Talking about the press, love it or hate it or accept it. There is a case in SF about a person elected as Sheriff of SF county. He and his wife are embroiled in a domestic violence dispute. He is accused of beating his wife on New Years eve. He denies it. There are pics and videos of the bruises on the wife's body. The local press is all over this story and I'm glad about that. I really want to know the whole story. The lawyers for both sides are going on TV and spinning their stories. The press is said to be the fourth estate, after the legislative, judicial, and executive brances. On a personal level, I'd hate to be a focus of the press, but on the other hand I want to know what's going on.

Crazy people/criminals are going to kill people. They will use a gun, a rock, a knife, or their hands. It started with Cain and Abel. Many serial killers didn't use guns -- like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy. Two of my sons (and one wife) have concealed carry licenses. They are both military trained (one got the Marksmanship Award in Boot Camp.) And I am thankful that if a bad guy starts shooting, they can legally take him/her out. My husband and I are researching buying the best handgun(s) for us and will be getting our concealed carry licenses. You never know now, when some crazy is going to start shooting up the place. If we make guns illegal, only the law-abiding citizens won't have guns -- the criminals/crazies will still get them on the black market. My sons live in Houston (we moved from there a year ago) so this shooting really hits home. Problem is that schools are "gun-free" zones, so law-abiding citizens don't bring legal guns on campus. But criminals/crazies do. What if a law-abiding, concealed carry citizen was legally able to carry on campus and take the criminal out after the first shot? And yes, I do support armed guards in our schools. Unless someone wants to die as a suicide by police, armed guards would take away the thrill of mass murder from the sickos this society has produced.

Latest new report says the shooter had been a graduate student, but was not enrolled for this semester. The same report said he had two pistols and a shotgun, but had used only one of the pistols. The police has recovered only one of the pistols - whereabout of the other pistol is unknown at this writing. One report said one of the pistols was a Glock. One of the wounded, taken to the hospital, has died. Other Information: Northern Illinois University is at DeKalb, IL. Normal Ill. Univ. is much farther south at Bloomington/Normal, IL. After the state of ILlinois was organized, about 5 teacher colleges were established scattered over the state. These were to produce teachers for grammar (grades 1-8) schools, or Normal schools. One of these was the teacher college at Normal, IL; another was at Charleston, IL. That was many years ago, and today, a number of those colleges have grown into Universities. The town of DeKalb, IL is named after Baron DeKalb, a mercinary who fought on the side of the new United States against Great Britian in the Revolutionary War. Baron DeKalb, as he called himself, was German born and a soldier for hire living in France. He came with Lafaette and his armada of ships when Lafaette came to the aid of George Washington. DeKalb was presented to Congress and given a title of Brigdier General and immediatly sent off to war. DeKalb did not live long thereafter; He was killed in an military engagement. A monument was errected in his honor, the only foreign national so honored in that war. Baron DeKalb was not a real Baron by royal decree. It was a title that he gave himself since he believed that he deserved this title owning to military services that he had performed. Information on Baron DeKalb can be found in the World Book Encyclopedia.

Other countries also have “bad guys”. And gangs. Here, they mostly shoot each other using black market guns. Mass/school shootings in the US are usually done by “ordinary” people and kids using guns legally purchased. Gun control works. Look at Scotland. After 16 kids died in Dunblane they implemented strict gun control and haven’t had a single school shooting since. Australia responded similarly to a shooting there and it worked. https://www-m.cnn.com/2017/10/04/world/gun-control-uk-australia/index.html These events helped turned the tide of opinion against private gun ownership. Law makers and voters put the protection of human lives before protection of archaic gun rights. People in most western countries don’t have to think about bulletproof backpacks even for a second. I never ever worry someone is going to shoot my children at school or when they’re playing with a friend.