I am a Republican, I am a gun owner, and I am *thoroughly* fucking embarrassed by our party's kneejerk reaction to this.

Showing my politics, I know, but this is a gun subreddit. I am a Republican. I am against more gun control. I own guns. I'm going to a range this weekend. I'm a concealed carry permit holder, and I carry everywhere I can, legally and illegally. I went out and bought a concealed carry purse for my wife (who has never been a fan) the morning after. <br><br>As you can imagine, I have never agreed with our party's stance on gun control. It doesn't make sense to me, it doesn't make sense to a lot of people. I don't think that guns are the problem, I don't think they will ever be. I think that's a horrible bandaid solution to a much larger problem. <br><br>Showing my politics again, I think the Dems have it right, but not quite. When I heard about the shooting, I thought it was ridiculous that the Dems were already getting on gun control bandwagon, but I also think that the Republicans are wrong as well. <br><br>There are people saying that it's too soon to talk about gun control. In reality, it's too late. The conversation should have been had a lot sooner. We needed to have this conversation years ago, even decades ago. A child got shot in a school, and it's okay to talk about it now. <br><br>There are people saying that it's too soon to politicize this. It's too late. It was politicized the day after it happened. The Dems are blaming guns, the Republicans are blaming mental health, and the POTUS is blaming video games. It's too late because it's already happened. <br><br>There are people saying, "Who do you ban guns from? The mentally ill? The elderly? What about the second amendment? What about the criminals? But it doesn't matter, because it's already politicized. And it's too late because it's already happened, and it keeps happening. <br><br>Gun control has always been an emotional issue for me, a highly debatable and discussed topic, but when this happened, it actually made me think about not only our party's stance but the nation's stance as a whole. I'm not calling for a ban on guns, I'm not calling for stricter laws. I'm just calling for a discussion, and maybe, just maybe, we can find a solution.