How did we get here

When I went to school all those years ago we had fire drills because everyone had to know what to do in case of a fire. Now school children today must endure active shooter drills. 

When I went to school the worst that could happen was getting beat up in the school yard. Now our children can be shot dead in the hallway by someone who doesn't even know them.

When I went to school Trapper Keepers were the in thing. Now you can buy your child a backpack that includes a ballistic blanket.

When I went to school, our security staff were armed with the power of their position and strength of personality and nothing more. Now many of our schools have armed police officers on premises.

How does a 19 year old get a hold of an semi-automatic, assault rifle and enough ammunition to start a firefight with a SWAT team.

Why would a young man think killing at least 17 of his fellow classmates, an acceptable expression of his rage and angst.

And how did we get to place where in country that is supposed to be the leader of the Western world where death by gun violence is now becoming a leading cause of death of our youth.

I have always been a proponent of gun rights, but something has to give. Whatever we are doing right now isn't working for anybody. Especially for our children.

What exactly do you expect the President to do

First and foremost I am NOT in any way, shape or form this administration's biggest fan. I feel there are many things on numerous fronts that at the very least have not been handled well and several that have been completely miscarried. That being said I completely agree with the course the President taken with North Korea.

We will set aside the fact the Korean War essentially "ended" with an armistice versus an actual peace treaty. Heck we at least got that in Vietnam. Or the fact there have been numerous acts of outright aggression taken by the Peoples Republic of North Korea including the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel. The fact is the North Korean regime is hell bent on acquiring the ballistic nuclear weapon capability with the ultimate goal of being able to strike ANY target they choose.

Let's try sanctions you say? You mean the ones we have inflicted since the 90s across six administrations and three Presidents - 2 Democrat and 1 Republican. First it was don't let them develop weapons grade nuclear material. Okay - don't develop a weapon capable of being affixed to a missile. Okay - don't let them to develop a ballistic missile capable of hitting anything we care about it - like Japan, Guam, or Honolulu..  Remember that ballistic missile alert in Hawaii a few weeks ago...

The fact is the regime in North Korea does not give two shakes what the world thinks. They want to force their way into the "Nuclear Club" and the world be damned. To often we have trotted out "redlines" that have breached and our response is "draw another one". If we are truly dedicated to the goal of stopping Korea from acquiring true nuclear capability then at some point you have to say STOP IT or ELSE and really mean it.