On Friday, just an hour after the CNN announcement that a shooting had taken place at an elementary school in Newtown, I was walking into my grandchildren's school in Cambridge Ontario.

The kindergarten children marched into the gymnasium, wearing halos, antlers and top hats made of pipe cleaners and construction paper. As I watched the parade of pride and looked around at the parents, blinded by the flashing blast of cameras recording the event, I felt the tears begin to stream down my face.

I thought about the blessing the universe granted Adam Lazlo's mother. She was spared the horrific pain of her son's actions through death. She was the first victim of her child's savage slaughter.

I tried to picture Adam in the line-up of children, the five-year-olds who were standing on the stage seeking approval from their parents, the audience, and I wondered what sign might have been evident that her darling little boy would one day grow into a murderer.

By all accounts the sons, Ryan and Adam, survived divorce and childhood traumas without evidence that they would one day shatter a nation and destroy Christmas. But the guns used were owned by their mama. And I can only ask why. Why did Mama have those guns?

Adam wasn't satisfied by pumping bullets into his mother. His smouldering rage lasted long enough for him to continue, to search out the children who meant something to the woman who birthed him, and taught these children. His disregard for life, including his own, raises rhetorical questions.

Who among these children I watched sing would grow into killers? Who would change the world through scientific study or inspire the others?

The right to bear arms -it's written into the constitution--but I wonder whether America's forefathers had the insight to know that two hundred years ahead, assault rifles, automatic weapons could destroy thousands of lives. I think not. The original intent was to protect the average person from corrupt governments and allow Americans to feel safe in their homes

This entitlement to own weapons didn't work for Adam's mother. The enemy was in her home --under her loving care. There is no doubt in my mind that this woman felt righteous in her ownership of her arsenal and equally convinced she would have armed and fired her rifles if she felt a threat.

Guns don't kill, people do, but the availability of weapons allows deranged individuals to be written into history. There is no doubt Mama had a strong defence for her right' to own guns, but I am sure the rain that is predicted tomorrow in Connecticut will be mixed with her salty tears.

"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose..."