realise when the constitution was written the guns were muskets not bump stock automatic guns capable of killing multiple human beings with a quick squeeze of the trigger?

The right to bear arms is not likely to change, the legal possession of weapons is likely to be reduced state by state but there are so many illegal weapons in circulation ita not likely to make much difference.

We are very lucky in the UK that laws are tight and few illegal are available. Knives are another matter

Will Americans ever change this stupid "right to bear arms" law? Somehow I doubt it but perhaps they could start by raising the age at which someone can buy a gun.

I read a newspaper comment that shows how skewed the attitude is that an 18 year old can buy an assault rifle but can't buy a beer!

Galaxy

What difference would a locked door have made. He could have walked straight into reception and shot the staff there. Doors are not the problem.

Exactly Galaxy
Every elementary (primary) school I have visited in the USA had classrooms you directly enter from outside. Certainly the section the schools are located on usually have fencing, chain link normally, but once over or through that a gunman simply has a huge choice of classrooms.

Think how traumatised the children in that school will be having seen or heard their classmates being murdered, fearing for their own safety. So many little children mentally scarred for life.

Kandinsky

They want to ban abortion because a woman can’t possibly have control over her own body, yet they let any idiot ( usually male ) buy a gun.

Totally agree.
Guns are the leading cause of death in children and teenagers in the USA.
Absolutely disgusting for a modern nation.
Those poor babies and families, how do you ever get over this sort of thing?

I feel sorry for the decent Americans who think the gun laws should change, and are deeply embarrassed by the gun lobby and these terrible results of irresponsible gun ownership.

What difference would a locked door have made. He could have walked straight into reception and shot the staff there. Doors are not the problem.

This is just dreadful.

I echo everyone's comments about the gun lobby, the gun laws, and everybody complicit in this state of affairs.

Urmstongran

How come the shooter entered the school via an unlocked back door?

I thought all schools had doors with coded keypads on them nowadays?

Yes, terrible.
But quite frankly if you've got a gun you can walk up to the front door and shoot your way in.
Get rid of guns.

Two of my GC are at school in America. The knot of fear in the stomach is so very real when I read such headlines.

I cannot understand why, in America, you are regarded as a precious being, sanctified above all else, when you are nothing more than a bunch of cells yet the moment you emerge from the womb you’re nothing but a target for anyone with a gun.

Anyone who supports the current US gun laws is complicit in child (and adult) murder, in my book. America should be ashamed of itself.

I just saw an item in the news I will précis

USA has 5% of the worlds population, it’s population has 54% of ALL privately owned firearms

I am lost for words…