'Meaningful Gun Control' is Needed

The tragedy of [Dec. 14] at Shady Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn was horrific and beyond belief. Our hearts should grieve and we should pray for the families who have to deal with the loss of all of their loved ones and the especially sad and tragic loss of so many innocent young children.

We all need to hug our own kids and grandkids and our own loved ones every time we can since unspeakable things do happen that in our wildest dreams we could never imagine. Though we can probably never do anything that will completely prevent tragedies like the one of yesterday we need to think of ways that can mitigate to the maximum such horrible events that we have seen too often.

We need to really take action on meaningful gun control that limits access to weapons like assault weapons that make it too easy to kill many quickly, and to reasonably limit access to weapons to those that should not have them and educate those that have guns how they need to be  secured. Allowing persons to carry concealed weapons does not seem to be the way to go as suggested by a recent court decision; but if mandated our legislatures need to impose severe and tight restrictions.

On the mental health front we need to do the maximum to insure early detection of problems and make sure that people who have such problems have affordable and easy access to professional medical assistance, and of course limit access to weapons of any kind to people with such conditions.

On the school security front, in recent years much has been done to improve and tighten access, but we need to continue to explore any other steps that can be taken to make sure that schools are a safe haven for our children.

We can grieve and pray as we should, but be must also act.

Elliott Hartstein

Buffalo Grove