There are still so many questions to be answered regarding yesterday’s horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.  One thing I know for certain: our country needs a change.

This most recent shooting occurred just three days after our nation’s previous public shooting.  On Tuesday, a man opened fire at a mall in Portland, Oregon, killing two people.

In July of this year, I wrote about the terrifying Colorado movie theatre massacre that left 12 people dead and 58 injured.

The following month a gunman opened fire in a Sikh temple, killing 6 people and injuring four others.

Details are still emerging from the most recent event that resulted in the deaths of 20 children and 6 adults, but we do know a lot about the prior cases.

How does this continue to happen?  In the case of the Oregon tragedy, the shooter stole the weapon he used.  Worth noting, the state of Oregon does not require gun owners to report when their weapons are stolen nor does it require a license or registration to carry a firearm.

The weapon used in Oregon was an AR-15 rifle, the same weapon used in the Colorado shooting.  The AR-15 was previously banned under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act.

We have two major issues regarding gun control, and it is time our political leaders began discussing them.  We clearly need stronger national gun laws.  How is it not mandatory in every state for gun owners to file a report when their firearms are stolen?  Or that there is not a national register tracking the amount of ammunition and weapons purchased by an individual?  Neither of which would restrict the right to own a firearm.

As we quickly learned with Colorado shooter James Holmes (and years earlier with the Columbine tragedy), we also need to make healthcare more accessible to those suffering from mental illness.

Last year’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that only 7.1% of U.S. adults received mental health services.

However, a portion of the country is seemingly not ready for an adult conversation on either topic.

Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee appeared on the network explaining Friday’s shooting:

“When we ask why there is violence in our schools, but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools.  Should we be so surprised that schools have become a place for carnage because we’ve made it a place where we don’t want to talk about eternity, life, responsibility, accountability?”

I seem to remember the Catholic Church having a MAJOR problem a few years back involving children… and I’m pretty sure God was front and center in that institution.

However, earlier in the day, the network used their detective skills to blame the Sandy Hook shooting as a potential result of video games, reality television and even Facebook.

Our nation clearly has a problem with gun violence, and the most frustrating aspect is watching our Congress stand by and do nothing.  Then again, how can one be surprised when the list of contributions by the NRA reads like a congressional phone book?

Not a single piece of new legislation was introduced after the Colorado tragedy, the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting, or after any of the ten other multiple shootings that occurred this year:

• Norcross, GA – 4 people dead
• Chardon, OH – 3 people dead/3 wounded
• Tulsa, OK – 3 people wounded
• Pittsburgh, PA – 2 person dead/7 wounded
• Oakland, CA – 7 people dead/3 wounded
• Seattle, WA – 4 people dead
• Auburn, AL – 3 people dead/3 wounded
• Tuscaloosa, AL – 17 people wounded
• Brookfield, WI – 3 people dead/4 wounded
• Clackamas, OR – 2 people dead

I can’t think of a worse thing of which to make a trend.

Who is the most vocal group after an event like this?  Gun advocates… again.

Their concern is seemingly not to prevent a future loss of life, but to preserve their rights that nobody is discussing taking away or even limiting.

A stop by the National Rifle Association’s Facebook page will have you quickly questioning the sanity of a faction of our population.  A sampling:

• “I KNEW the liberal anti-gun nut cases would start with the “think of the children, save the children” bullcrap!”
• “armed citizens freed us from england so we could have the first free country … people who wana ban the constitution should move to a country thats already not free”

The idea that the 2nd Amendment would ever be abolished is simply ludicrous.  What I have trouble understanding is: how can this group go into an irrational panic when nobody is even discussing the subject of reform on a federal level?

To quote Bonnie Raitt, “Let’s give them something to talk about.”