My heart goes out to the parents of the young children who were so senselessly taken in Connecticut. I would urge all, before casting blame on guns, to think about the mental health care profession in this country.

It appears that each massacre over the last century was performed by a person with mental illness, yet nothing is done to help the families trying to get resolute help for their family member who ends up committing these heinous, senseless murders. Perhaps it's time to focus on the real problem of lack of quality mental health outcomes rather than undermining our Constitution by removing guns from every citizen.

There are over 60 million hunters in this great land, all of whom own guns and none of whom commit these acts. I hope our elected officials will work on legislation to commit sick people (even against their will) before more innocents are taken.

Karen Duddlesten

Bellingham