From experience I can tell you that no matter what your age, your kids are always your babies.  Whether they are still in diapers or have children of their own, they are still your babies.

Well, today, 12 women woke up to the knowledge that their babies will never be coming home.  One was celebrating his 27^th birthday, one will never see her seventh.

Yesterday, first responders treated the wounded, transported the dead and assisted family members who desperately needed to know – was my child involved, is my child OK?

People all across the country rallied to find means of helping in whatever way they could.  Blood donations, donating plane miles so that families could be with the wounded, candlelight vigils for prayer and solace, all were organized because people wanted to help.

As the sun rose today, the hard work began for the families who faced their first morning without their child, their spouse, their loved one.  They will have to do the impossible – plan to bury a child without dropping dead from the pain.

During this act of domestic terrorism we heard of amazing acts of selflessness.  We heard of men and women who placed themselves between their children and the gunman, allowing themselves to take the bullet; the man who died while shielding his girlfriend and her brother from harm;  one man who even in the face of danger cared for a dying friend even after he himself had been shot.

I guess it’s knowing all the acts of selflessness and compassion that makes the responses from others so very hard to fathom.  Even as the blood was still wet on the theatre seats, before some of the dead had even been removed, the grieving public had to hear the drone and the whine that has become familiar at disasters involving firearms, “Don’t take our guns away!  You want to take our guns away!”

We were literally still actively dealing with one of the largest acts of domestic terrorism in recent years and these whining, sniveling brats felt that the disaster was all about them.  As children as young as four months were bleeding, as a six year old lay dead among popcorn and soda cans, these “men” screamed in abject horror at the thought that their metal teddy bears might be taken away from them.  They were angry and upset that this “incident” might affect them.

The breath-taking level of sociopathic insensitivity cannot help but leave one staggering.  That they have no ability to recognize the pain and suffering of others  nor any concept of empathy or situational propriety is disturbing.

In the days to come the question will once more be asked, how may we as a society prevent the mentally ill from obtaining high powered assault weapons which can utilize drum magazines carrying hundreds of cartridges?  How can we prevent innocent civilians from going through this again instead of living moment to moment waiting for the next act of domestic terrorism.

It’s unbelievable that there would be those in a civilized society who wouldn’t want to assist in preventing such acts of violence by problem solving a means of keeping weapons of large scale violence out of the hands of the mentally ill.  Who, like a child throwing a tantrum in an emergency room, cannot comprehend that the world does not revolve around them, they don’t get that we are discussing finding means of preventing the mentally ill from harming others and that unless they qualify as being mentally ill themselves, they are just being asses.

That said, we will find the means to protect our populace and protect the mentally ill from injuring themselves or others.

And the message to those too callous, too insensitive, too self-serving to recognize that it’s not all about them, “If you aren’t going to help the living, the wounded or the dead, at the very least, get out of the way!  The adults have work to do.”