From: Gregory Decker, Robbinsville
To the editor:
It goes without saying that the recent slaying of 20 little children in Newtown, Connecticut was a tragedy of unspeakable proportions, and all Americans grieve for them. Without exaggeration, I can say no single news event in my 41 years has bowled me over with sadness and frustration as this one has. It surpasses any crime, any war, any natural disaster, and any terrorist attack (even 9/11 itself).
This one hits the hardest because the victims were elementary school kids in a small northeast town just like mine. As a father of two youngsters, it’s all too easy to project myself in the shoes of the afflicted families, and I shudder at the mere thought of enduring such horror.
Amidst the sorrow, our neighbors and co-workers and church congregations are asking the obvious questions. Could this happen to my kids? Could this happen in my town? Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves? Can we do any better than this in America?
I think we can do better. And in saying so, I’m not deluding myself. I realize we cannot eliminate all chance of a random act of evil by a deranged person any more than we can totally eliminate the chance of automobile fatalities by wearing seatbelts or the chance of robberies by locking our doors. But precautions improve our odds of surviving a car accident and avoiding a robbery. So we wear seatbelts and we lock our doors at night. In the same way, we can take reasonable actions to reduce the chance of another shooting spree like we saw in Newtown.
I’m neither a radical gun-control lobbyist looking to overturn the Bill of Rights, nor an ultraconservative seeking widespread censorship of the entertainment industry. In the last four presidential elections, I’ve voted Republican twice and Democrat twice. I think we can and should protect the rights of millions of lawful gun owners who enjoy hunting and target shooting. Likewise, I think we must hold inviolate the right of free speech in all forms of media.
The Founding Fathers of this country in their considerable wisdom realized, even as they drafted the framework of our precious rights and liberties and our form of government, that there were things they could not possibly foresee. And for that very reason they provided democratic mechanisms for the passing of new legislation, up to and including amendment of the Constitution itself.
The Founding Fathers expected their creation to be flexible and adaptive. In today’s situation, the Founding Fathers would have expected the elected representatives of the people to have a reasoned debate and make reasoned decisions as necessary.
In that spirit, I urge our elected representatives to put aside kneejerk political allegiances and be sure we are doing all we should to protect our youth. There are surely actions we can take without undue interference in our American freedoms.
• Let’s review the screening process to obtain a gun permit, and be sure it is stringent enough to block those with particular mental illnesses/criminal records.
• Let’s review the types of weapons we can legally possess in our households, and consider a ban on automatic and semi-automatic weaponry in all its forms except at licensed shooting ranges.
• Let’s review some means for limiting the quantity of ammunition that can be purchased and held outside a licensed shooting range.
• Let’s review the potential impact on young people of frivolous violence in television, film and video games. If there is a measurable impact, let’s adjust the age-based rating on these forms of entertainment in order that only mature adults will be able to view them.
• Let’s review the procedures in our public schools on matters of security, emergency response, and identification of sociopathic warning signs among staff/students.
• Let’s be sure those individuals with sociopathic mental illnesses are provided with the level of care they require to minimize the danger to their communities.
These and other ideas should be welcomed and debated by all elected officials, regardless of political party.
Gregory K. Decker
Robbinsville

