Readers Sound Off: 'Take Away Guns,' 'Leave Guns Alone,' Protect Our Liberty, Iowans Say Post-Newtown

Patch readers are passionate, and this has never been more evident than the debate that has followed the Newtown shootings.

Here is a sampling of how Iowans are feeling across several articles.

Tim Nedoba

It's all about access to good mental health professionals and clinics. Many serious crimes could be prevented with proper intervention.

John Andrews

Worldwide, far more kids are killed by government sponsored violence and war then by mentally ill people. Work on that first.

Maxine Weimer

There are far too many mentally ill people that are just running wlld, doing whatever they want. It is time that people recognize how ill these people are and dangerous, and make sure they get the help they need. Some should be committed so they can't hurt themselves or anyone else.

Maria Houser Conzemius

We just need the political will to change our laws to ban assault weapons and large magazines of ammunition. We also need to treat more of our mentally ill more effectively. It's a question of access to mental health treatment and court-ordered treatment for those too sick to know they need help. Families need to be more proactive to watch for the signs.

Ned Ryerson

It is sad that whenever a tragic event occurs in America, the people tend to react by asking the government it increase safety by taking away a little bit of liberty.

James Surratt

Take away the guns and they'll come up with other weapons. Even in totalitarian societies and dictatorships, people still found ways to murder. You have no outer security until you have inner security.

Kurt B.

We have to start with our culture. We have sensationalized violence in our movies, tv shows, video games etc with such graphic stuff you see nowadays. This hasn't happened overnight and it won't get corrected overnight either. But, let's start there. Along with that, a better way of gun registration. The mother in CT was apparently an aficianado of guns. Nothing wrong with that, but they must be kept under pretty tight security. ... Having everyone being armed is certainly not the answer.

Dawn Ask Martin

I would have to say a combination of improvement of mental health treatment and access thereof, and writing more comprehensive gun control laws.

Beefing up security in public places can make people feel safer, but it also can also mean treating innocent people like criminals. (Like children and little old ladies in wheelchairs getting detained in airport security) ... All too often, media and video games have been wrongfully made scapegoats.

Elizabeth Shriver

We do have a mental health crisis in our country, but the mentally ill are more likely to be the victims of violent crimes than the perpetrators. I'm all for a discussion about improving mental health care, but not in lieu of a discussion over gun laws.

steve ho

If schools were as secure as airports, this wouldn't have happened.

CFBusinessOwner

There are enough incidents where highly trained police officers either drop or have their guns taken from them to convince this parent that I would NEVER want any teacher to carry or stash a gun in a classroom. Lock the buildings and make it difficult just to waltz into any school.

bo lewis

Lets leave the guns alone and lock up all the crazies like we use to do.

Jon Thompson

Considering that an armed guard did nothing at Columbine, considering that the statistics on any one attack are so low that it is guaranteed to be a very boring monotonous job, and that the $75k/school that it would cost to fund this program would most likely be required by already cash-strapped schools, I cannot understand why anyone would think that this is a good idea.

Read more:

NRA Calls for 'Armed Security' Around Schools; Iowans Respond

To Arm with Weapons or Not to Arm with Weapons? The Iowa Patch Poll

Red Iowa Survey: 75% Support Armed Guards in Schools; 62% Oppose Ban on Rapid-Fire Guns