Gun Control

More than a month after the shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn., mental health professionals stated that psychological disorders often emerge before people enter high school; however, only a small percentage of students ever receives necessary intervention or treatment. This is due to lack of knowledge and failure to recognize symptoms. The mass shootings in recent years have raised a debate about gun control and mental health, including a push by President Barack Obama for stronger gun controls and better mental health training for schools and communities.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE - Congressman James Rogan is coming under fire on the issue of gun control. A recent meeting between Rogan (R-Glendale), other members of the U.S. House of Representatives and President Clinton to discuss gun control has been followed by criticism from a major handgun control lobby. Handgun Control, led by Sarah Brady, wife of shooting victim and former White House Press Secretary James Brady, put out a press release Thursday accusing the congressman of defending the NRA in an e-mail sent out after his meeting with Clinton on March 15. "When he goes to the White House to participate in a rally for gun control, it was a surprise.

Terry Bailey A Million Mom March organizer was shocked when a local city hesitated to endorse the upcoming Mother's Day event protesting gun violence. "Why, this is as simple an issue as Mom and Apple Pie," she exclaimed to me. "Why would anyone not support us?" Often it seems that what appears simple and glaringly obvious to one person is no such thing to another. One of our greatest challenges as citizens, educators, legislators and activists is to walk in the moccasins of those who do not agree with us -- even on issues we feel are simple and obvious.

Robert Shaffer DOWNTOWN -- An appeal to the Armenian vote turned into a sometimes heated debate over crime and gun control at a forum that featured state Assembly and Senate candidates for two local races. The event Sunday, sponsored by the Pasadena-based Armenian General Benevolent Union, was the second such event at the library in less than a week. Many of the candidates tailored their messages to the audience of about 150 people, most of whom were of Armenian descent.

Early on Friday, March 1, I drove by the Glendale Civic Auditorium and saw the garish gun show signs along Verdugo Road. Nausea welled up in my throat as the 20 dead Sandy Hook Elementary School children and the 12 slaughtered Aurora movie theater patrons infiltrated my vision. The nausea was completed by remembering the harsh voices of NRA spokesmen and multitudes of gun owners that uncompromisingly refuse to consider even the minutest forms of rational gun control. It is so searingly sad to recognize that an opaque veil seems to shield the 2nd Amendment shouters from the horrors of gun violence.

A seemingly crazy guy in Colorado was able to freely exercise his 2nd Amendment rights to easily buy a bunch of guns, including an assault rifle killing machine, and enough ammo to make the Taliban jealous. The National Rifle Association might be happy over gun-purchase freedom, but not so the devastated families of the 12 killed, the 58 painfully wounded victims and, no doubt, the many other traumatized individuals that were in the movie theater that horrendous night. Those who composed the 2nd Amendment could in no way have envisioned the much, much larger United States population more than 200 years later, with its attendant rampant societal ills and the vast “improvement” in the killing power of guns.

Claudia Peschiutta PASADENA -- A handful of activists gathered in a park playground on Wednesday to talk about what they don't like about Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale) and why they feel he shouldn't be reelected to Congress. Standing in a sandy pit with a backdrop of brightly colored slides, officials from the League of Conservation Voters and Handgun Control criticized the incumbent congressman's record on environmental issues and gun control. "Jim Rogan is an irresponsible congressman when it comes to environmental protection," said league President Deb Callahan.

Claudia Peschiutta A national gun-control lobby is shooting to keep two local Republican candidates out of office. Handgun Control this week placed 43rd Assembly District candidate Craig Missakian and 44th Assembly District hopeful Susan Carpenter McMillan on their "Dangerous Dozen" list, a bunch they describe as "12 extreme candidates who oppose responsible gun laws." Wayne Johnson, a consultant for the Missakian campaign, called the group's move "a real cheap shot."

Will Rogers There seems to be no local race as heated as the one between two candidates who for years have agreed on so much. And as Tuesday's primary election becomes imminent, the contest has become so frenzied that last-minute developments are positively weird. Consider that a powerful, longtime and avowed enemy of one candidate is now giving unsolicited help to that same candidate. Stranger still, the opposing candidate seems delighted to see the influential and well-financed special interest spending tens of thousands of dollars to help the other side.