Dear Mister President

Dear President Obama,

As you are aware we are today mourning the tragedy in Connecticut, the latest in mass shooting, mass murder made possible by use of highly efficient firearms. 

It is a huge task to address the causes of such horror but we cannot shirk our responsibility due to difficulty or complexity.

Please join me in calling renewed emphasis on zero tolerance for bullying in schools.  There can be no exceptions or excuses or acceptance of “kids being kids”.  The strong will prey on the weak and the weird, the outsiders. We must make an effort to identify this behavior in public schools and intervene.  It is a never-ending challenge but we must do better.

The kids bully each other for a simple reason: they see adults doing it to each other and to them.  The adults are the ones we need to focus on, not just the kids.  Adult behavior is at the root of this toxic issue.

I am a gun owner.  I have some rifles and shotguns and a couple of revolvers.  None of these are semi-automatic.  I have no concerns with semi-automatic weapons as long as the magazine is limited to a reasonable size.  What is “reasonable” size magazine?  I don’t know.  Perhaps something under 20 is a place to start.  Let’s get this discussion going today.

No one outside military or special weapons and tactics squads needs access to fully automatic weapons.  I don’t know of an exception.  The idea that we need firearms to protect ourselves from governmental authority does not work for me.  It’s an overly-simple idea, a tactic not a rational scenario.  (At least, not here in The States.)

Please join me in working to increase access to mental health counseling for at-risk youth and adults.  There is no reason we cannot improve social services in this area, except for the lack of willingness to spend the money and time necessary.  We cannot afford to let this opportunity go by without addressing the lack of drug and mental health counseling and the stigma that is associated with seeking professional help.

We can’t sit back and wait for someone to do this work for us.  We need to share the burden of this difficult task and get busy.  No more tragedies of this scale.  Please lend your voice and the power of your office to the effort.

Yours truly,