Martin Sims Speaks Out. Who? Martin Sims, that's who.

I can't settle. I feel jumpy and uncomfortable. Why? Because this is a response I got to my posting on gun control. And guess what...this is what it's like on the Hill. Such reasoned, sane people yammering on with such reasoned, sane words. Bullshit, 'Martin Sims'. You're full of dangerous bullshit.

Martin Sims said...

We could be talking about the need to get tougher on domestic violence, or about how to better identify mental illnesses that could result in the injury or death of innocent people. We could be talking about a general alarm system that could be implemented campus-wide to immediately alert the staff and student body in such emergencies so that the people being directly affected would know to either hunker down and bar themselves in or evacuate the campus. We could be talking about making such large and public institutions prepare a link to any video/audio monitoring equipement so that police can immediately see or hear who, what, where and as a result be better able to respond to intruders exhibiting deadly intent.

Blaming guns will not prevent this type of crime from happening again. Just as blaming the car would not prevent a drunk driver from getting behind the wheel again. We need to have a honest look at practical measures that will allow for rapid alert and effective response on all school campuses in our country.

My reponse to Martin Sims:

Martin Sims. I'd like to be able to respond directly to you, but I can't. Because clicking on martin sims takes me nowhere, furthering my belief that your words have been spoonfed to you by the NRA. They are so 'reasoned' and so 'balanced' in tone, but the message...it's still nuts. You people don't get it, do you? Whoever thought the day would come when you couldn't smoke just about anywhere? It didn't happen overnight. It took decades. Just like it will take decades before it's impossible to stroll into your local Walmart and pick up a Glock handgun. Just like it will take decades before every state in this union is on the same page in understanding there is a direct correlation between HANDGUN sales and wholesale murder. Martin, as reasonable as your words sound, the message is so flawed and so very, very wrong. The NRA has the blood of a lot of innocent Americans on its hands and why this country doesn't strip them and all their lobbyists of their tinpot power is beyond me.

My dear friends,
Do any of you know whether there is a blog/site/network to connect grieving VA Tech students/family/faculty/neighbors with a global community and, more specifically, with mental health professionals willing to volunteer counseling through email, forums and live chat/IM?

If this is not happening already, do you believe there's a need? Social networking-savvy BlogHer-inas, what resources in our existing community can we tap to get the ball rolling?

Please respond in comments.

With much love,
Emily