I have spent much of the day avoiding the news coverage. I feel a bit more grounded. I will try to continue this over the coming days. I will watch the evening news, as is our normal, but beyond that I won’t follow the media coverage. This will help me get some distance from all the horrible news. Though I will add, the average evening news coverage isn’t all that happy.
This incident in Colorado does have my partner and I talking quite a bit. She and I don’t see eye to eye on gun control, so it has been interesting. It helps to talk about it, and to see how our views differ. I understand why she feels the way she does. Not everyone likes guns. Not everyone feels they are important. But, keep in mind she is Canadian. They have very different gun laws. They have far less gun violence. It is remarkable the differences between us, and between the two countries. I do agree with her that 100 round magazines have no purpose, even in warfare. The drum type magazine he used jams, as happened to him. But he obviously had no knowledge of guns, and that may well have made a huge difference, and saved lives. I live in a state where these magazines are outlawed. Colorado does not have the same restrictions. I agree with my partner that they should not be available. I also agree with her that some system needs to be put into place to flag multiple purchases of guns, and or ammo within short periods of time. It may well help in cases like this. Your average gun owner doesn’t need to purchase like that. Beyond the freedom of ownership, and the love of the weapon itself they are not driven by some diabolical plan in their head. So my partner and I do agree on something. Unfortunately, I doubt anything will change. The NRA is a strong entity and their lobby is powerful. Americans love their Second Amendment right, and it is going to stay. I doubt either candidate will pull this into the presidential race. It will happen again, just a matter of where and when. I think the questions of why this guy didn’t get help is far more important than the gun control issue. or how he probably used NIH grant money toward his purchases. Those seem like better questions to ask, than why gun laws in Colorado allow high cap magazines.

On the opposite end of the evening news, we have the Penn State NCAA ruling. I am thrilled with such a strong and decisive action handed down against Penn State. With all the information released and the reports issued, it is clear there were many in power that knew what was going on. Abuse occurred for years, and they all looked the other way. I hope this ruling makes other programs think twice when they think something might be going on. For most programs it is all about saving face, and keeping the image of the program intact. Keep the money rolling in, and keep the alumni happy. When they are happy the donations continue. Penn State will have a rough time recovering from this, and I think that is great. All those men have a lifetime to try and recover, it is not easy for them. Let Penn State suffer for a while. I feel bad for the students, they had nothing to do with this scandal. Yet, they will have their lives turned upside down. Athletes recruited in will have to find other programs to fit into. That is collateral damage in this mess. The whole thing has been a disaster waiting to happen, since Sandusky started his awful reign. But in the end, I think it was important that the NCAA ruled the way they did. Good for them.