In reply to John Flynn.

Yes, we care about dead kids. But my point is that if we REALLY do then we ought to actually pay attention to facts and not the media hype. Yes, it’s tragic that there were school shootings. Yes we should do something about it. But let’s look at the best way to solve the entire problem, not just the white kids dying at schools. Far more kids and adults are murdered by pistols in the cities on a daily and weekly basis. So if we want to solve the problem then let’s start there. Banning “scary guns” does nothing to fix this problem and instead you just have both sides pushing an agenda at the expense of dead kids.

My point in writing this, which perhaps wasn't clear, even when white kids are killed at school (which gets those not in high-crime areas to care), we can't make any progress. It is a sad reality that, generally, we as a country aren't that concerned with urban gun violence, but even when it is a shooting of twenty white first graders, we still can't make any progress. Universal background checks failed. In about two weeks, open carry is legal in Texas. At least before, if you saw someone with a handgun in the open without a badge, that would trigger a "something is wrong" response. Now, we wait until they hold it in a manner that appears threatening before thinking something is wrong. I honestly don't know if open carry will help or hurt, but now, instead of figuring out how to get guns off the street, the solution is steering put more guns on the streets?

The FAA announced that all drones need to be registered, even some of the smallest ones. But, a gun registry is seen as the first step toward Obama knocking on our doors and taking away our guns. Hell, I can't use a HAM radio without taking a test and getting a license, but any gun? Maybe a background check, if that.

Would gun registration stop anything? Maybe, maybe not. But, this is a complex situation that needs to be addressed from a lot of different sides. I don't want another "War on Drugs" by way of a "War on Guns". Even if you pull every gun off the street, there would still be violence and high-crime areas. But, would everyone with a knives be as lethal as everyone with guns? I don't know. Perhaps not.

I think some of the things I mentioned before should be on the table more—community policing, education, economic relief. I'm open to the form. Direct welfare? Tax-breaks for companies who build/hire within a certain zone? Something else?

That gets even murkier (and more divisive in our current political environment). I don't think we, as a country, care about dead kids. Even with the majority being blind to and not caring about urban violence to any real degree, we, as a country through our representatives, voted in favor of not checking the background of those who buy guns, voted in favor of military-style semi-automatic guns being available, and voted in favor of high-capacity magazines within six months of Sandy Hook. They had the votes for background checks until the NRA told lawmakers that it would negatively impact their NRA report card grades.

No, it wouldn't have solved everything, but we really can't agree that running background checks at gun shows and for online purchases would be a good idea? Even with private sales between individuals being exempted?

Need some evidence? Look at your blog post. You admit you don’t write about this stuff often and yet the time that you actually do so you write about something that is part of less than 1% of the problem and expect to find a solution. Why not write about the shootings that happen everyday across our nation? Why not write about the facts that pistols are used which are readily available through straw purchases? Why not write about the fact that gun violence is obviously linked to urban areas and the proliferation of gangs, lower economic status, poor education and race? By selecting a school shooting and making the issue the scary looking gun you’ve simply fallen into the agenda driven trap of the media and our government.

Sure. You got me right there. I've said before that I want the conversation to continue. You're right, Sandy Hook is the exception. But how do we make it so that every time an eight-year old is killed by a stray bullet, it gains the media attention as Sandy Hook. I had a friend in elementary school who was killed in a drive-by years later when he was in high school. He got thirty seconds on TV, literally—his body in the doorway of his house was the local news B-roll of the event. What do we need to do to make his death so rare that there would be a neighborhood memorial for him, without the people across town shaking their heads and saying he should have done something differently to stay out of the way of that bullet?

You're obviously more researched on this topic. What are your ideas on how we can solve this problem?