At Long Last, Light / Scarborough: Today as a nation we grieve

Scarborough: Today as a nation we grieve

 

Joe Scarborough, talk show host and former conservative congressman, begins the Monday, December 17, 2012 episode of ‘Morning Joe’ with a powerful monologue on the Friday shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

 

Link to video of his statement:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/vp/50222624#50222624

 

A powerful personal statement, yes, and more, he's right. But that has always been the clear and right answer; it's just that his ideology has until now blinded his common sense. Now, finally, he and so many others are seeing with clarity the realities, for which I am very grateful. It's deeply saddening that it has taken such a horrific event to make him see things more clearly. There has never been a defensible place for ownership of semi-automatic military assault weapons in civilian life. Not for hunting, not for target or competitive shooting, nor for any sporting uses--and certainly not for self-defense. Their only usefulness is in making money on sale and, sooner or later, mass mayhem and murder.

Personally, I own no guns or weapons of any kind. I don’t hunt, target shoot, or shoot sporting clays. So I have no need of a shotgun, pistol or rifle appropriate to any of those or similar uses. I have no need for any other kind of personal handgun or weapon, either. I do not fear for my safety in public places or in my home. And I don’t think owning a handgun would assuage my concern or prove useful even if I were fearful. No, I fear more the findings of a number of studies: it is much more likely handguns kept in the home will be used by the owner, or someone with access to them, to intentionally or accidentally wound or kill someone known to the owner or user than actually serve as a deterrent to a robbery or be used in a circumstance of self-defense.