Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

 ::crymonkey2::

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/14/us-connecticut-towns-idUSBRE8BD0U120121214
Children shot and killed at Connecticut school: report
December 14, 2012

(Reuters) - At least 27 people, including children, were killed on Friday when at least one shooter opened fire at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, CBS News reported, citing unnamed officials.

The shooter, the father of a student there, was also killed, CBS News reported. The principal and school psychologist were among the dead, CNN said.

There were unconfirmed reports of a second shooter after witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots fired.

Sandy Hook Elementary School teaches children from kindergarten through fourth grade - roughly ages 5 to 10.
 ::snipping2::
Video at Link

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/14/police-respond-to-shooting-at-connecticut-elementary-school/
At least 26 dead in shooting at Connecticut elementary school
December 14, 2012

DEVELOPING: Authorities say at least 26 people, including 18 children, were killed Friday when a gunman opened fire inside a Connecticut elementary school.

A law enforcement official said the shooter, who is dead, is believed to be a father of one of the students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

An official with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press that the man apparently had two guns.

Earlier reports of a second gunman are unconfirmed. The Connecticut Post reports that police are also questioning a handcuffed man in connection with the shooting. Witnesses told the newspaper he was led out of the woods by officers.

Shortly after 9:40 a.m., authorities reported that a shooter was in the main office of the school. A person in one room had "numerous gunshot wounds," police told the Hartford Courant.

A dispatcher at the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps said a teacher was shot in the foot and taken to Danbury Hospital. Local news outlets also reported that the principal was among those shot.
 ::snipping2::
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said two firearms were recovered from the scene.

President Obama was notified of the shooting around 10:30 am ET, White House officials said.

The Newtown School District has locked down schools as a preventive measure to ensure the safety of students and staff.

A statement on the district's website stated that afternoon kindergarten classes have been canceled.

The elementary school has close to 700 students.

Newtown is in Fairfield County, about 45 miles southwest of Hartford and 60 miles northeast of New York City.

I am in shock. Prayers for all the families of the school.   ::MonkeyAngel::             What is wrong with people today.  ::MonkeyNoNo::To shoot any one but babies is sick.   ::MonkeyMad::

I just don't know Green Eyes.   ::MonkeyNoNo:: 

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/12/live-updates-newtown-ct-school-shooting/
LIVE UPDATES: Newtown, CT School Shooting
December 14, 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/state-police-respond-to-report-of-school-shooting-in-newtown-conn-lockdown-in-place/2012/12/14/df59a9aa-4602-11e2-8c8f-fbebf7ccab4e_story.html
Official with knowledge of Conn. school shooting: 27 dead, including 18 children
December 14, 2012

NEWTOWN, Conn. — A shooting at a Connecticut elementary school Friday left 27 people dead, including 18 children, an official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way. Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said the gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown was killed and apparently had two guns.
 ::snipping2::

http://www.wsvn.com/video/ch2/

I was watching this link and a reporter is talking.  Not sure she realizes her audio is on.  She was on the phone with a federal LE source and she confirmed with the source that someone named Peter Laza is the shooter.  I can't believe she doesn't realize she can be heard.  She just repeated the conversation to someone named Darius.

She also said that the Fed source confirmed that a 'person of interest' was taken into custody soon afterward and is being questioned.  They wouldn't tell her if it was a second shooter or how he was connected to case.

Reporter's name:  Susan Canttoti  (sp)

KittyMom, the reporter you heard would be Susan Candiotti with CNN.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/shooting-reported-at-connecticut-elementary-school/comment-page-60/
Children and adults gunned down in Connecticut school massacre
December 14, 2012

There's been a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut
We're told "close to 20" people are dead, including at least 10 children; the shooter is also dead
Below are the latest updates as they come to us or you can read our story of the Connecticut school shooting
[Updated at 1:47 p.m. ET] A few more details from the White House press briefing earlier. White House spokesman Jay Carney said while today is not the day to debate gun policy, an assault weapons ban "does remain a commitment" of President Obama.

[Updated at 1:45 p.m. ET]  We are now learning that a male is being questioned by investigators, but he is not being called a suspect, CNN's Susan Candiotti reports.

[Updated at 1:42 p.m. ET] Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said the shooter is dead inside the school.

Vance said there are a number of fatalities that includes both children and adults. He did not add more details about how many people were killed during the school shooting.

[Updated at 1:41 p.m. ET] Police have now begun their briefing on the shooting.

[Updated at 1:32 p.m. ET] We're hearing more from the scene of the massacre through tweets and interviews.
 ::snipping2::

Video at Photo Slide Show at Link

Thanks, muffy.  It would make sense as I was directed to that site through Foxnews.  Maybe it's a local news station that was allowing the bigger media to use their feed?  That might explain why the audio was on and she seem oblivious to it.  She also talked about search warrants being executed and that the number of dead was 28. 

I'm seeing stuff on twitter that the shooter's mom was a teacher at the school and one of the dead.  Also that he's 24 and had 4 guns.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-14/newtown-shooter-identified-ryan-lanza-new-jersey
Newtown Shooter Identified As Ryan Lanza From New Jersey

 ::MonkeyNoNo:: 

Same thoughts here!   ::MonkeyNoNo:: ::MonkeyMad::

So sad, praying for the families that lost someone today and for all of the children that were surely terrified if nothing else!

 ::MonkeyNoNo::

http://theothermccain.com/2012/12/14/connecticut-school-shooting/

Reportedly Ryan Lanza's facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/rlanza?ref=ts&fref=ts

Just saw that mom may be kindergarten teacher. 

I was watching parents being interviewed this morning and they were saying that the security is good at the school.  The doors are kept locked and you have to provide id in the office before you can see anyone or pick up a child.  If the shooter's mom worked at the school, that might explain how he gained access to a classroom.

I'm speechless and so very sad and sick.   ::MonkeyWaa::  My PRAYERS to all the victims and thier families.

I pray no Monkeys are in the area!

http://www.wfsb.com/category/216668/wfsb-eyewitness-news-livestream-1

Reporter just reported that suspects younger brother is in custody.

Reporters say that the parents of the kindergarten students killed are in the firehouse.  I can't imagine the heartbreak.

Powerful prayer sending today for those affected by the tragedy in Connecticut this morning. Our world is still beautiful and evil will not win. My prayer is all those who have lost will, in time, re-gain their wholeness of spirit and be surrounded with love and support until then. May all those whose lives have been taken find solace, peace, and angelic healing.

http://www.wfsb.com/category/216668/wfsb-eyewitness-news-livestream-1

Reporters saying that the perp was in principal's office and some time of scuffle occurred.  The pa system was tripped and the whole school could hear what was happening in the office.  The principal was among the dead.  Her husband was a teacher at the middle school.

He has a FB page someone get it before it gets taken down I can't do it on my way home

Nancy Lanza was the mother of the perp and one of the dead.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/14/police-res
DEVELOPING: Authorities say at least 26 people, including 20 children, were killed Friday when a gunman clad in black military gear opened fire inside a Connecticut elementary school.
 
The shooter, identified as 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, lived in Hoboken, N.J., and had ties to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. He was found dead inside the school, according to officials.
 
A source told Fox News that Lanza's mother and father, who were divorced, were also killed. It's not clear whether Lanza's mother, a teacher at the school, was killed there or at another location. Lanza's girlfriend and another friend are missing in New Jersey, according to law enforcement sources.    

Local news outlets report that the shooting occurred inside a kindergarten classroom, and that all the pupils in that classroom are unaccounted for.
 
An official with knowledge of the situation said the shooter was armed with a .223-caliber rifle. Four weapons in total were recovered from the scene. The motive is not yet known.
 
Police are also questioning another person in connection with the shooting. Witnesses told the Connecticut Post that a handcuffed man, dressed in camouflage, was led out of a nearby woods by officers. The individual is Lanza's younger brother, according to the Associated Press.
 
Lanza is a 2006 graduate of Newtown High School. He is believed to have graduated from Quinnipiac University in 2010. On a Twitter page believed to be the Lanza's, a series of disturbing posts were found, including one that said, "I would actually love if the world ended in 2 weeks."

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/14/police-respond-to-shooting-at-connecticut-elementary-school/#ixzz2F3nPlhuBpond-to-shooting-at-connecticut-elementary-school/

I wish I knew how to bring pics from FB over... there is one from 2006 with both his hands up likes he's shooting guns.  Disturbing under the circumstances.

There were 2 different Ryan Lanza's ...........the other one was already taken down, not sure which one is the shooter.  This is the second one

https://www.facebook.com/#!/brad.jockjennings?fref=ts

Reporters have said that there are two bodies in the Lanza home and that a friend and girlfriend of Ryan Lanza are missing.

CBS: 27 people dead in Newtown school shooting
Posted: Dec 14, 2012 9:56 AM EST Updated: Dec 14, 2012 3:35 PM EST
By Steven Yablonski, Managing Editor - email
By Joseph Wenzel - email
 
 
 
 
NEWTOWN, CT (WFSB) -

CBS News is reporting that 27 people including 18 numerous children have been killed along with the gunman after a shooting inside a school in Newtown Friday morning.
MORE
INTERACTIVE: Guns on Campus - School Shooting Database
View the history of school gun violence with this interactive database of campus shootings since 1997.More >
Special Section

Images: Newtown School Shooting

School Shooting in Newtown, CT at Sandy Hook High School


The scene is being called 'atrocious' inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Sources told Eyewitness News that nine of those killed are adults and 18 are children. State police said multiple people including the gunman are dead, but would not specify the total number of casualties.

The gunman was found dead inside the school, but it was unknown how the unidentified gunman died.

State police said this is one of the worst shootings emergency officials have seen in a long time.

CBS News is reporting that the shooting suspect is Ryan Lanza, who is 24 and lives in New Jersey. He is a former Quinnipac University student and lived in Newtown  ::snipping2::

http://www.wfsb.com/story/20345707/cbs-27-people-dead-in-newtown-school-shooting

I AM SICK

UPDATE from across my screen 20 children 6 adults one person is hurt

sorry no link

[Updated at 3:22 p.m. ET] It appears that another member of the alleged shooter's family is dead. A senior law enforcement official familiar with the investigation says a brother of the alleged shooter was found dead in a home searched in Hoboken, New Jersey. We already knew Ryan Lanza's mother was found dead in the elementary school.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/shooting-reported-at-connecticut-elementary-school/?hpt=hp_t1

https://www.facebook.com/search/results.php?q=adam%20lanza&init=quick&tas=0.20494061238192612#!/pages/Adam-Lanza/396650317080539


 Adam Lanza's FB


THE SHOOTER - IS NOT - RYAN LANZA - BUT HIS BROTHER ADAM LANZA, WHO IS NOW DEAD. His brother is in custody.


Miragen Minot Why the brother? Was he in on it too?

The weapons used in the shootings were registered to the shooters mother, who was found dead. As well as his father

I don't really know whats up with FB re: the Lanza's..........the first Ryan Lanza's page that was posted and that was taken down, and the one of Adam Lanza....they both have same pic posted so not sure which is actually Adam.

https://www.facebook.com/littlebastard1955/photos

Seems the FB page of Adam Lanza is a fake............disregard, please...........


Leigh Henry- Delong Same pic apears in both FB pages.. FB has removed Ryan Lanza pic,, Just anounced ADam Lanza Name and then this page comes up... Someone is doing it... Nes says brother is in costody RYAN,, and that ADAM is the shooter.

same picture???
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adam-Lanza/122317441264818

Yes Blonde, the original page that has since been taken down was Ryan Lanza's and it had the same pic as this fake one of Adam Lanza.  I was just getting a screen shot of the original Ryan page when it was taken down, so who knows.

I got the screen shot also his brother was with him and they are talking to him ..
per live news screen

Adam Lanza was the shooter Ryan Lanza is being held this is live from the associated press
looking for link

Tearful Obama calls for action after shooting
AP Photo
WASHINGTON (AP) - A tearful President Barack Obama said Friday he grieved first as a father about the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school, declaring, "Our hearts are broken today." He called for "meaningful action" to prevent such shootings but did not say what it should be. "The majority of those who died were children - beautiful, little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old," Obama said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/HOME?SITE=AP

AP source: Suspect drove to mother's school
WASHINGTON (AP) - The suspect in the Connecticut school shootings is Adam Lanza, 20, the son of a teacher at the school where the shootings occurred, a law enforcement official said Friday. A second law enforcement official says the boy's mother, Nancy Lanza, is presumed dead. Adam Lanza's older brother, Ryan, 24, of Hoboken, N.J., is being questioned by police, said the first official. Earlier, a law enforcement official mistakenly transposed the brothers' first names.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/HOME?SITE=AP

Good evening monkeys,

Too much, too much pain.  No real words.  I stopped in here just to share my grief.

I did google Adam Lanza and went to images.  There were photos of a lovely young man involved in sports at Trinity College and from Conn.   May or may not be the same person. 

I read the principal had just upgraded the security system but Adam shot his way into the school.   

Just rambling, just sad,  glad I homeschool my child.  Too much...

Watching Brian Williams NBC. He is saying the shooter is Adam -- but he had his brother Ryan's id on him -- reason for the initial confusion. Ryan has indicated that his brother had mental issues. Williams also reported that Adam killed his mother at home and then went to the school and killed the kids. His mother was a kindergarten teacher at the school. The guns Adam had were legally registered to his mother.

Who the he$$ kills kids! This is too much sadness

Cliff Van Zandt said the fact that he killed his mother at home -- and then went to kill her 'kids'....he was trying to keep hurting her even after he killed her :-(

I am truly overwhelmed. I'm sure everyone is :-(

 ::MonkeyShocked::


Gunman kills 20 children, 6 adults at Connecticut elementary school
Published December 14, 2012

Twenty-seven people, including 20 children, were killed Friday when a gunman clad in black military gear opened fire inside his mother's kindergarten class at a Connecticut elementary school.

The shooter, who sources identified as Adam Lanza, 20, shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, in the face at their home in Newtown, Conn., then went to nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School where she taught and gunned down her entire class, according to sources. Lanza was found dead inside the school, according to officials. Eighteen of the children and six more adults were dead at the school and two more children died later, according to Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance.

<snipped>

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/14/at-least-27-dead-in-shooting-at-connecticut-school/

(http://global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/U.S./NewTownShooting3.jpg)

(http://a57.foxnews.com/www.foxnews.com/images/root_images/0/0/SchoolShooting12_20121214_191453.jpg)

Images

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/14/at-least-27-dead-in-shooting-at-connecticut-school/

Father of Connecticut school gunman got news from reporter waiting at home
Published December 14, 2012

he father of the man sources say killed 26 at a Connecticut school before taking his own life learned of his son's likely involvement from a reporter outside his home.

Police had just left Peter Lanza's Stamford, Conn., home after conducting a welfare check when Lanza drove up in his Mini Cooper, according to Hearst Connecticut Media.

"Is there something I can do for you?" he said.

When the reporter told Lanza his address had been linked to the shooting in Newtown, Conn., on the other side of Fairfield County, he "took the news as a blow -- his face turning from patient to surprised and horrified" before declining to comment, rolling up his window and driving into the garage, according to the Hearst Connecticut report.

<snipped>

Peter and Nancy Lanza divorced in 2008, according to Hearst Connecticut. Peter Lanza reportedly works as vice president of taxes for GE Energy Financial Services.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/14/father-connecticut-school-gunman-got-news-from-reporter-waiting-at-home/?intcmp=trending

what has happened to the world in the last 24hr,everyone pizzed off at the same time
i found another tragedy, in china checking on sandy hook

sandy hook victims
26  ::MonkeyAngel:: 1 ::MonkeyHang::
china victims
22  ::MonkeyAngel:: 1 ::MonkeyHang::

5pgs

The Hartford Courant Staff
7:08 p.m. EST, December 14, 2012
http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-police-responding-to-incident-in-newtown-20121214,0,3969911.story

Knife-wielding man injures 22 children in China
By Terril Yue JonesReuters
1:48 a.m. EST, December 14, 2012
http://www.courant.com/sns-rt-us-china-stabbingsbre8bd065-20121213,0,5592318.story

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57559350/connecticut-gunman-sought-to-kill-as-many-children-as-possible/
Connecticut gunman sought to kill as many children as possible
December 14, 2012

CBS News) NEWTOWN, Conn. - Police say it's clear that the gunman who opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday was on a mission to kill as many people as possible. He took at least three guns and multiple clips of ammunition to target a defenseless elementary school and children as young as five.

Police say 20-year-old Adam Lanza was armed for a mass murder when he attacked a target he knew very well.
Lanza, whose mother was a teacher at Sandy Hill Elementary arrived in the school parking lot driving his mother's Black Honda.

He was carrying two lethal semi-automatic handguns: a Sig Sauer, the type of gun carried by Secret Service agents, and a Glock 9mm, a model used by many police officers and federal agents across the United States.
Officials say Lanza headed directly for a specific section of the school and opened fired, killing students in two classrooms. It is not known how many rounds he fired, but both guns are capable of carrying high-capacity extended clips, which can hold up to 30 rounds.
 ::snipping2::
Lanza died of a self-inflicted gunshot inside the school. But investigators suspect he may have intended to carry out a broader attack.

A third gun, a .223 assault rifle, was found outside the school in the back of his mother's car. It's similar to the type of gun used in the shooting on Tuesday at a mall outside of Portland, Oregon. CBS Correspondent John Miller reports said the guns were registered under her name.

Lanza's older brother, Ryan, is still being questioned by police who want to know what he might have known about the attack.

Ryan Lanza, the older brother of suspected Connecticut elementary school shooter Adam Lanza, was taken into police custody in Hoboken, N.J., Friday. He is being questioned, but has not been named a suspect.

Sources say at this point he is not a suspect.

Investigators say they now believe the killing spree began at the home Lanza shared with his mother, who was a kindergarten teacher at the school.

CBS correspondent John Miller reports that Adam had the bigger personality of the two brothers. Ryan, 24, was the quiet one, went to business school and lived in New Jersey. Investigators believe that this shooting was the result of a conflict between he and his mother that was developing for a long time -- killing her and then killing what she loved most -- her students.

I really have no words to express how I feel...nor, do I have words that can come close to comforting these families.  I can only ask why?  I need to know why?  I just cannot grasp this...lines are crossed and moved forward seemingly every week...when is the line going to stop moving...and things are actually taken seriously?  If this guy had a mental illness...and his mental illness was bad enough to lead to the shooting of his mother, innocent professionals, and especially innocent little children...then why on earth did no one notice?  I am not putting blame on his family...they may not have seen anything off...I work in the field...and have for ten years...I truly believe that I would have known...so, how can we get the message out there...for everyone to take mental illness seriously and know the signs...

 ::crymonkey2::

My prayer tonight, with no intended offense to anyone who may pray differently, is:

Dear God,
You have told us that all we have to do is knock and the door to you will be open. I know that as those who are reaching out to the families tonight, to comfort and offer strength in love, You are there. I know, Lord, that as our hearts bring us to our knees to ask that you gather the little children that are now in your care, and let them feel your joy, You already are holding their hands. God, help us find a way to invite you back into our schools and seek you on the front end of tragedy. As you are Love, You do not push your way or come unbidden. Help us knock Lord, so the door may be open wide. Please give comfort and peace to those Mothers and Fathers, Sisters and Brothers, and Families who tonight are in pain. Be with them as they see the Christmas lights that made their little one's eyes sparkle. Heal their soul, Lord, for they are wounded.
There is no answer for this evil from us, Lord. You are the only answer and I humbly ask You to push back the fog that has caused us to take a path away from You. Protect the children; place your safe hands around them and may their guardian angels be watchful and vigilant. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

I'm weary...I worry that there will be copy cats, that there will be more mentally unbalanced people ready to commit some random henious act.  I heard Dr. Drew say we have to take control of our families, our communities, etc.  But I have heard people spout so much hatred and violence about "the system" that I wonder where we start. Not only do I not have any answers, I no longer have the questions.

Dear God, take my heart and my mind and direct them to the path of making things better for whom ever.

(http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0dHaesU7Lza1K/620x.jpg)

There Are No Words: The Tragedy in Photos
December 14, 2012

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/there-are-no-words-the-tragedy-in-photos/

(http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/020Acnj3wScn9/620x.jpg)


There Are No Words: The Tragedy in Photos
December 14, 2012

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/there-are-no-words-the-tragedy-in-photos/

What a perfect and beautiful prayer CBB. 

OH DEAR GOD … Massacre in Newtown, CT … Shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School … 27 Dead, 20 Children Murdered … Shooter, Teachers son Adam Lanza Kills Himself
 
TONIGHT, ALL OF AMERICA CRIES … IT DOES NOT GET ANY WORSE THAN THIS.

Posted December 14, 2012 by Scared Monkeys

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2012/12/14/oh-dear-god-massacre-in-newtown-ct-shooting-at-sandy-hook-elementary-school-27-dead-20-children-murdered-shooter-teachers-son-adam-lanza-kills-himself/

(http://a57.foxnews.com/www.foxnews.com/images/root_images/0/0/Vigil660300_20121214_211811.jpg)

http://www.foxnews.com/

SM FRONT PAGE

Nightmare in Newtown, CT: 27 People Killed, 20 Children Murdered (VIDEO)

The small, sleepy town of Newtown, CT awoke today to the most unspeakable terror imaginable. Police, FBI and federal authorities showed up to a most grisly and horrific murder scenes.  Newtown is 45 miles southwest of Hartford. God bless the families and these precious children.

Posted December 14, 2012 by Scared Monkeys

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2012/12/14/nightmare-in-newtown-ct-27-people-killed-20-children-murdered-video/

When this story broke this AM I quickly got on the phone to get as much info as I could. It was not to write a story, but because of family and friends. Pretty much all of my family is from CT and covers almost all of the state. I actually went to HS about 20 miles away from Newtown, CT. I know the area very well from my HS days of going to  Brookfield, Danbury, Southbury and all areas inbetween. The news was all over the place and there was a lot of misinformation in the fog of the story. Thankfully, no family members or friends were directly affected; however, like many here, they were just shocked and sickened by the news.

My heart breaks for these children and their parents. We do so much work, research, searching for missing children, but this senseless mass murder of little children between the ages of 5 and 10 just devastated me today. My prayers go to the victims, especially the children whose lives were ended far too short.

KUDOS to the teachers who were true heroes in protecting and sheltering the children. Sadly, some of them paid the ultimate price, protecting the children with their lives.

AMEN!!!

(http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/sandyhook2-641x375.jpg)


Heartbreaking Photos: Hundreds Gather for Candlelit Vigil After Conn. Shooting Rampage
Posted on December 14, 2012

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/hundreds-gather-for-candlelit-vigil-after-conn-shooting-rampage/

Good post, Labubske.

WHY? It's a witches cauldron mix of things working in perfect synchronization with operatic flair.

• Destruction of families over decades upon decades - creating unstable home life through divorce & more things
• A home breeched is an unhealthy home where order slowly decays into disorder. It will get worse and end with nothing left to live for
• Angry zombies with no hope left - they will kill who they perceive to have done them wrong. They will kill others who are perceived to have had a hand in it. True or not
• I call that the Aligator death spiral - it keeps going down and hurting more and more - no end in sight
• Hyper violent scenes in movies looped repetitively in the new world media
• Hyper violent video games which you can actually play while you are in dream sleep - conditioning the brain for low or no impulse control
• They desensitize - the higher damage that can be achieved reaps the highest rewards in multi. body counts. No empathy required when your goal is to cause large scale pain and death in a white hot rage

Just do it. No thought or feeling  required. When you achieve that level - you are rewarded with high score creds.

You caught my attention with copy cats. Boy! You are right and they are probably having an orgasm over each tv clip shown. They are thinking, hey, I could do that. I love fame. I could have done it better! (bragging - one of their biggest attributes) The only time these parasites take a minute to have a human emotion is to care - unfortunately, it's only to care about how much worse they can
make things.

I found it interesting that Nancy owned and had target practice with all of those impressive weapons. Someone sharp enough to comply with the current gun laws. Yet, she couldn't control a son
with Asperger's Syndrome. She had been telling friends that Adam was out of control and the house was in chaos. She probably did what many do with problem kids - keep putting off a solution for
one more day - hope and pray things get better. However, when one does that, you are only buying time... and usually making the problem worse.

Eventually, the problem will solve itself if left unmanaged/poorly managed... and then the ultimate result is what we have here today. 20 dead kids from 5-10 shot execution style for NO REASON.

The only reason was locked in Adam's head that he blew off... and it probably only would have made sense to a psychotic. His reason was a non-reason. A Hollywood nonsensical fantasy. A cheap Quinton Tarantino horror flick playing out in his head.

Little problems become global ones if left unchecked. Thank you Nancy for spreading the love around. I know you loved Adam - but he hated you to death for it. RIP lady. I am pretty sure you
didn't want it to end this way. ::MonkeyWaa::

Anybody who could harm a child - needs to immediately have their right to breathe card revoked. You are vermin - you are to be hunted. Your body and mind, it's gone empty. God Bless the little ones and their families in gut-wrenching pain out there tonight!

No words can express my sorrow. CBB's prayer brought tears to my eyes all over again. Carpe's words are right on.

Everyone wants to jump on the knee jerk reaction to ban guns -- that is not the underlying issue. It's the decay of the psyche of America, the decay of the family (and family values) and the general desensitization of our youth from movies and video games that is causing this evil to spread. I certainly understand the calling for a ban on guns -- it's the "caring, compassionate" thing to do -- it makes total sense on the surface. However, it is not quite so black and white. The genie is already out of the bottle -- when you out law guns only the "outlaws" will have guns! Then where are we?!?

Maybe these Hollywood liberals so emphatic that we listen to their calls for banning guns should start with their OWN industry and refuse to make movies glorifying this mindless violence. -JMO

 ::crymonkey2:: 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/15/us/connecticut-school-shooting/?hpt=hp_t1
'Why? Why?': 26 dead in elementary school massacre
December 15, 2012

Newtown, Connecticut (CNN) -- The bodies of children and educators lay where they fell in a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school -- in classrooms and hallways -- as investigators worked to identity the dead early Saturday while piecing together the path of the gunman.
Twenty children and six adults were killed when the shooter opened fire Friday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School in a rampage that shattered the quiet of this southern New England town and left a nation reeling over the number of young lives lost.
Authorities were expected to announce the identities of the dead as early as Saturday morning, though the bodies could remain inside the school until as late as Sunday, said Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police.
 ::snipping2::

Three weapons were recovered from the school: a semi-automatic .223 Bushmaster found in a car in the school parking lot, and a Glock and a Sig Sauer found with Lanza's body, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said, on condition of anonymity.
The weapons were legally purchased by Lanza's mother, said the official, who was not authorized to release details of the case to the media.
After killing his mother, investigators believe Lanza took her guns and made his way to the elementary school. There, dressed in black fatigues and a military vest, according to a law enforcement official, Lanza reportedly targeted two classrooms of kindergartners and first-graders.
How he got into the school remains a question as the doors were locked. At about 9:30 a.m., as announcements were read over the loudspeaker to the nearly 700 students, the first shots reportedly rang out.
 ::snipping2::


 ::crymonkey2::

Inside a classroom, Vollmer was still reading to the children when police officers banged on the locked door.
The kindergartners were told to line up and cover their eyes as they were led by police past bodies, presumably of their fellow schoolmates, Vollmer said.
As reports of the shooting made their way around town, frantic parents descended on a nearby firehouse where the children had been taken.
 ::crymonkey2::   

When I first saw the news of the shooting, my hands were shaking so hard I had difficulty starting this thread. The initial news was absolutely horrifying.   ::MonkeyNoNo::  I'm still trying to process this, to begin to comprehend... 

My heart and prayers go out to all those involved and affected by Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.   ::MonkeyAngel::

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57559381/sandy-hook-victims-identified-bodies-removed-from-school-overnight/
Sandy Hook victims identified, bodies removed from school overnight
December 15, 2012

(CBS News) The bodies of all of the deceased victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting were positively identified by early Saturday morning, according to Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance.

Vance shared new details regarding the ongoing investigation Saturday on "CBS This Morning: Saturday," confirming that the families of the victims have been notified, and that the victims' bodies were removed from the school overnight.

"Our objective certainly was to positively identify the victims to try to give the families some closure," he explained. "Our detectives worked well through the night. By early this morning, we were able to positively identify all of the victims and make some formal notification to all of the families of the victims."

Vance added that the removal of the bodies "has been accomplished. That was done overnight, " he said. "We worked very closely with the medical examiner who was on the scene to expedite the process and were able to accomplish that.

"Now state police detectives are continuing the investigation within the building and on the exterior of the building and will continue to do so."

Questions remain about the relationship of shooter Adam Lanza's mother, who was also killed Friday. "We haven't discussed that publicly as of yet," Vance said, explaining that those details are "part and parcel" of the ongoing investigation.
 ::snipping2::

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/15/15926718-victims-bodies-identified-as-connecticut-town-seeks-answers?lite
Victims' bodies identified as Connecticut town seeks answers
December 15, 2012

Authorities said Saturday they have identified the 20 children and six adults massacred by gunman Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and removed the bodies from the school.
The families of the dead were gathered at a firehouse in Newtown, where Monsignor Robert Weiss said they were mostly concerned that the children had not suffered in their final moments.
“They were wondering whether the children knew what was happening to them, whether they were afraid,” he said.

 ::MonkeyTears::

Wielding two pistols and clad in black, Lanza, 20, rampaged through the small-town school Friday morning, apparently after shooting his mother dead at his home. He then shot himself. Several officials told NBC News that he shot the children at close range.
Newtown Police Lt. George Sinko said on TODAY it appears Lanza got into the 600-student school by shattering some glass near the doors.
 ::snipping2::
Officials initially misidentified the shooter to NBC News as Lanza's brother, Ryan. But a senior official later said that Ryan was nowhere near the shooting, is not believed to be involved, and is cooperating with the investigation.
Ryan told police that Adam has a history of mental illness, according to the senior official. Yet the motive for the mass killing was a mystery.
The weapons used in the attack were legally purchased and were registered to the gunman's mother, two law enforcement officials said. Two 9mm handguns were recovered inside the school. An AR-15-type rifle also was found at the scene, but there were conflicting reports Friday night whether it had been used in the shooting.
 ::snipping2::
Most of the bodies were found in two rooms in one section of the 600-student school, which goes up to the fourth grade.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/article-2248197-168579C1000005DC-946_634x452_zpsb298a54b.jpg
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/article-2248197-168579C1000005DC-946_634x452_zpsb298a54b.jpg)

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — First, he killed his mother.

Nancy Lanza's body was found later at their home on Yogananda Street in Newtown — after the carnage at Sandy Hook Elementary School; after a quiet New England town was scarred forever by unthinkable tragedy; after a nation seemingly inured to violence found itself stunned by the slaughter of innocents.

Nobody knows why 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his mother, why he then took her guns to the school and murdered 20 children and six adults.

But on Friday he drove his mother's car through this 300-year-old town with its fine old churches and towering trees and arrived at a school full of the season's joy. Somehow, he got past a security door to a place where children should have been safe from harm. ::snipping2::
http://news.yahoo.com/routine-morning-then-shots-unthinkable-terror-034139544.html

I was so crazy yesterday I made a error this school is 44 miles away from us
We need police at our our schools this NO TIME for CUT backs

School gunman was troubled and shy, neighbors and classmates say

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/autistic_loner_explosion_l4kSMDgX2pADJyjxx1G4mI

::snipping2::

How does socially awkward translate to what happened? I hate to say it but there had to be signs that this kid had gone way over to the dark side.

From this mornings news conference in Newtown, CT: (Sat 12/15/12: 10:15 am ET)

All victims have all been identified, no names yet ready for release. When they are it was requested that the media (all) please respect their privacy for the tragedy that they are currently going thru.

This is still a crime investigation and many questions will not be able to be answered by authorities.

Three major crime teams in the community investigating the shooting.

Evidence from primary crime scene (school) and secondary scene (the Home) produced good evidence to determine why the crime took place. No details provided.

From this mornings Police news conference in Newtown, CT: (Sat 12/15/12: 10:15 am ET) cont ...

No motive provided yet, investigators still working on it and evaluating the evidence.

The shooter forced his way into the school. (forcible entry, he was not allowed into the school) Details of how the shooter did this was not provided.

No other arrests were made in association with this crime.

How sad, I can't watch anymore.

I have to wonder how this young man spent his days.  Where did he get the idea to do this?  Did he practice?

Did he play lots of action games?  Lot of computer games?  On-line games?  

When a violent mob attacks an embassy, kills Americans, the ABM admin blames a movie preview.  A man ends up in jail.

How many violent videos did this you man watch?  How many games did he play?  

Do these kinds of ideas come from no where?  I don't think so.

Any chance the video, movie, game industry will take any flack?

How many kids spend their days playing violent action games?

I agree that there had to be signs.  His mother purchased the guns and they were registered under her name.  I'm thinking she purchased them for protection against him.  What a bad decision she made in getting those guns knowing he was a lose cannon.

Conn. Gunman Recalled as Intelligent But Remote

The 20-year-old man is believed to have killed his mother and gunned down more than two dozen people, 20 of them children

By Jason Keyser and Pete Yost
|  Saturday, Dec 15, 2012  |  Updated 8:36 AM ES

(http://media.nbcnewyork.com/images/654*368/722-lanza+copy.jpg)

Family and friends remember Adam Lanza as many things — intelligent, nerdy, goth, remote, thin.

Now the world will always remember him as a mass murderer. The 20-year-old man is believed to have killed his mother, gunned down more than two dozen people, 20 of them children, at a Connecticut grade school and committed suicide.

He might have suffered from a personality disorder, law enforcement officials said.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Adam-Lanza-Connecticut-Gunman-Elementary-School-Shooting-Massacre-Killing-183631291.html

Police think they have a picture as to why this happened ...

During this mornings police press conference in Newtown, CT they referenced that they have evidence to put together a reason and a motive as to why all this took place. I am guess that this kids computer was a treasure trove of info and he, if he is what all are saying, nerdy, intelligent, gamer, etc ... I probably wrote in great detailed account what he was planning, an itinerary and what he needed to commit the crime.

You do not commit a crime like this unless you are a psychopath, narcissist and want to go out in a blaze of glory.

If he was such a smart kid, compulsive, had personality disorders and no soul ... that is a terrible make up that creates killers w/o a heart.

Victims in Connecticut massacre ID'd as police find 'good evidence' at shooter's home

By LIA EUSTACHEWICH in Newtown, Conn. and GARY BUISO and LARRY CELONA in NY
Last Updated: 11:34 AM, December 15, 2012
Posted: 11:13 AM, December 15, 2012

The unhinged gunman who slaughtered 26 children and adults yesterday in a elementary school arrived with guns blazing — blasting his way into the building, according to Connecticut State police.

“He was not voluntarily let into the school at all,” Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said at a Saturday morning press conference outside Sandy Hook Elementary School, where Adam Lanza unleashed one of the worst massacres in US history before committing suicide.

“He forced his way into the school.”

 ::snipping2::

Read More:  http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/victims_found_horrific_connecticut_jNTUicqZejDtIdc6G24mUJ

It's so sickening and shocking that this madman killed lil children, but to kill his own mother too?  And why did she need an a semi-assalt weapon, along with 2 hand gun?  I am dying to find out what LE have found.  I feel bad for his father and brother as well at this point, until proven otherwise.  There had to be a reason his brother didn't talk to him for 2 years. I wonder if the father communicated with him much?    Oooohhhh, so many questions and the wait is frustrating. I can't even imagine what the families of these victims are going through.  May God hold them tight and comfort them!  I will continue to hold them up in prayer......

I also forgot to mention how truly touching CBB's prayer was.  So sincere and thoughtful, as usual.  God Bless you CBB!

Newtown, CT Police Press Conference: 12/15/12 … Gunman Forced His Way into School … Police Lt. J. Paul Vance State they Have Recovered Good Evidence to Explain Why Adam Lanza Went on Elementary School Shooting Rampage Killing 26, Including 20 Children

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2012/12/15/newtown-ct-police-press-conference-121512-gunman-forced-his-way-into-school-police-lt-j-paul-vance-state-they-have-recovered-good-evidence-to-explain-why-adam-lanza-went-on-elementary-sc/

::snipping2::

I wonder whether we will ever get a full picture into the mind of evil. We try to find logic to the illogical and the unspeakable.  Sadly, it will provide little comfort to the parents of those who lost their children.

My hear weeps.

Thank you carpe...thanks for that post.  So so sad...so so true.  I see it everyday people putting the important off...hoping the issue at hand will fix itself.  It is so scary...another line was crossed yesterday...soon there will be a new line again crossed...oh, what will it be that leads to the new line being made?  That scares me.  Our priorities are all wrong and all messed up in America.

Carpe and Labubske, so true. It WILL happen, it's just a matter of when and where.  It keeps getting more frequent.  I do respect Anderson Cooper for refusing to use the name of the suspect, only uses the victims, as it should be.  These sickos look at it as fame, "how can I do it bigger and better?"  Tick Tock....   

I was actually in the midst of writing a post on "What Happened to my Country". Sadly, what happened yesterday in the small town of Newtown, CT, a town very similar to the one I grew up in, will be added.

It is a commentary of both social and political changes that have unfortunately transpired. The small post that I had started turned into pages and pages of words.

One small part of it that I had wrote about prior to yesterday's tragedy was discussing my youth and elementary school. What happened to the days when a bunch of kids could walk or bike to school without the threat of a child predator preying upon them? What happened to the innocence of my youth where all a kid had to worry about was whether Jenny in the 3rd grade thought you didn't have cutties and whether you were going to be able to play kickball during recess because it looked like it was getting cloudy and might rain. Sadly, the dark clouds that children of today experience is quite different today.

What happened to my country and my Elementary School that once allowed Christmas pageants and the singing of caroling, yet today it is deemed mean and evil. However, when tragedy hits so many look to God and answers as to how such an act could take place. So we only want God in our schools when evil occurs? God is to be given praise during the good and the bad. Maybe we might want to rethink this ridiculous nonsense caused by a few and the ACLU taking God out of our schools. No one is saying make prayer mandatory, but to remove every aspect of God has obviously not served us well. No one can tell me what we grew up with in the past harmed non-belivers.

I do not buy the fact that this always happened, we just did not have a 24-7 news cycle to hear about it. There was news, eventually you would get the news, it just may not have been immediately. I don't buy that it is all about guns. Sorry, but I grew up in a time when we could actually bring them to school as we had target shooting. I was partaking in markman classes in the 5th and 6th grade.

However, getting back to the story at hand ... what happened to my country where my Elementary School did not have to be in lock down like San Quentin prison during a prison riot? Do you remember a time when you did not have to line up in an endless row of traffic to let your child off and pick them up from school? What happened to my country where you could just walk into your school, walk up the stairs, go to the principles office or to a classroom and visit your child? When did schools become the "Killing Fields"? I am not referring to inner-city schools that sadly have had issues for decades, I am talking about suburbia and country schools where the only thought of using a gun was to go rabbit or squirrel hunting or target practice?

What has happened to our society? Where did all this hate come from?

Hopefully, I can finish this post soon. Maybe the answer might be to put it out in chapters, as it is turning into a novel.

No link, but on CNN they just stated they found out the suspect attempted to purchase a gun 3 days before, but didn't have proper paper work.  Also found 3 guns around him, unlike just 2 and 3rd left in car.

Maybe thats why he had his brother's ID, because it would be hard to believe that a nutjob like this could pass the back ground check questionaire if he told the truth.

What is Asperger syndrome?

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/detail_asperger.htm

I'm imposing my own feelings here but I would want my child's remains away from that scene as soon as possible. I hope that happens very soon. I heard some disturbing comments last night that I'm praying aren't fact. There are reports that the rifle was left in the car and that the shooter was found with two handguns. I know nothing about guns, but the commentator was saying that if that was the case, then he would have had to re-loaded, even if he had "extended cartridges" (whatever that is). That scenario would mean that after he killed the teacher and some kids in that classroom, he would have had to stop amidst the children he had killed and those he was about to kill, to re-load. I want those assumptions to be wrong and for the commentator to be wrong about that. My God, these were babies. They had never encountered wickedness. They were the innocents in our world. There just is nothing that can humanly be done for those children at this point, but my heart aches for their families. You can't turn off your parental instincts in an instant and they need to be able to offer respect for those broken little bodies. The shooter is dead; there won't be a trial, surely photographs and videotape could serve a purpose here so that the families can receive the remains and get those children away from that scene.

There will be much discussion about gun control. I'm fine with the discussion but if that's the only discussion we have, then we'll never make real progress. I keep wondering why anyone who is so miserable to want to end his own life, feels compelled to take others with them? Maybe the media needs to look in the mirror and discuss the publication of the name and picture of the shooter. Is "going out in a blaze of notoriety" part of that decision? I want a media policy so embedded that even the sickest mind will know that his potential victims will become known, but he will forever remain insignificant. I can affirm that when a concerned family member contacts legal authorities about a fear that a family member may be a danger to himself or others, the criteria for action is a concrete threat or specific behavior that constitutes an offense. "Worry" will get you no help.

I'm getting older, so my experience is now buried in times that seem foreign today. I grew up in a time where we bowed our heads before a meal at home and at public school. The idea of inner strength through humbling yourself before a greater good was part of life during formative years. I was encouraged to embrace differences in beliefs and was honored to celebrate Passover with Jewish friends who were also honored at school. As students, we were educated about the rich traditions and practices of other religions through them. Neither they, nor I, were offended by Christmas trees or Menorahs. The lasting impact was respect for belief in something bigger than our ourselves that was centered in love, accountability, and eternity. There was a commonality of definition of right and wrong and those things were valued and taught as much as math and reading. As I said..... I'm getting older, but I believe that makes a difference. We can change a lot of policies and laws, but we neglect the change of heart that is transforming. We are still so accepting of turning to God to help us cope after a horrific event such as this. Last night, the community was drawn to a church to make sense of it all. Media, commentators, parents and police all asked for prayer. Does it require such a leap to consider that perhaps that ultimate answer should be sought before an outcome such as this? The shooter was once a child in a classroom similar to the one he entered yesterday. Would my childhood experience have given him some meaning to life that he lacked? I don't know that answer. I do know that it has shaped my own life.

The families of the children are in my heart and prayers as are the families of the teachers that lost their lives. I pray for their healing. I pray for this country's healing. We need help. The children need help.

Gosh, Red. You were writing yours as I was writing mine. I have the feeling we went to school together.

Another report just coming out on Fox News (no link), that his mother did NOT have any relationship to the school.  Possibly a friend who worked thier?   Hmmm Interesting, if true, what sent him there?

Nancy Lanza, Murdered Mother of Sandy Hook Elementary School Gunman Adam Lanza … Not a Teacher or Associated with School?

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2012/12/15/nancy-lanza-murdered-mother-of-sandy-hook-elementary-school-gunman-adam-lanza-not-a-teacher-or-associated-with-school/


 ::snipping2::

Amen and Amen.

Thanks Red, I missed the FP.  Many rumors to come until they begin releasing real information.

Most gracious God – receive these our prayers.  We admit that it is difficult to be silent and to focus – especially during this season – but Father, we have been stopped where we stand as we try to envision the pain, suffering and sorrow felt by so many in Sandy Hook.  We pray for the gift of light.  We do need light, O God; for we are a people who walk in darkness – living by trial and error, stumbling, groping, hoping, failing, falling – sometimes it feels like we are walking in circles to avoid our fear of the darkness.  We have tried to generate our own light – using our minds and our best resources to make sense out of life.  We have written laws to protect it – and us, we’ve called councils and composed creeds to uphold it, and we’ve lived by following our own ways.  But – hard as it is to admit – our light is not enough.  The evidence can be seen in the taking of innocent lives by people who feel alone, afraid and unhappy with the darkness closing in.  God, forgive us.  Turn us on to the Light of Life, the Light of the World, whose coming we celebrate as the gift of Christmas . . . let us receive it.  Gentle God, you know us and all about us.  Help us to know you and all about you in new ways that will allow us to receive Your Light.  We pray in the name of the one who brought us Light for our paths, Jesus our Redeemer.  Amen and Amen.

AMEN! and God Bless!

By Miguel Llanos, NBC News
A day after the Newtown massacre, gunman Adam Lanza’s motive – and any personal demons – remained a mystery.
Lanza, 20, was identified by authorities as the black-clad killer who fatally shot his mother, gunned down 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and then committed suicide on Friday.
His older brother told authorities Lanza had a history of mental problems, but the nature of them was not clear. Former classmates remembered him as a brainy and quiet teen who sometimes wore a pocket protector.
Tim Arnone told Reuters that he first met Lanza at Sandy Hook and attended Newtown High School with him, where the two were members of a technology club. He said Lanza was "driven hard" to succeed academically by his parents, particularly his mother.


Nancy Lanza and her husband, Peter Lanza, divorced in 2008, according to public records. Peter Lanza could not immediately be reached for comment but has spoken to police. ::snipping2::

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/14/15911025-authorities-id-gunman-who-killed-27-in-elementary-school-massacre?lite


Every News Station is reporting something different I just heard that he went to the school a few says ago to speak with 4 teaches  they would not let him in so he went back shot out the glass and killed three of the teachers one was not in school that day will look for a link for that

CNN is reporting Lanza had six guns - three more than previously thought. It is believed he used three at school including a Bushmaster assault rifle, while police have now found three more rifles at the second crime scene.  ::snipping2::

 Lanza tried to purchase a rifle earlier this week at a store in Danbury, Connecticut, according to NBC News. He was turned down because he didn't want to undergo a background check or abide by the state's waiting period for gun sales, officials said.  ::snipping2::



Officials say Lanza was involved in an argument at the school which involved himself and four other staff members. Of the four, three were murdered in the shooting spree while the fourth was not at school yesterday and is now being interviewed by federal and state investigators.
  So much more at link ::MonkeyNoNo::





http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9746267/Connecticut-school-shooting-live.html

This has lots of good info.

Why did the mother bring him target shooting when he had issues?

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/adam-lanza-20-deeply-disturbed-kid-article-1.1220752

There are pics of the weapons he used and how many shots come out in seconds from the weapons

The medical examiner just said the 7 children he worked on had all been shot more than once.  Two of them shot at close range.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

*all seven were shot with the rifle.

Newtown gunman's mom took son to shooting ranges

By FRANK ROSARIO in Newtown, Conn. and DAN MacLEOD in NY
Last Updated: 3:27 PM, December 15, 2012
Posted: 11:13 AM, December 15, 2012

She crafted a killer.

The mother of the monster who slaughtered 20 children was a gun nut who took her troubled son to shooting ranges.

“She'd take them to the range a lot. … Nancy was an enthusiast -- so much so that she wanted to pass it on to her kids,” said her former landscaper, and occasional drinking buddy, Dan Holmes.

“She took her two sons to the gun ranges quite a bit to practice their aim. She was a really great shot from what she told me. Whenever I finished work and went inside to chit chat, she spoke often about her fascination with firearms. Nancy had an extensive gun collection and she was really quite proud of it.”

 ::snipping2::

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/victims_found_horrific_connecticut_jNTUicqZejDtIdc6G24mUJ

Exactly.  The mother knew what her son was capable of.

I can't even imagine what those last seconds were like for those children.   ::crymonkey2::

I was taking out pie plates and bottles by the age of 10 - with parental supervision, of course. Where we lived and the time frame... it's just
what you did. It was like riding a bike or going to swimming lessons. If I ever acted flakey --- that would have been the end of that. My parents
were constantly preaching about personal responsibility, the power of a gun and the value of human life. I knew (even at 10) it was for target practice and only
to be used as a last resort in an emergency defense scenario, to protect property and life.

If it is true - she knew Adam had mental issues and still trained him to shoot. That is what I call a pretty poor choice. eek!

THE VICTIMS:

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Madeleine F Hsu, 6

Catherine V Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnel l, 7

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison N Wyatt, 6

Davino Rachel, 29

Dawn Hocksprung, 47

Mary Sherlach, 56

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Lauren Russeau, 30

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/victims_found_horrific_connecticut_jNTUicqZejDtIdc6G24mUJ

http://www.khou.com/news/Names-and-ages-of-those-killed-in-Conn-rampage-183650781.html
Names and ages of those killed in Conn. rampage
December 15, 2012

Names and ages of the 26 people gunned down at a Connecticut elementary school Friday in the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history:

Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hochsprung, 47
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto,27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6
Source: Connecticut State Police

Happy holidays to all of those families---not!!

Can you even imagine the pain that this time of year will bring these families.

Can anyone tell me why we need weapons that shoot off multiple rounds of bullets per second? 

Is today the day we say enough is enough and start the process that other countries have done to minimize the carnage? Other countries have mental health issues, drugs, video games, breakdown of families.  What they don't have is tons of guns

 A big thank you to the prayers and kind words from CBB & Sister. I am still feeling very ill over the killings.

You words are soothing, healing ones. I need them at this time! Again, thank you both. ::MonkeyAngel:: ::MonkeyAngel::

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/nyregion/gunman-kills-20-children-at-school-in-connecticut-28-dead-in-all.html
Children at School Were All Shot Multiple Times
December 15, 2012

(2 pages)
All of the children killed by a gunman at a Connecticut elementary school were shot multiple times, according to the state’s chief medical examiner, who said that it was worst scene he had witnessed in three decades examining crime scenes.
“This is a very devastating set of injuries,” said Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, the chief medical examiner for the state. He said that it appeared that all of the children had been killed by a long rifle that the gunman was carrying, one of several weapons police recovered from the school.

Dr. Carver said that parents were shown photos of their children to spare them from seeing the gruesome results of the shooting rampage, which left 20 children dead, along with six adults at the school. The gunman, identified by law enforcement officials as Adam Lanza, took his own life and also shot and killed his mother at his home before going to the school. Dr. Carver said that they had not yet completed examinations of Mr. Lanza and his mother.

Dr. Carver said that in the seven autopsies he himself had performed, the victims had from 3 to 11 wounds.

With the examinations complete and the families informed, the authorities released the names of those killed.

They ranged in age from 6 to 56. Among the children, there were 12 girls killed and 8 boys. All of the children were in the first grade, officials said, and all were 6 or 7 years old. One little girl had just turned 7 on Tuesday.
 ::snipping2::
As families began to claim lost loved ones, there were new and tragic details about what took place in the school.

The principal and the school psychologist were shot as they tried to tackle the gunman “in order to protect her students,” the school superintendent said Saturday.

That was just one act of bravery during the maelstrom that emerged as the medical examiner completed the grim task of identifying the victims killed in Newtown.
More...

I dont ever judge people on appearance but i think this kid LOOKS deranged.

Father of gunman who opened fire inside a Connecticut school speaks out on tragedy

Published December 15, 2012

NEWTOWN, Conn. –  The father of 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who shot to death his mother in their home and then murdered 26 people at an elementary school before killing himself, released a statement on Saturday.

"Our hearts go out to the families and friends who lost loved ones and to all those who were injured," Peter Lanza said. "Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy. No words can truly express how heartbroken we are. We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can. We too are asking why. We have cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so. Like so many of you, we are saddened, but struggling to make sense of what has transpired."

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/15/at-least-26-dead-in-shooting-at-connecticut-school/#ixzz2FAm1WoMq

Get ready for the law suits. The more it comes out that the mother knew her son was a mental case and still surrounded the kid with guns ... her estate will be carved up among the victims families for contributing to the massacre. Who in their right mind puts guns in the hands of a kid that everyone thought was off and an accident waiting to happen? He should have been given meds and sent to a psychiatrist, not target practice.

Carpe, you're like a much needed hug. Thank you!

The more details that come out, the sicker I get. Some of the children were shot 10 times. My mind just doesn't wrap around or bend that far. Tears and prayers is all I have.

I'm not trying to be funny..... I have no humor around any of this, but honestly, when I saw this picture, I thought of Jeff Dunham's "Achmed, the dead terrorist".

I don't recall there ever being such a big story with so many inaccuracies reported that were later corrected. I heard, at one time, that the shooter had autism but don't know if that is reliable at this time. I've also seen it reported that the Mother took her children to the firing range, but later heard on CNN that no one has managed to find a firing range to confirm it. I think it's now confirmed that the Mother recently stopped working and a co-worker said it was to "take care of" her son. Autism can cause outbursts, but not this kind of violence. The shooter was 20 and that's the right age range for males to develop schizophrenia, but that's just pure speculation with absolutely nothing to base it on. What has happened is never going to make sense. Murdered first graders will never be logical for any of us. Thank God!

wow target practice,gun collection,with a child/young man that by reports
had some type of mental disability/disorder

im confused over the gun issue,as how many he had/used,read one time
a rifle was in the car,then read he used a rifle to shoot his victims,and 2
hand guns,now six guns,how do you carry that many guns around,there
is something off. i cant put my finger on it, may be thats why the scene
is still secured

my condolences and sympathy for the town of new town connecticut

as the old saying goes $$ cant buy happiness,or fix all your probs,if im reading this article and others
correctly,all those $$,could have bought the help that Adam Lanza needed,maybe the reasons why
the fam/mom didnt want or look into the help at link,may be reveled later,just a sad,sad,tragic event

Sandy Hook mass murderer Adam Lanza, 20, 'deeply disturbed kid'
Lanza, who friends and officials said suffered from Asperger’s syndrome or a personality disorder, had a tortured mind.
 Comments (309)
By Matthew Lysiak , Denis Slattery AND Rich Schapiro / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Friday, December 14, 2012, 9:55 PM
Updated: Saturday, December 15, 2012, 12:13 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/adam-lanza-20-deeply-disturbed-kid-article-1.1220752

most of these residential care facilities,are private pay several do take ssdi
some possible help at link
http://artausa.org/

if anyone reading here,are in a situation,where they think there is no help,you have to keep
looking its there,i dont have the answer as to why it is so hard to find sometimes,with all the
billboards and ads, you wouldnt think it would be, so tough sometimes, to get help
maybe start here
http://www.nami.org/

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/12/far-left-groups-defeated-connecticut-mental-health-protection-laws-just-months-before-shooting/

Far Left Groups Defeated Connecticut Mental Health Protection Laws Just Months Before Shooting

I ran across this earlier in my reading.  For years I've been saying that our country has ignored the Mental Health Care system.  Would this type of law helped?  Who knows.  But, having the option there might help other families.

About 6 months ago I was involved in a case of a woman who joined a group I'm involved in.  It was obvious there was something 'different' about her.  She didn't come off as scary.  But she wasn't able to interact with others in a normal fashion.  She called several of us one day telling us 'good-bye' and led us to believe she was going to harm herself.  She has only a handful of family members living many states away.  She hasn't spoken to them in years.  We were able to get her into a hospital for a 72 hr stay.  But, legally, she couldn't be kept any longer unless her doc deemed it necessary.  He didn't.  So, after 72 hrs she's back and she's po'd.  We were all fearful.  After contacting the local mental health facility, we were told that there would be two ways to have her committed.  1) She had to hurt someone.  DUH!  2) She had to have two relatives that would sign her into a hospital.  She a train wreck waiting to happen.

We have to make major changes to our Health Care System in the US.  We have too many mentally ill people filling up prisons, homeless, or suffering in silence.  We have too many families running themselves ragged trying to cope with a loved one who won't take meds, won't see a doc, or won't admit there is a problem.  Sometimes, people really want to help, they just don't know how.

Oh, and one other problem....here in my state there is a shortage of beds.  I was told that the typical waiting period for a bed in a long term (30 day) psych ward was 14-21 days.  WHAT????

The criteria is the same here in TN as well, KittyMom. Unless a person will actually verbalize his direct intent to harm himself or others and has a plan of action that he is willing to also share, then he can be in an emergency room, brought by a concerned family member, and simply walk out the door. He may have made those threats to the family member, but even that is no assurance he can be held against his will. Law enforcement can do nothing until a crime has been committed. There's almost always a shortage of psych beds in any facility accepting Medicare or Medicaid. The reimbursement doesn't cover the cost of supplying the service. Outpatient mental health services is a money pit for clinics accepting Medicare and Medicaid and many private insurances offer minimal, short term reimbursements as well. The liability insurance for accepting psych patients is also very costly. 

This didn't spring out of nowhere on Friday. He was in the school system until the mother withdrew him and home schooled him. His medical records and the school records will never be released unless there is a lawsuit against her estate. This family had the means and the resources to get him help. Before he was 18 he must have been under the parents health care plan. The Dad had a big job and I assume with the best benefits available.
My own opinion is that Nancy Lanza tried to protect her son and took on the role of enabler.
I am in Canada and we have our share of ill persons. He was over 18 with no visible means of support. We don't know if she tried but having those weapons in the house was a decision she made and look at the result.
We have mass murderers but not to the same extent on a per capita basis. If we were each allowed to have assault weapons in our homes, it would be worse. I have no need for a gun. Person I know who hunt have them. Else I do not know anyone who has a gun except for LE. 

Completed list

CHILDREN

Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06, female (age 6)

Daniel Barden, 9/25/05, male (age 7)

Olivia Engel, 7/18/06, female (age 6)

Josephine Gay, 12/11/05, female (age 7)

Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06, female (age 6)

Dylan Hockley, 03/08/06, male (age 6)

Madeleine F. Hsu, 07/10/06, female (age 6)

Catherine V. Hubbard, 06/08/06, female (age 6)

Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05, male (age 7)

Jesse Lewis, 06/30/06, male (age 6)

James Mattioli, 03/22/06, male (age 6)

Grace McDonnell, 11/04/05, female (age 7)

Emilie Parker, 05/12/06, female (age 6)

Jack Pinto, 05/06/06, male (age 6)

Noah Pozner, 11/20/06, male (age 6)

Caroline Previdi, 09/07/06, female (age 6)

Jessica Rekos, 05/10/06, female (age 6)

Avielle Richman, 10/17/06, female (age 6)

Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06, male (age 6)

Allison N. Wyatt, 07/03/06, female (age 6)


 ADULTS

Rachel Davino, 7/17/83, female (age 29)

Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65, female (age 47)

Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60, female (age 52)

Lauren Russeau, 1982, female (age 29)

Mary Sherlach, 02/11/56, female (age 56)

Victoria Soto, 11/04/85, female (age 27)
snipped
http://news.msn.com/us/names-of-victims-in-connecticut-shooting-released

Here is a another, but similar view of him. If it had not been for what he did, I'd feel sorry for him.  I wonder how much his mother had an impact on him.  This by NO means is an excuse for what he did or make the tragedy acceptable, it's still sad and sick! But what was the underlying reason? Mom pushing a son who had Aspburger's? I saw another child on Jeff Probst who had his condition of where she couldn't feel anything physically and how she had to live.  I remember a monkey here who said they had a son with Asberger's condition. Was he teased alot? Like I said, if not for what he did, I'd have some sympathy.  I'm just trying to wrap my mind around this.

By NBC News staff and wire services  http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/15/15933406-connecticut-school-shooter-was-very-nervous-around-people?lite   12/15/12

Updated at 8 p.m. ET: A picture of Adam Lanza slowly emerged Saturday, as acquaintances said his behavior included pressing up against walls to avoid others and clutching his briefcase. Investigators, meanwhile, said they hoped that "very good evidence" found at his home would shed light on what pushed him to kill 26 children and teachers as well as his mother.

Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said Saturday that investigators had found "very good evidence ... that our investigators will be able to use in painting the complete picture, the 'how' and, more importantly, the 'why this occurred.'"



Adam Lanza
 
But he would not elaborate and the mystery deepened as education officials in Newtown, Conn., said they had found no link between Lanza's mother and the school, contrary to news reports that said she was a teacher there.
 
 ::snipping2::--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Investigators said they believe Lanza, 20, attended Sandy Hook Elementary many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there on Friday.

Lanza shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at the home they shared, then drove to the school in her car, forced his way inside and opened fire in two classrooms, authorities said. Within minutes, he killed 20 children, six adults and himself.

 ::snipping2::

His father, who learned about the shooting from a reporter at the Stamford Advocate, said in a statement that he was in a "state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can." Lanza said he has cooperated with law enforcement and will continue to do so.

Meanwhile, acquaintances described the former honor student as smart but odd and remote.

"We would hang out, and he was a good kid," Joshua Milas told The Associated Press. He said he had not seen Lanza in a few years. "He was probably one of the smartest kids I know. He was probably a genius."

"(His mother) pushed him really hard to be smarter and work harder in school," Tim Arnone told Reuters. He first met Lanza at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

"He was very different and very shy and didn't make an effort to interact with anybody" in his 10th-grade English class at Newtown High School, Olivia DeVivo told the AP. DeVivo, now a student at the University of Connecticut, said Lanza always came to school toting a briefcase and wearing his shirt buttoned all the way up.

"Now looking back, it's kind of like 'OK, he had all these signs,' but you can't say every shy person would do something like this," she said.

 ::snipping2::
 
Novia said Lanza had extreme difficulties relating to fellow students and teachers, as well as a strange bodily condition: "If that boy would've burned himself, he would not have known it or felt it physically."

Lanza would also go through crises that would require his mother to come to school to deal with them. Such episodes might involve "total withdrawal from whatever he was supposed to be doing, be it a class, be it sitting and reading a book," Novia told the AP.

When people approached Lanza in the hallways, he would press himself against the wall or walk in a different direction, clutching his black briefcase "like an 8-year-old who refuses to give up his teddy bear," said Novia, who now lives in Tennessee.

Even so, Novia said his primary concern about Lanza was that he might become a target for teasing or abuse by his fellow students, not that he might become a threat himself.

"Somewhere along in the last four years there were significant changes that led to what has happened Friday morning," Novia said. "I could never have foreseen him doing that."

 ::rhino:: 

The more I read about the mother the more angry I become.

Mother shared her gun obsession with school shooter Adam Lanza

By FRANK ROSARIO, PEDRO OLIVEIRA JR. and DAN MacLEOD
Last Updated: 8:25 AM, December 16, 2012
Posted: 12:49 AM, December 16, 2012

(http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2012/12/16/news/web_photos/nancy_lanza--300x300.jpg)


The shooter’s aunt, Marsha Lanza, told ABC News that Nancy bought guns for protection because she was living alone.

Holmes recalled, “I remember one time she brought a nice case out, and when she opened it up, she pulled out this beautiful old rifle.”

“It looked really beautiful and old. She was really proud of that one. She would just smile when she looked at it.”

 ::snipping2::

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/mother_made_kid_slay_madman_ojfQG64P9S35iQz9x3BmTJ

She wanted a gun for protection.


This type of gun should not be made available to the public. Only law enforcement should have access to guns like this.

This woman was becoming unhinged since her divorce.  Who the hell was she expecting to invade her home that she needed a weapon like this.

I am so sad about this. These kids are the same age as my youngest and my two nieces. We live in a small town much like this one. With that being said, I have no problem with guns - I own one and my husband owns several. Some are for hunting and some are for personal defense. All of our guns are secured. Mine, even when with me, is either locked in a special gun safe that is teathered to my car and fingerprint activated, or on my person. My kids have all shot guns. They all know the dangers. They know things die when shot. They have seen animals killed by guns. I have a rule that if you kill it, I cook it.

That being said, I would love to see teachers trained to carry weapons and actually have them. We have no problem with guns in banks, stores and courts. Is anything in any of those locations at precious as the children we send off to school each morning?  Why not protect them in the same way we protect "things"?  I know many people are afraid of guns. That is fine, do not get trained and own one. I know some people do not feel guns belong in schools - bad news, they are still there. I have a sister that works at an inner city school - the kids bring guns, knives and other weapons weekly. All I would ask is that the playing field be level with the good guys having a gun. Training should be MANDATORY but available. JMO

San, I think that what was partly thinking when I wrote my post above.  I think she is partly to blame. Again, if not for the shootings, he seemed like a lost little puppy.  I wonder what/how he turned into a monster.   Mom certainly was no help, even though people are making her out to be a great mother by staying home with him due to his condition. WTF was she teaching him?

OK, I am bout to go on one of Red's rants ... I realize that some may not agree, but there is a greater issue out there.

The situation in Newtown, CT  is a greater issue than taking away guns. I am sorry, but I think Our Founding Fathers knew more than us and the present day politically partisan hacks in Washington. They had a greater perspective as a whole of society and the formation of the United States and what was important. There is a reason why the 2nd Amendment, is just that, 2nd and the greatest right we have is Freedom of Speech, religion. If a right to bear arms was not all that important, it would have been #10. For those who say they were speaking about Muskets and not the guns of the 21st century, have little understanding of the work they did to form the US.

That being said, when you take away guns, only the criminals will have them. How you ask? I would ask the simple question, How's that War on Drugs going in America? It is obvious that we cannot legislate personal responsibility. Do you folks realize how many people own guns? Semi-automatics, hand guns, etc and none of them go out and kill people?

The fact that this sick kid had access to his parents gun is an issue. How do we stop a sick and twisted kid from taking his parent's legally registered guns? Say, he stole his mother's car and ran over 20 kids killing them ... would we be talk about banning cars? We already have laws on the books that prevent the mentally insane from legally purchasing guns. Am I in favor of a longer waiting period for a background check, sure. Do I believe  that gun owners should pass courses, yup. Maybe the question that needs to be asked on the gun back ground check is do you have an insane kid living in your home? But the guns are not the issue, in every case we have seen of a mass murderer, Columbine, VA Tech, Aurora CO, Gabby Giffords, etc ... we are witness to a nut job as the gunman.

I am a business project consultant by trade and work in the world of "root-cause" analysis. What this means is that when there is an issue, a team, department, business misses their goals, metrics or mission, its my job to figure out why. The #1 easiest and most common excuse why such things are missed is because they did not have enough employees. 99.9% of the time that is never the reason when applying root cause analysis. Thus, a knee-jerk reaction to just blame guns is about as productive as rasing taxes on the so-called rich is the answer for our spending problems in DC. (that story is for another day).

This is all going to be a part of my "What happened to my Country" post (novelette). There are so many things that are involved with these callous, desensitized, anti-social, psychopaths than just guns. We have always had guns in this country, something has happened lately that we are breeding some real whackos in these past generations.

On a personal note, I had my first Daisy BB gun in the 1st grade, Cross-man Air rifle at age 9, .22 caliber rifle at age 11, 4-10 gauge shot gun age 12, .22 handgun age 12, 9mm hand gun age 13, .30-06 rifle 15. Not once during the use of any of these guns did I think of mass murder. Back in the day we were taught gun safety in Elementary school. I was considered a marksman status by the 8th grade. Would it surprise you to know that my friends and I over the years have owned AK-47's and AR-15, both semi-automatic assault weapons. Today, I am more into my Glock hand guns.

I believe in the 2nd Amendment and with the way the country has got, I am sorry but I would rather have the ability to protect myself than depend on others. Let's face it, if there is a robbery, assault, etc, what ever happens is going to happen until the police show. At that point the damage is done. Like what happened in Newtown, CT ... once the police showed on the scene, all the shoots had been fired and all had died.

There is a reason why I hold a carry and conceal permit and that is is God forbid I, my family, my friends or if I am out in public and am presented with a nutjob like Adam Lanza ... he would not be killing anyone.

The point I am trying to make here is that 99% of Americans are law abiding and responsible gun owners. We cannot compare the streets of Chicago and Philly and the gang violence to mass shootings in Newtown, CT or Aurora, Co. To do so is being completely ingenuous. You are never getting the guns out of the inner cities. It is too easy to get them illegally. However, if we really want to look at why such heinous acts of violence occurred in Ct that sadly killed 20 precious 6 and 7 year old's, then we need to be honest and take the politics out of the situation.

Its not about guns, its about the fact that we have raised a generation of troubled and disturbed boys that have mental illness and desensitized to killing where they think killing kids is like shooting inanimate objects. No one can tell me that the advent of VIDEO games like "Call of Duty" are not part of the problem. However, its not the only problem. It becomes a "Perfect storm" of disaster when you put a loner, anti-social, mentally-ill together with violent VIDEO games, no parental supervision, no sense of right and wrong, no moral compass, no religion and access to a gun because we either do not take mental illness serious in this country or we have apathetic people just standing by and calling someone a ticking time bomb and then say they are not surprised when they kill.

We cannot think that we can protect everyone from evil at the expense of our Liberties. This is much like terrorism. We have to be right 100% of the time, the sick SOB's like Lanza have to get it right just once.

Making a gun illegal is just not the answer. I believe that if we believe as a Nation that out children are our greatest national treasure, then we also need to protect them as such. Why do we have armed guards in banks and trucks that take $'s from one place to another? Because they are protecting assets. Our children are our greatest assets, its about time we start spending more money on them and less on Teachers Unions pensions. Its about time we spend more money on the protection of our children and less on buyer books like Heather has Two mommies, teaching elementary kids about sex ed and maybe teaching kids at a younger age that there is a such thing in life called failing and not getting an award for finishing 10th. We have created a generation of kids who cannot seem to cope with issues that confront them.

Its not about gun control, its about self control and what happened in our country to create so many boys with no souls and black hearts? No one can say that we have not had guns since the founding of our Country. What needs to be looked at is how we have developed a generation of sick and twisted males who have no regard for human life. And I thought that taking dodge-ball out of schools was the answer to not making people feel bad about themselves.

In a phrase ... What has happened to my Country?

I haven't been able to post because this horrific crime has made me physically ill. I have read and want to thank everyone for voicing how I feel but haven't been able to express.

This mother sounds like she should have had help along with her son. Who in their right mind would bring guns into the home and have her son learn to use them in his mental state. I believe she was an enabler of her son. Making excuses for him. Instead of trying to get him help. The system has failed big time. We need to bring back mental health hospitals rather than let the families try and take care of their loved ones that have mental health issues. All my opinion.

Like all of you I just can't wrap my head around way he had to shot the babies multiple times. May God be with all the families from Sand Hook. From the ones that lost their babies and families members to the community that will have to deal with this horrific crime.  ::MonkeyAngel::
 ::MonkeyTears::

You are more than welcome!

Red, I agree with you.  The teaching of respect for others and ourselves, the teaching of morality, the teaching of manners, the teaching of self-worth and earning what you have and caring for it, the teaching of how to be a parent . . . the list is endless.  This should be taught in the home where the main responsibility of parents is instructing their children on how to live a balanced life.  It's not happening anymore . . . parents want to be their children's friend and not their children's parent.  I could go on and on . . . but I fervently believe it all begins at home.  I am who I am because of what my parents taught me.  I am one of the blessed.

Conn. gunman killed self when he heard first responders coming; police 'confident' they'll be able to 'answer all questions'

POST STAFF REPORT
Last Updated: 12:15 PM, December 16, 2012
Posted: 11:05 AM, December 16, 2012

NEWTOWN, Conn. — Connecticut's governor says the elementary school gunman committed suicide when he heard first responders coming.

Speaking on ABC's "This Week," Gov. Dannel Malloy said Adam Lanza shot himself as police entered Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Malloy's comments raise the possibility that Lanza had planned an even larger, more gruesome massacre.

Malloy also reiterated that Lanza shot his way into the locked school.

"He used a weapon to open up the glass and then walked in," he said. "He discharged to make an opening and then went through it, went to the first classroom, as you know, went to the second classroom."

"We surmise that it was during the second classroom episode that he heard responders coming and apparently at that, decided to take his own life," Malloy said.

Malloy offered no possible motive for the shooting and a law enforcement official has said police have found no letters or diaries left behind that could shed light on it.

Later this morning, Connecticut state police Lt. Paul Vance told members of the media he was "confident" that police will be able to "answer every question possible" after their investigation is complete.


 ::snipping2::
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/conn_gunman_killed_self_when_he_EJlNKI5yHBQAdMVFKps4GJ

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=13854.msg1548667#msg1548667

Yes Red, I agree with you.

  ::rhino::
::rhino::

from info gleaned so far,there was no way anyone could have  prevented adam lanza,from doing what he did,except maybe his mother,but it looks like she wasnt paying attention JMO
why bc,adam and his mother had no,direct contact/in the lanza home, from friends and fam,adams brother,hadnt spoke with adam since 2010,and ill bet ryan and his father only had contac by phone,email,with mom,so there was no way for anyone that could have intervened,to know what
was happening in the home

red i agree,the gun laws are not the prob, im not in favor of monkeying with our constitution,
anyway shape or form we the people of the united states of america,have the greatest democracy ever seen and practiced in the history of mankind,we the people need to make it keep working

bottom line.................personal responsibility,in all aspects of your life

Nancy Lanza feared son, Adam, was ‘getting worse’; told friend ‘he was burning himself with a lighter’


54-year-old who is believed to be the first victim in horrific shooting rampage said ‘she was having trouble reaching him,’ pal says

By Matthew Lysiak AND Stephen Rex Brown / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, December 16, 2012, 1:28 PM

Less than a week before her son would launch his horrifying attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School, gun-loving mom Nancy Lanza knew "she was losing him" and that "he was getting worse."

A drinking buddy of Lanza told The Daily News that her son Adam had long been troubled and rarely came up in conversation.

"She just looked down at the glass and said, 'I don't know. I'm worried I'm losing him,'" said the bar pal, who did not wish to be named, of the ominous conversation at the bar My Place in Newtown, Conn.

"She said it was getting worse. She was having trouble reaching him."

Adam, who authorities say killed Nancy Lanza, 54, before unleashing a nightmarish attack that killed 20 schoolchildren and six others Friday, was prone to hurting himself, the drinking buddy said.

"Nancy told me he was burning himself with a lighter. In the ankles or arms or something," he recalled of a conversation they had about a year ago. "It was like he was trying to feel something."

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/nancy-lanza-feared-son-adam-worse-article-1.1221505#ixzz2FF5QHhom

First of all, I completely agree with what Red said  -- so I won't add to that thought at all.

What scares me is this nonsense about the world ending on the 21st. Anyone with a lick of sense knows it is preposterous. It is not the people with a lick of sense I am worried about -- it's the mentally unstable people out there (and there ARE quite a few) who this triggers all their irrational thoughts and actions. Since Friday morning we are already seeing unusually high number of incidents. I pray all rational people take extra notice of the people they know who are on the fringe this week and get them the help and supervision they need!!!

unbelievable more nuts coming from the woodwork ::MonkeyShocked::

Newtown church evacuated due to unspecified threat during noon mass
 .By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 1 hr 2 mins ago.

 ::snipping2::
Updated at 2:20 p.m. ET]
 
NEWTOWN, Conn.--St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, where President Obama was expected to attend a service later Sunday with the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, was evacuated during its noon mass due to an anonymous threat made by phone.
 
"I'm going to kill everyone there. My friend didn't finish the job," said the caller to the church, according to Washington Post.
 
Yahoo News was nearby when patrolmen and SWAT officers surrounded the church with weapons drawn.
more
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/newtown-church-evacuated-due-unspecified-threat-during-noon-182416799.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57559450/in-wake-of-school-massacre-conn-authorities-warn-against-social-media-frauds/
In wake of school massacre, Conn. authorities warn against social media frauds
December 16, 2012

NEWTOWN, CONN. Connecticut authorities complained Sunday that false information about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school is being promulgated online by social media tricksters. And they warned that such misinformation is prosecutable under the law.
"Misinformation is being posted on social media. People posing as the shooter, mimicking this crime and crime scene and criminal activity, some things in a threatening manner," said Conn. State Police spokesman Paul Vance.

In addition to people pretending to be the shooter or other principals in the investigation, Vance said other posters are putting up information purported to be from the Newtown city police or the Connecticut state police. Neither of those agencies are posting information via twitter or other social media, he said.

"All info related to this case is coming from these microphones," he told reporters at a press briefing in Newtown Sunday morning.

Vance said he considered the misinformation a "violation of federal law and warrants an investigation."

 ::snipping2::

Video at Link

Comments

Sorry but I have to disagree with many of you in that I don't see any reason for assault weapons with the ability to put 11 bullets into a 6yr old child to be legal.  I do believe in the right to bare arms but what is the reason for these types of assault weapons other than to kill as many people as you can as quickly as you can.

I'm sickened by this event as all of you are.

We can all probably agree that assault weapons do far more harm than good. I just don't think you can put the genie back in the bottle. You can ban them all day and and all night, but that won't reduce them one bit from those that would use them to inflict them against innocent people. It may be trite to some but the phrase: "When you outlaw guns ... only outlaws will have guns" still rings true.

I agree with everything you wrote.  If murder were truly the fault of the tool used, then none of us would have a knife in our possession. 

As for blaming the mother...how do we know that this woman wasn't doing everything in her power to help her son?  How do we know that he did not have a sudden psychotic break or have taken some drug that had a horrible impact on his mental state?  The fact is, we don't know.  And why was this woman alone in dealing with her son.  The older son, Ryan, tells LE that he hadn't interacted with his brother since 2010.  WHY?  Did the dad spend anytime with Adam?  When Adam was a child, did Dad invest in his upbringing?  Was mom alone in caring for this boy?  I cared for my m-i-l before she died of Alzheimers'.  So many days I could barely drag myself off to bed before waking after only a couple of hrs because my m-i-l suffered from sundowning.  Once she got to the point that we couldn't manage her medically at home anymore, she would be verbally abusive with the hospital staff.  She cussed.  Words I'd never heard her say.  She would threaten to hit them.  She'd never done that before.  Maybe Adam had never acted aggressive or violent ever before.  Given the description of him by his tech club teacher, he sounded like he had an unreasonable fear of people.  WE JUST DON'T KNOW! 

Human nature has us looking for some reason for this.  We think that if we can just find someone or something to blame we can make sense of it.  But, like so many other situations, sometimes we may not ever truly know what happened or why.  Sometimes we just have to have faith that God has everything under control.

This is part of what I am referring to when its not just about guns. There are some sick twisted people out there who hide behind their keyboards and the lash out in a grand way to fill their narcissist ways. In some respects its the underbelly of the Internet and the dark side. Prior to social media these losers only had themselves to talk to. Now they have the world. These people and the crazed mass murderers have no sense of responsibility or consequences of actions.

Hopefully they will be prosecuted.

............ also, the "assault weapon" was not used the shootings, it was 2 hand guns. Insane is insane, no matter what the weapon.

when i said earlier,something wasnt right,and cant put my finger on it
well that something may be in adams several puters JMO
im wondering if adam chatted online,and found like minded people,who
pos could have egged,suggested things to adam,and his weird mind went
wild with it, JMO

Gunman’s computers may be key in Connecticut school shooting investigation
By Jason Sickles, Yahoo! | The Lookout – 2 hrs 6 mins ago
 ::snipping2::
NEWTOWN, Conn. — Alleged school shooter Adam Lanza reportedly occupied two bedrooms in his family's sprawling suburban home, one where he slept and another to stash his computer equipment.
 ::snipping2::
"If he visited certain websites, they are going to glean whatever information they can from that and see what it means," said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly. "Does he have friends he communicates with online? Was there a fight with somebody?"
 ::snipping2::
While the gunman is thought to have acted alone, the law enforcement source said a deep dive into Lanza's computers could provide more clues.
 
"You don't know if this kid was put up to this by somebody else," the source said. "You don't know if there was a conspiracy of sorts. You don't know if there wasn't somebody who wasn't goading this kid on."
 
Family and friends say Lanza suffered from a personality disorder and that his mother, whom he killed just prior to the school shootings, struggled with her troubled son.
 
"Has he been seeing a child psychologist throughout his lifetime? Was he on medication?" the law enforcement source said. "These are a zillion logical who, what, whey, why, where questions that need to be answered. They need to be asked without any fear of any stigmatism … and you can't be politically correct in asking those questions."
 
Nor should the public be shy about discussing whatever is learned about Lanza's life and what prompted him to act, forensic psychologist Kris Mohandie told CNN.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/gunman-computers-may-key-connecticut-school-shooting-investigation-174438304.html

This is confusing.  I've seen reports that the assault weapon was found inside the car.  I watched the medical examiner give a presser where he said that out of the 7 victims he'd examined, they were all liked with a rifle. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/higher-education/medical-examiner-sandy-hook-victims-shot-by-rifle/2012/12/15/78cf63e8-fe84-4f9b-ad20-5aff1e178c78_video.html  So, which was it?  I heard a reporter say that even if he had extended clips, he still would have had to reload.  Hopefully, we'll soon have some answers.

I agree with San on this

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57559336/conn-school-shooting-what-we-know/#postComments
 
 ::snipping2::

You know, as I do you, we would do anything to find the right way to protect children. I have dealt with guns my entire life and I know that by merely passing a law does not solve the problem. Drugs are supposed to be illegal to in the US. Well, except in some dope smoking states. I know very well from past statements by politicians that they want all the guns, not just assault weapons. This would be their foot in the door. Sadly and sickly, if some one wants to bad enough, a killer could have inflicted just as much damage with a hand gun with multiple regular clips.

I will use the statement that I do when we talk about child predators and how politicians, ACLU and the MSM deal with it.

When a child is touched, they say, well at least she was not molested.
Then when the child is molested, they say, well at least she was not raped.
Then when the child is raped, they say, well at least she was not killed.
Then when the child is killed ... they are all outraged at how such a thing could ever take place.

I look at this terrible situation in Newtown, CT the same way. How could any punk that was capable of murdering 20 precious children not have shown the signs. There is no way that some one who is capable of such an sick and twisted act could walk around in a normal manner. At some point, neighbors, friends or their damn parents need to blow the whistle on them.

We ask how could such a thing like this happen? It happens when good people do nothing. It happens when a mother who knows she has a screwball for a son has accessible guns. The question I ask is would we be talking about this today had the mom been more responsible, not just with the maintaining of her guns, but dealing with her son? Or would he have found a way to have got then any how? This kid was so sick that I think he would have found a way to kill.

That being said, I like you am just sickened by this and have been devastated. Especially when I know that area so well and is identical to where I grew up as a child.

I cannot even imagine what it is going to look like there next week with the crisscrossing of child funerals.

God Bless them all.

I really hope the following does not happen, but these people are so hateful ... I am sure they will descend upon Newtown, CT with their special brand of vile hate.

Westboro Baptist Cult Plans on Protesting Sandy Hook Elementary School Funerals
http://scaredmonkeys.com/2012/12/16/westboro-baptist-cult-plans-on-protesting-sandy-hook-elementyary-school-funerals/

 ::MonkeyNoNo::  Haters.

Wow, amazing and well written account from The Hartford Courant. Its actually almost too difficult to read. ...'A Methodical Massacre: Horror And Heroics'

http://articles.courant.com/2012-12-15/news/hc-timeline-newtown-shooting-1216-20121215_1_school-psychologist-classroom-special-education-teacher


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 ::snipping2::


 ::snipping2::

One problem I have always had with the Constitution... is the "All men are created equal" line. Cuz buddy, I mean to tell ya, there has never been a bigger line of BS, ever.

Some "men" choose to walk around with a Grand Wizard attack of Darth Vader bowl haircut, carrying a black brief case, running from people in the hallway,  sitting up in their mammy's house playing patty cake and World of Warcraft computer games all day. Like Adam - that loon. ::MonkeyBike::

...and some men actually go to  ::snipping2::Supercuts ::snipping2::, or some such, ::santawink:: and go fishing... or play basketball, read a book, and grow and learn... and AT LEAST TRY, if not succeed, at becoming a productive member of society.

They can outlaw everything - but a majority will suffer, because most people can handle and cope with life... and some, like Adam, will just never make the grade. No matter how many laws they pass.

Wow, lol, not sure how to respond to that one.

I think all men(women) are created equal, that does not mean that all men(women) are equal.

I am with Klaas.  No one needs weapons that can exlpode many bullets per second.

Are we going to accept that this is life now?  Going to a movie, going to the mall,going to a church, going to a school?

I say we give a try like other countries have and limit the access to guns. Semi automatic. 

The handguns he had could blow bullets at a rapid rate.

I heard onn TV that he had a rifle in his trunk that had soe kind of drum on it that could shoot bullets at a greater capacity so he had other plans too.

If we start liiting them now, maybe we can make a difference in a few years.

I am sick of handwringing and heartfelt prayers.  I think people would rather have their little children waiting for Santa instead of planning for a funeral

Imagine if he didn't have that assault rifle.  Would he have killed as many.  6 bullets per second and he probably just kept pulling the trigger.

Anonymous, stikes again, wonder if they have files on nancy and adam too

Hackers target Westboro Baptist Church after Newtown threat

After church leaders announce plans to protest at site of school massacre, Anonymous posts the personal information for dozens of members of the extremist group, including names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers.
by Steven Musil
| December 16, 2012 1:05 PM PST
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57559468-93/hackers-target-westboro-baptist-church-after-newtown-threat/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-once-again-cast-in-role-of-comforter-in-chief/2012/12/16/661f183c-4791-11e2-820e-17eefac2f939_story.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-once-again-cast-in-role-of-comforter-in-chief/2012/12/16/661f183c-4791-11e2-820e-17eefac2f939_story.html)


By Steve Vogel, David Nakamura and David A. Fahrenthold, Updated: Sunday, December 16, 1:30 PM

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The gunman who stormed into an elementary school here Friday carried “numerous” high-capacity ammunition magazines for his semiautomatic rifle, as well as multiple magazines for two other guns, police said Sunday afternoon.

In all, 20 year-0ld Adam Lanza had hundreds of bullets with him when he shot out a pane of glass and entered Sandy Hook elementary school at 9:30 a.m. Friday. Police said that Lanza had used one gun--a “Bushmaster” brand rifle, whose design can be traced the M-16 weapon developed for U.S. troops in Vietnam--to kill 20 children and six adults inside.

 ::snipping2::



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glock)

 ::snipping2::

 The Washington D.C. based Violence Policy Center has branded Glocks as the "Favorite for Mass Shooters" and "efficient killing machines" [5]. Glocks reportedly were used in recent mass murders at a Connecticut elementary school, a Colorado movie theater, and an Arizona event attended by a member of Congress
 ::snipping2::

http://wtvr.com/2012/12/16/police-hundreds-of-bullets-fired-from-assault-style-rifle/ (http://wtvr.com/2012/12/16/police-hundreds-of-bullets-fired-from-assault-style-rifle/)

POLICE: Hundreds of bullets fired from assault-style rifle

Posted on: 4:40 pm, December 16, 2012, by Alix Bryan

(http://localtvwtvr.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/bushmaster.jpg?w=300)

(CNN) –The weapon “utilized most of the time” during Friday’s Connecticut school shooting was a Bushmaster AR-15 “assault-type weapon,” Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said Sunday afternoon.

Adam Lanza fired “hundreds of bullets” from “multiple magazines” from a Bushmaster “assault-style rifle” during Friday’s massacre at a Connecticut elementary school, said Lt. Vance.
 ::snipping2::

As I said earlier at great length, you better do a lot more than going after guns. If you ban guns, then the only people who will have them will be the criminals. That is just a fact. There is a reason why criminals head to "gun free" locations to cause crimes. So guns are bad and should be banned but a nutjobs rights are protected be privacy laws and the ACLU.

So you are saying that the Glock 9mm hand gun and others I own are illegal? That you would want to take it away from me? Not going to ever happen. That is where the 2nd Amendment comes into play. I will never allow that to happen and will fight to with all my being, because next will go my free speech.
http://www.glockmeister.com/9-mm/products/4/

We can agree to disagree, but I do not count on the government/police to take care of me or protect me. By the time they get to my home if an individual broke into me home, I would be dead.

This is what may of you who are not gun owners need to understand, the bad guys will bet their hands on guns. If and when they do and the commit a crime, you would be at the criminals mercy until the police get there 5,10,15 minutes later.

This is what I don't understand and why there is a difference. Schools are considered entities of the State and with the govt "no child left behind" rules, a function of the fed govt as well. Name me one State or Federal office that does not have security at it? Why does a Court House have security and not a school? The best way to keep those safe inside a building is keeping people out, not hoping you make sure some one never gets access to a gun.

I have worked in offices that performed govt contracts and it was mandatory that they have security.

I am just saying, that if we all agree that children's safety is paramount, why wouldn't we agree that schools should have security? Isn't this the exact reason why we put Air Marshalls on plane fights following 911?

Conn. State Police: Lanza had hundreds of rounds on him

Sunday, December 16, 2012

"All the weapons used had multiple magazines with about 30 rounds per magazine."

http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2012/12/16/authorities_search_f.html

Nice, Anonymous finally using their powers for good. Luv it. Their audio to WBC is priceless.

I agree with everything Red said except I agree with your point. My husband is a major hunter and has many guns and rifles, but NO assault rifles.  No need for them.  They are for the military and maybe LE only and should stay that way.  I agree our forefathers knew what they were talking about, but there were no assault rifles back then either.

im all for security in schools,even ones like sandy hook,this tragedy has taught us that
that only locked doors dont work,many schools across america have more than locked doors
the kids dont even have to see a guard,he/she sits in a video security room,and shows up
when a security issue comes up,and a metal detector wouldnt hurt either

you might want to bookmark this,we are prob, going to have to look at it, a lot in the days to come
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/images/charters_logo_for_exhibit_pages.gif
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters_of_freedom_1.html

Red, I am totally with you on this. They just don't want to stop until we are just like Europe... or NY city. Criminals do what they want.
Your big line of defense will be calling 911, unless of course they stole your cell phone too. Forget it. I don't want to live like that.
Might as well be a declawed house cat. ::HelloKitty::

The crazy people are out there and unfortunately, the Internet is partially to blame. These fools have been provided a platform for their insanity and social media makes these loser cowards bigger than they really are. Check out the latest loser who now finds himself arrest on making terror threats.

http://www.wkrn.com/story/20358041/columbia-19-year-old-arrested-for-making-threats-via-facebook


(http://wkrn.images.worldnow.com/images/20358041_BG1.jpg)

This guy might as well kiss his future and job opportunities bye, bye.

When we had the Tylenol issue, caps were changed on everything.

When the shoe bomb attempt happened, we have to take shoes off at the airport.

We can't bring any liquids except for tiny amounts on the plane.

Fertilizer is tagged.

I have been to many countries that do not allow guns.  Now there is true freedom. Try it sometime.  It's an interesting experience

Robbie Parker defines unwavering faith in God as he comes to term with the tragic loss of his precious Emily.  When I consider my 6 year old grandson ... I concede that I honestly do not know if my faith would sustained me.  Would I be reaching up for strength or would I be lashing out in anger?

Daniel 6:10 - Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

Roman 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 - Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Janet

+++++ 

Connecticut Shooting Tragedy: Robbie Parker
Father of Shooting Victim Emilie Parker offers condolences to the families affected by shooting.
06:20 | 12/15/2012
http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/connecticut-shooting-tragedy-robbie-parker-17986590

(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2012/12/15/emile-parker-4_3_rx512_c680x510.jpg)

Many of these other countries also do not have this thing called the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I really do hope that all of you realize that the Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments, were put in place not to protect us from each other but from the Federal Govt. It hardly gives me a warm fuzzy when the very people that Our Rights from who we are supposed to be protected from, want to take them away and we allow it.

 ::rhino::

Reagan on Gun Control and Self-Defense

<snipped>
 
Again, Reagan speaks to this fact:

"There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism -- government."

<snipped>

Read more:
http://theacru.org/acru/reagan_on_gun_control_and_selfdefense/

Reagan on Gun Control and Self-Defense

My thanks to blogger Mark Alexander and his Patriot Post for digging up this great quote from our last truly great president, Ronald Reagan, concerning gun control:

"You won't get gun control by disarming law-abiding citizens. There's only one way to get real gun control: Disarm the thugs and the criminals, lock them up and if you don't actually throw away the key, at least lose it for a long time... It's a nasty truth, but those who seek to inflict harm are not fazed by gun controllers. I happen to know this from personal experience."
It seems to me that Reagan would have known all too well how to relate to last week's massacre at Virginia Tech. After all, he said those words in 1983, after surviving John Hinckley's assassination attempt in 1981.

<snipped>

Read more:
http://theacru.org/acru/reagan_on_gun_control_and_selfdefense/

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Sandy-Hook-students-will-relocate-to-Monroe-4121610.php
Sandy Hook students will relocate to Monroe
December 16, 2012

NEWTOWN -- When Sandy Hook Elementary School students return to classes, it will not be in the building where 20 of their classmates and six staffers were killed in a rampage Friday.

Superintendent Janet Robinson announced Sunday that Sandy Hook students and staff will be relocated to Chalk Hill School in Monroe.

"It is located just across the border from Newtown and should be ready for occupancy in just a few days," Robinson wrote in an email. "We will be able to publish the exact date shortly."

Counseling will be available Sunday and Monday in two Newtown locations for students and adults as they deal with shootings in which a gunman killed 20 students and six staff as well as his mother and himself. Reed Intermediate School is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday and Monday to provide counseling and the Newtown Youth & Family Services Inc. is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday for emergency counseling at its office at 15 Berkshire Road. At both locations, walk-ins are welcome.

"Schools will not open Monday, because my staff wanted a little more time,'' Robinson said. "On Monday, the staff will come in. We have received so much assistance, it's been wonderful. There will be training for our counselors as well as sessions with our staff about how to help kids get through this awful event."

Tuesday will be a regular day for staff and students at Hawley, Middle Gate and Head O'Meadow elementary schools as well as Reed Intermediate and Newtown middle and high schools, Robinson said.

Additionally, an Interfaith service in the Newtown High School Auditorium is to be held at 7 p.m. Sunday.
More...

From the church service.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/tragedy-focus-love-children-love-guns-article-1.1221568

Things that make you go hmm, and get you upset by the faux concern when things could have been different.

For those of you who believe and have more faith in the politicians than I, Republican, Democrat or Independent, when it comes to their so-called sincerity about protecting children, you might want to read the following. Beware of those in positions of authority claim they are shocked and outraged, when behind the scenes, they may have pulled funding from programs that were meant to prevent such heinous acts like the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting from happening.

Before Connecticut tragedy, administration eliminated emergency preparedness program,let school violence prevention programs lapse
http://www.washingtonguardian.com/washingtons-school-security-failure

::snipping2::


 ::snipping2::


Read the whole article HERE.
http://www.washingtonguardian.com/washingtons-school-security-failure

This is where I think they want to take us, I think. As far as I'm concerned, Obama can keep sticking his finger in his eye to make tears.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/16/newsid_3110000/3110949.stm
 ::snipping2::
1996: Handguns to be banned in the UK
The British Government has announced plans to outlaw almost all handguns following the shocking massacre at Dunblane in Scotland.
 On 13 March Thomas Hamilton walked into the gym at Dunblane primary school and killed 16 young children and their teacher. He also injured 13 other children and three teachers. Hamilton, a former scout master, then shot himself.
 ::snipping2::

Shortly after they banned almost all guns - they then banned all guns.

If this happens - we will be just as happy as England is now.  ::MonkeyNoNo::

I enjoy their accents, very much... but they are declawed house cats.

Perhaps a bobby could question a perp into submission? ::hohohosanta::

Two-page article

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/connecticut-school-shooting-adam-lanza-mother-visited-gun/story?id=17992396

Connecticut School Shooting: Adam Lanza and Mother Visited Gun Ranges
Dec. 16, 2012

Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who killed 20 children and six adults in a rampage at a Connecticut elementary school, and his mother both spent time at an area gun range, ABC News has learned.
 
A Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesperson told ABC News investigators have determined Lanza did visit a gun range, but they have not determined whether he shot there.
 
Investigators have also learned his mother, Nancy Lanza, visited a gun range on multiple occasions, but they have not determined whether her son was with her during those visits, the spokesperson said.
 ::snipping2::
Lanza, who was described by neighbors and former classmates as being very bright, took six classes at Western Connecticut State University in 2008 and 2009, beginning when he was just 16, and had a grade point average of 3.26.
 
According to Paul Steinmetz, Director of University of Relations at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Lanza started at the school in the summer of 2008, took a couple classes that fall and then in the spring and summer of 2009.
  ::snipping2::
Lanza took courses in computer science, such as website design, the computer language called BASIC, and data modeling, as well as in philosophy, American history and economics.
 ::snipping2::
"Adam Lanza has been a weird kid since we were five years old," wrote a neighbor and former classmate Timothy Dalton on Twitter. "As horrible as this was, I can't say I am surprised."

In school, Lanza carried a black briefcase and spoke little. Every day, he wore a sort of uniform: khakis and a shirt buttoned up to the neck, with pens lined up in his shirt pocket.
 
A former classmate in his 10th grade honors English class, Olivia DeVivo, says he "was always very nervous and socially awkward."

She told ABC News that "he didn't really want to be spoken to" and that when teachers would call on him "it appeared physically difficult for him to speak."
 
Lanza avoided public attention and had few, if any, friends, though he was a member of the high-school tech club. He liked to sit near the door of the classroom to make a quick exit.

By TOM WELLS, Home Affairs Correspondent
 Published: 12/16/2012

The Sun

End the lunacy
 — Shock, fury and shame at America's Dunblane
— Obama: We're not doing enough, we must change



  ::snipping2::
 THESE are the innocents of America’s Dunblane — each smiling face a heartbreaking plea for the nation to give up its guns.

 President Barack Obama last night hinted he is determined to end the lunacy, speaking at a vigil for victims of Friday’s rampage by Adam Lanza in Newtown, Connecticut.

 He suggested he is considering a radical move to ditch America’s historic right to bear arms in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre.

 The President has come under pressure to bring in strict gun control laws after Lanza murdered 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

 And as he addressed a moving vigil at the High School in Newtown, Mr Obama suggested it was time for a fundamental change.


Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4701187/Calls-for-tougher-gun-control-laws-after-Newtown-school-massacre.html#ixzz2FHJ5U1Jp

Civil law is really not so far fetched.

you think you are violated at the airport now... just wait

Luckily, I don't need to fly with what I do. Some of those TSA airport people aren't fit to be slinging fries at Burger Hut.

I simply refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed person. My momma raised a gentleman! :smt111 ::MonkeyTongue::

I agree carpe...... but when is enough enough?? When do we just bow down to "authority"?

I have no problem with the authority part - provided the authority has trust and integrity behind it. Obama has none of these things. So, maybe another 4 years? Obama is doing enough bowing
to anything for every American, right now. At least it gives him a break from golfing for the time being?

i can see its really really bad,and just gets worse,how much of this is going on in
america

now we have a extremist supervising/teaching  a possible mentally challenged person

Mother of Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza 'was a gun obsessive living in fear of society's collapse'
Monday, 17 December 2012
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/mother-of-sandy-hook-gunman-adam-lanza-was-a-gun-obsessive-living-in-fear-of-societys-collapse-16251468.html

And more disturbing information...imo  ::MonkeyNoNo::

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2249185/Connecticut-school-shooting-Did-paranoid-gun-crazed-mother-trigger-Adam-Lanzas-school-killing-spree-Friends-say-believed-world-edge-collapse.html

Did paranoid, gun-crazed mother trigger son's school killing spree? Friends say she believed world was on edge of collapse
PUBLISHED:19:03 EST, 16 December 2012| UPDATED: 21:01 EST, 16 December 2012

 ::snipping2::
Mr Holmes revealed how Mrs Lanza – who divorced Adam’s father Peter, a wealthy  senior executive at a financial services company, in 2008 – never liked people to see inside her house.
 
‘I would ring the bell on the front door and she would come out the side and meet me,’ he said. ‘It was a little weird. It’s stranger now thinking back on what happened.’
 
As for her son, he was described yesterday as a ‘ghost’ – an autistic genius, according to former school fellows, but also a ‘deeply disturbed’ young man who was so withdrawn that even many of his closest relatives hadn’t set eyes on him for years.
 
It emerged last night that police are trying to repair a computer hard drive which was found shattered on the floor in the killer’s bedroom but which they believe may hold vital clues to his motives.
 
Friends who regularly played Mrs Lanza at a dice game said they too never managed to see the inside of her home.
Read more...

I'm struggling with how I feel about the issues being raised around guns. I don't know anything about guns, but have occasionally been aware that I would feel safer, at times, if I knew I had access to one. I am certain that mentally healthy citizens should have the right to own arms. I just don't understand any legal purpose for a private citizen to own an assault weapon, and I'm not trying to make a point by saying that, other than I really don't know of a reason. I'm willing to be educated otherwise. I know that there has to be a line somewhere because we'd all agree that we shouldn't be allowed to own a nuclear bomb, but I'm sure there are many steps between a hunting rifle or personal handgun and weapons of mass destruction, so since common sense dictates the degree to which a private citizen should be allowed to arm themselves, where should the line be?

I know exactly how I feel about other contributing factors. I believe that media should never publish the name or photo of a perpetrator in these incidents. That would interfere with the public's right to know, but I honestly believe it could serve as a deterrent. So many of these guys are loners, and it's not a huge leap to believe that when they decide to commit suicide, they want to find a way to get the attention they feel deprived of and are angry about. My hope is that if that possibility was taken away, they might just harm themselves.

I know that in the aftermath of a tragedy, media, politicians, and school administrations openly turn to prayer and God and call for others to join them. Do we have to endure such a gut wrenching event to embrace a higher purpose? Wouldn't it hold a real possibility of change if along with the mandatory sex education, tolerance awareness, and gender neutral issues, we had a small place for learning we are loved and given purpose by something greater than ourselves? Would it have made a difference to the shooter at Sandy Hook if he believed that?

I know of no other weapon that can truly be the answer for evil other than love. We take on so much responsibility within our schools that were once regarded as appropriately being taught at home so we can be sure that our children don't miss it..... but not this lesson. We have effectively marched God to the door of our schools and asked Him to leave. We were created with free will and God honors our choices. We have made it an infraction for players to pray before a school sponsored game, even if the students themselves choose to gather and attempt it. The closest answer to this massacre I have seen since it has occurred was from the most unlikely source; Saturday Night Live. They opened their show with a children's choir singing "Silent Night". I couldn't choke back the tears. That's change, however fleeting it probably is, and it was the first hope I'd felt since 20 first graders were slaughtered in their classrooms.

CBB - WELL SAID. I couldn't have said it all better! :smt041

You always put my thoughts into words so well.

I can not find the original source of this yet. If I do I will provide a link to give it the proper credit.

11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.
they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.
they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."
when what to their wondering eyes did appear,
but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring
those children all flew into the arms of their King
and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
and as if He could read all the questions she had
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe
then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"may this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"come now my children, let me show you around."
excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT.

 ::rhino::

(http://elfkat.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/wpid-18271_509235965773605_1651407421_n.jpg?w=714)

Adam Lanza’s babysitter Ryan Kraft stunned by mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School

Kraft babysat Lanza a decade ago. He recalls receiving ‘odd’ instructions from Lanza’s mother including ‘never turn my back or even go to the bathroom.’

By David Boroff / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

(http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1221854.1355754303!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/babysitter18n-1-web.jpg)

A man who served as Adam Lanza's babysitter 10 years ago noticed some unusual behavior from the boy, but never dreamed the child would become a mass murderer.

The memories came quickly back for Ryan Kraft when he heard the news that Lanza had gunned down 20 students and six teachers before taking his own life at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut on Friday. Lanza, 20, had started the killing spree that morning by killing his own mother.

 "Nothing went through my head," Ryan Kraft told KABC in Los Angeles. "I just got really sick to my stomach and I just couldn't think for a while. I was shaking."

Kraft, who now lives in Hermosa Beach, Calif., was a neighbor of the Lanzas a decade ago. As a teenager he was asked to watch over Adam Lanza when the boy was nine or 10, according to reports.

"His mom, Nancy, had always instructed me to keep an eye on him at all times and never turn my back or even go to the bathroom or anything like that, which I found odd, but I really didn't ask," Kraft told KABC. "It wasn't any of my business, but looking back at it now, I guess maybe there was something else going on."

Lanza was quiet, Kraft said, but occasionally acted up.

"When I had put him to bed early or stopped doing something, he would be really unhappy about it and throw a tantrum in a way that a younger kid I would normally expect to behave," Kraft told KABC.

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/adam-lanza-babysitter-stunned-sandy-hook-tragedy-article-1.1221855#ixzz2FKMN7F4M

Ronald Reagan – 40th President of the USA (1981-1989)

"There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism -- government."

See, the problem here is, the way the article is written and the way the babysitter is quoted imo implies something that may or may not be:  "His mom, Nancy, had always instructed me to keep an eye on him at all times and never turn my back or even go to the bathroom or anything like that, which I found odd, but I really didn't ask," Kraft told KABC. "It wasn't any of my business, but looking back at it now, I guess maybe there was something else going on."

When the sitter was told not to go to the bathroom or turn their back on the child, it could be because the child needed a lot of supervision, and not that he was some kind of threat to the sitter, as the article implies imo.   I had a son that I didn't dare take my eyes off either and yes, when he was young I took him in the bathroom with me, to keep him safe.  Hyperactive and/or impulsive children can take a whole lot of supervision, I know this from experience.  Our windows were screwed shut, our doors had keyed deadbolts. 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/relief-funds-set-parents-children-slain-sandy-hook-massacre-article-1.1221969?localLinksEnabled=false
Relief funds set up for parents of children slain in Sandy Hook massacre
Members of the Newtown community launched the ‘My Sandy Hook Family Fund’ to assist bereaved parents. So far the fund has raised $30k with a goal to reach $2 million.
December 17, 2012

A former Sandy Hook Elementary student set up the Sandy Hook Elementary School Victims Relief Fund to help the families of victims of Friday's massacre.
The parents of children who survived Friday’s deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School have set up a relief fund for the families of the 26 people who died in the massacre.
 ::snipping2::

List of different ways to donate in the article.

Video at Link

There is so much garbage being put out right now in regard to the Sandy Hook shootings and it's a shame.  I saw posts on some social media that were said to have been a statement from Morgan Freeman, with people asking others to pass it on.  As it turns out, Morgan Freeman didn't make the statement.  It was a hoax.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/morgan-freeman-denies-making-statement-school-shooting-013627371.html
Morgan Freeman denies making statement about school shooting
December 17, 2012

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Actor Morgan Freeman said on Sunday that he did not issue a statement blaming the media for sensationalizing the Newtown School shootings that left 20 children and several adults dead.
The award-winning actor added that he never made or posted the statement that became a Facebook and Internet sensation, saying it was a hoax.
His publicist Stan Rosenfield told TheWrap that the actor's camp was trying to determine the origin of the hoax statement.
 ::snipping2::
The hoax statement also takes CNN to task over its use of the phrase "body count" in relation to the Newtown shootings and said the news coverage would incite more killings.

(see article to view entire hoax statement)

http://fox4kc.com/2012/12/17/westboro-meets-its-match-thousands-sign-retaliatory-petitions/
Westboro Meets Its Match: Thousands Sign Retaliatory Petitions
December 17, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Thousands have signed two separate petitions that would classify Topeka’s Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group and strip it of its tax exempt status. The petitions were started after members of Westboro announced plans to protest a Sunday vigil in Newtown, Conn.
After Westboro Baptist Church spokesperson Shirey Phelps-Roper tweeted plans to protest the vigil, “to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgement,” the hacktivist group known as “Anonymous” threatened the church via video.
 ::snipping2::
In addition to the video, Anonymous hacked Westboro’s website and released personal information about church members including names, street addresses, phone numbers and email addresses according to CNET.
Anonymous didn’t stop there. Using its Twitter account, Anonymous has asked its followers to sign a petition that would investigate the IRS tax-exempt status of the church. As stated on the White House website, the petition claims: The Westboro Baptist Church is better-known for homophobic displays, suing people and picketing funerals than for providing Christian care to a community. Due to their harassment and politicking, their IRS tax-exempt status should be immediately investigated.
A total of 16,062 signatures are needed before the White House will review the petition. As of noon on Monday, nearly 10,000 people had signed it.
Another petition aims at stripping Westboro of its “religious” affiliation and classifying it as a hate group. As stated in part on the White House website, Westboro’s “actions have been directed at many groups, including homosexuals, military, Jewish people and even other Christians. They pose a threat to the welfare and treatment of others and will not improve without some form of imposed regulation.”
Over 108,000 people have signed this petition, which surpasses the 25,000 needed for the White House to review it.

There is a poll in the article, and you can vote yes or no to the question:

Do you think Westboro should be stripped of its religious affiliation and classified as a hate group?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/nyregion/security-increased-at-connecticut-schools-as-investigation-into-shooting-continues.html?google_editors_picks=true
Security Increased at Connecticut Schools as Investigation Into Shooting Continues
December 17, 2012

(2 pages)
 ::snipping2::
In briefings on Monday, Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police, said that investigators needed to talk to many witnesses, including two adults who were wounded in the lower extremities during the shooting at the school, and to analyze every round of ammunition and every detail of the weapons. But the authorities have been reluctant to provide details about the types of evidence they have retrieved from the crime scenes. Asked about reports that the authorities were analyzing a computer hard drive taken from the home Mr. Lanza shared with his mother, Lieutenant Vance declined to comment, but he added that computer specialists were available if needed to study such evidence.

Lieutenant Vance again emphasized that it would be a long process to deliver the answers that many longed to hear about the motive, but he said there was “no connection” between Mr. Lanza and the school, apparently countering earlier reports that Mr. Lanza had attended classes there.The authorities have said that Mr. Lanza arrived at the school with a far larger arsenal than he ultimately used. They said most of the shots were fired from a .223 Bushmaster semiautomatic carbine, a military-style assault weapon. Mr. Lanza was also carrying two semiautomatic pistols, a 10-millimeter Glock and a 9-millimeter Sig Sauer. A shotgun was found in the car. Given the extraordinary amount of firepower, Mr. Lanza was apparently prepared to kill many more people and may have been thwarted only when he heard the police arriving, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut said.

The guns were legally acquired and registered by Ms. Lanza, who had sometimes taken her son to shooting ranges, according to law enforcement officials and her friends. Mr. Lanza, who former classmates said had had a developmental disorder, lived with his mother.

Lieutenant Vance said on Sunday investigators recovered “numerous” empty 30-round magazines for the Bushmaster rifle. The .223-caliber bullet is a small, high-velocity round that has been used by Western military forces for decades, in part because it inflicts devastating wounds.

But for now, the plan was for normalcy to return as soon as possible to schools, although students at Sandy Hook will now go to school at another building in a nearby community and it was unclear when, or if, the building that had been the scene of such horror would reopen.
 ::snipping2::
While the police have not yet released a detailed timeline of the shooting, officials said on Sunday that Mr. Lanza on Friday first shot his mother multiple times in her home, then drove to the school armed with four weapons and a large supply of ammunition.
Some of the bullets fired inside the school, according to a law enforcement official on Sunday, “penetrated the glass windows of the classrooms and went into vehicles in the parking lot.”

In addition to multiple high-capacity magazines for the rifle, Lieutenant Vance said the gunman had brought a number of magazines for both pistols.

Collectively, he said, there were hundreds of unfired bullets.

Mr. Malloy said on Sunday that Mr. Lanza had killed himself as police officers entered the school.

“We surmise that it was during the second classroom episode that he heard responders coming and apparently, at that, decided to take his own life,” Mr. Malloy said on ABC’s “This Week.”
 ::snipping2::
Officials did not make any public statements about Mr. Lanza’s motivation. Lieutenant Vance said on Monday that there had been no prior concerns or contacts about Mr. Lanza with law enforcement before the shooting.

A post-mortem examination of Mr. Lanza and his mother has been completed, according to a statement from Connecticut State Police on Sunday. A spokesman for the state medical examiner’s office said late Sunday that nobody had yet come forward to claim their bodies.

When we allow the gov't to dictate what we can own we are in danger of falling off a freedom cliff that we won't be able to climb back up.  If Lanza had used a sword would we be banning all knives beyond a certain length?  If he'd used a metal bar would we ban all metal bars?  Its a slippery slope.

IMO, it boils down to mental health services.  We need a system that supports the ill and their families.  We need to have somewhere that families can go to when they've reached the limit of what they know to do.  We've gutted Mental Health Services to a point of hazard.  Banning guns is a band-aid approach to the real issue. 

Notice the disclaimer in the article I've bolded and colored blue. 


http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/17/15971544-lone-survivor-in-connecticut-classroom-mommy-im-ok-but-all-of-my-friends-are-dead?lite&google_editors_picks=true
Lone survivor in Connecticut classroom: 'Mommy, I'm OK, but all of my friends are dead'
December 17, 2012

Only one child made it out alive of a first-grade classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School last week — by fooling the gunman into thinking she was  dead, the family's pastor says.


The little girl, who is 6½ years old but hasn't otherwise been identified, "ran out of the school building covered in blood from head to toe, and the first words she said to her mom when she got outside was, 'Mommy, I'm OK, but all of my friends are dead,'" the Rev. Jim Solomon, pastor of New Hope Community Church in Newtown, Conn., told ABC News in a report that aired Sunday.
"Of those who were left in the classroom of first graders, she was the lone survivor," Solomon said. (Law enforcement officials and witnesses say seven pupils survived in a second classroom by hiding in a closet.)

The girl's parents were understandably relieved and grateful, Solomon said, but her mother told him "she was suffering from what she called 'survivor's guilt,' because so many of their friends no longer have their children, but she has hers."

Solomon couldn't be reached for comment Monday, and NBC News hasn't been able to verify his account.

http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/mental-health-benefits-state-laws-mandating-or-re.aspx
State Laws Mandating or Regulating Mental Health Benefits
Updated: December 2011
Mental health services have been one significant part of medical care for a number of years. However, the costs, coverage and availability of such services have been the object of policy discussions and a variety of state legislation. There is not a general consensus that state government should require coverage for mental health.  49 states and D.C. currently have some type of enacted law but these laws vary considerably and can be divided roughly into three categories:

More...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/17/neighbor-describes-taking-6-young-sandy-hook-survivors-into-his-home/
Neighbor describes taking 6 young Sandy Hook survivors into his home
December 17, 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121217/us-school-shooting-moment-of-silence/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage
Conn. gov calls for moment of silence Friday
December 17, 2012

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut's governor is calling for a moment of silence and churches to ring bells exactly one week after the shooting at an elementary school.
 ::snipping2::
Malloy is asking churches ring their bells 26 times to honor the victims.

Thank you Muffy. I wanted to post an excerpt from the article linked to in your post.
 
 ::snipping2::

"He says one little boy told him: "We can't go back to school. Our teacher is dead."

 ::snipping2::

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/17/neighbor-describes-taking-6-young-sandy-hook-survivors-into-his-home/

 ::MonkeyNoNo::

 ::MonkeyTears:: 

Bristol student arrested for making school threat
Posted: Dec 16, 2012 9:05 PM EST Updated: Dec 17, 2012 7:34 AM EST
By Steven Yablonski, Managing Editor - email
 
BRISTOL, CT (WFSB) -

As if the state hasn't suffered enough after a gunman opened fire inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton on Friday morning, shocking news was released Sunday night of a Bristol student that was arrested for allegedly making threats against a school.

Bristol police released a statement Monday morning and said the threat was made against Bristol Central High School by an unnamed student.

Bristol police said no one was in any danger, but police took the threat seriously and arrested the juvenile on threatening and breach of peace charges.

Police said two additional officers have been placed within the school due to the tragic shooting in Newtown on Friday.

The student told police the threat was a joke. ::snipping2::


http://www.wfsb.com/story/20358667/bristol-student-arrested-for-making-school-threat

This was today also


Suspicious man prompts lock downs in Ridgefield, Redding
Posted: Dec 17, 2012 9:17 AM EST Updated: Dec 17, 2012 11:45 AM EST
By WFSB Staff
 
RIDGEFIELD, CT (WFSB) -

A suspicious person near a train station in Ridgefield forced officials there and Redding to lock down schools Monday morning.

Ridgefield police said just before 8 a.m. they received word of a suspicious man wearing all black and may have been carrying a weapon near a local train station.

Police said schools in Ridgefield were locked down as well as in Redding.

Students en route to Branchville Elementary School were rerouted to East Ridge Middle School as a precaution.

After an investigation it was determined that there was no threat and the lockdowns were lifted before noon. ::snipping2::

http://www.wfsb.com/story/20361491/suspicious-man-prompts-lock-downs-in-ridgefield-redding



We have been getting a school lockdown a lot lately

This needs spread around more, for more sigs.  Maybe own thread?  The more the better

I agree Red, great rant!   ::MonkeyCool::

'Mommy, I'm okay, but all my friends are dead': Pastor recounts horror of 6-year-old girl who survived by playing dead as Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza massacred her classmates: report

Newtown pastor Jim Solomon said the girl came out of Sandy Hook Elementary School after the massacre covered 'head-to-toe in blood.'

She lived by pretending she was dead.

A 6-year-old girl survived by playing dead as Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza sprayed her classroom with bullets, killing everyone around her, a Newtown, Conn., pastor told ABC News. 

Pastor Jim Solomon, who counseled the girl’s mother in the aftermath of Friday's horrific mass shooting, told ABC News that the unidentified first-grader was the first student to emerge from Sandy Hook after the massacre, her school clothes soaked in her classmates’ blood.

“Mommy, I’m okay, but all my friends are dead,” the little girl said, according to Solomon.

The girl was the only survivor in a class of 16 people, according to ABC News.

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/first-grader-survived-playing-dead-article-1.1221997#ixzz2FMfVa06d

Thank God they found someone to take care of them and who could relate to the trauma they were dealing with.

I can't stand the wacko's of Westboro.  That said, once again, this is a slippery slope.  Who defines which 'church' is a hate group and which isn't?  Who updates the criteria?  We must be very careful to uphold the freedoms and rights that our forefathers set out years ago.  When we give those up, we are no longer the USA.  Westboro is a disgusting group.  But, even disgusting groups have rights and freedoms in this country.  You want to really hurt them?   Then go to the businesses that they use and boycott those businesses.  The banks, airlines, car dealerships, restaurants, clothing stores, the place that prints their disgusting signs.  To really hurt them you need to go after their wallets.  Who employs these cretins?  Go after those folks.  Take away their money and you take away their voice.

I've been told that the Patriot Riders will be guarding the funerals of the victims.  They've done it before and Westboro has backed down. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/17/nancy-lanza-peter-lanza-divorce_n_2316461.html

Nancy Lanza, Peter Lanza Divorce Documents Reveal Details About Adam Lanza's Parents


What do you do when everything you do just isn't enough?

Comfort dogs help ease pain of mourning Newtown community
 
Groups from across the country brought dogs, some of them therapy animals, some just caring pets, to help both young and old cope with their grief over the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.


By Jennifer H. Cunningham AND Adam Edelman / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, December 17, 2012, 6:47 PM

(http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1222290.1355786941!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/dogs18n-3-web.jpg)
Dogs comfort a little boy Monday -- three days after the Newtown, Conn. shooting.

 A pack of sympathetic groups bearing supportive canines spent much of Monday with bereaved Connecticut residents affected by last week's Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, providing children and adults alike with the cuddly comfort that only a four-legged friend can give.

The "comfort dogs," or "therapy dogs" as they are sometimes called, were brought in by at least three groups late Sunday to help kids and adults alike cope with last week's horrific shooting in Newtown that left 20 first graders and six school officials dead.

Among the groups was the Hudson Valley Golden Retrievers Club, whose members spent the afternoon at a makeshift memorial near the town center, where both kids and adults in need of compassion stopped to pet and cuddle the dogs.

(http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1222291!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/dogs18n-5-web.jpg)

Mourning or otherwise devastated children and parents said that petting the dogs gave them relief from their sadness.

"I just love dogs, so whenever I'm around them, they make me feel better," said 12-year-old Ryan Williams. "When they come over and you pet them you kind of forget about what's happening for a little bit."

Jenna Stuart, a school bus driver from Newtown, said the dogs were an enormous help to her four-year-old daughter, Kylie, who attends preschool at the Children's Adventure Center in front of Sandy Hook Elementary and lost friends in the tragedy.

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/comfort-dogs-helping-ease-pain-sandy-hook-tragedy-article-1.1222295#ixzz2FMvDDMLB

Video at link
Two-page article

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-connecticut-shooting-mother-alimony-20121217,0,2535929.story

Upset by divorce? Outsider? Seeking clues in school shooter's past
December 17, 2012, 12:52 p.m.

 ::snipping2::
Richard Novia, who formerly advised the Newtown High School tech club that was one of Lanza's few social outlets, said Lanza had been placed in a special program for students who were considered at risk of being bullied--though he had no recollection of Lanza ever being harassed.
 
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Novia said he was told that Lanza had a medical condition that hindered his ability to feel pain, so that if he cut himself or stubbed his toe, he might not even know he was hurt, and could continue to cause harm to himself.
 
Novia described a nurturing environment at the high school where teachers and students were encouraged to be on the lookout for signs of abuse or emotional trauma, particularly in kids like Lanza.
 
“We had programs in place to identify the students who would be likely to have been bullied,” Novia said in a phone interview. “I don’t know that he was [bullied] but I do know that when he came to middle school and the high school level, he would have been the type to be a target.”
 
Even during her son's elementary school years, Nancy Lanza fretted about his schooling.
 
"She was concerned mainly that Adam wasn't fitting in well in his classroom," said Wendy Wipprecht, whose son had also been diagnosed with a form of autism. She said Lanza was exploring moving her son to a private Catholic school, or home schooling him, but did not attend sessions of any of the local autism parents' support groups in which Wipprecht was involved.
 
"She may have decided that there wasn't a support group that would fit," Wipprecht said. "Who knows. She may have been overwhelmed."
 There is no mention of Adam Lanza’s emotional troubles or any domestic strife in his parents' divorce papers. Last week, Ryan Lanza told investigators that the divorce could have had an impact on his younger brother.
 ::snipping2::
Bergquist said her interest in shooting was not about self-defense. "It was mostly a hobby, a connection activity she could do with her son," he said. " Maybe, as disturbing as it seems now, it was something that he enjoyed and excelled and shared with his mother."
 
He said Nancy Lanza had been able to live comfortably with her alimony settlement, but said she had a strained relationship with her ex-husband, as did her sons.
 
"She never spoke very highly of her ex-husband," he said, describing the divorce as "less than amicable," although he wasn't sure why.

http://www.today.com/moms/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-another-moms-cry-help-1C7625059

'I am Adam Lanza's mother': Another mom's cry for help

Maggie Fox

Dec. 16, 2012 at 8:43 PM ET

Video: Liza Long, the mother of a mentally-ill teenager, writes that she worries some day, her son will also snap. NBC’s Lester Holt has more.

What is it like to live in fear that your child might hurt someone -- you, himself, or someone else?

No one can imagine what it must have felt like to be Adam Lanza’s mom, Nancy, who was among his 27 victims, or what his father is feeling right now. But Liza Long is afraid she has an inkling. In a powerful essay that's being shared across the internet, the Boise, Idaho, mom of four poured out her worries about her bright but disturbed teenage son.

"Every time I hear about  a mass shooting, I think about my son. And I wonder if someday, I'll be that mom," Long told NBC News in an exclusive interview.

There’s lots of speculation about whether Adam Lanza had some sort of mental health issue, but no firm facts yet. What is clear is that there are other agonized parents out there, trying to protect their children and, just sometimes, trying to protect the world from their children.

Written after Lanza shot 20 children and six adults to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday, Long's essay, first published on her own mom blog, has struck a chord, and it’s been picked up by dozens of other blogs.

Long writes:

I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.

A few weeks ago, Michael (not his real name) pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books. His 7 and 9 year old siblings knew the safety plan—they ran to the car and locked the doors before I even asked them to. I managed to get the knife from Michael, then methodically collected all the sharp objects in the house into a single Tupperware container that now travels with me. Through it all, he continued to scream insults at me and threaten to kill or hurt me.

...

We still don’t know what’s wrong with Michael. Autism spectrum, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant or Intermittent Explosive Disorder have all been tossed around at various meetings with probation officers and social workers and counselors and teachers and school administrators. He’s been on a slew of antipsychotic and mood altering pharmaceuticals, a Russian novel of behavioral plans. Nothing seems to work.

Locking up a 13-year-old can’t be the answer, she continues. But what is? Long writes:

I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am James Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys—and their mothers—need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.xojane.com/issues/a-response-to-i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-from-a-doctor-in-the-trenches-i-am-adam-lanzas-psychiatrist

"I AM ADAM LANZA’S PSYCHIATRIST": A RESPONSE FROM THE MENTAL HEALTH TRENCHES TO "I AM ADAM LANZA’S MOTHER"
Over the weekend, the viral blog post “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother” spoke to the complicated relationship of a mother to a potentially dangerous and mentally ill son. xoJane asked a psychiatrist to respond.
Anonymous
15 Hours Ago | 252 comments

 ::snipping2::

With all due respect, that is ridiculous. If this psycho had a knife or a bar he most likely would have had a hard time getting in for starters. If he had a gun or a bar theres no way that massacre could have occurred. Someone in that school could have taken him down & wrestled a knife or a bar away from him. He couldnt have slaughtered 26 people in 15 minutes. I would have had a good chance of being successful in a fight against someone with a knife or a bar even if i got slashed or hit hard with a bar. Im not arguing whether or not guns in general should be banned but there is absolutely no reason in this world that anyone but a law enforcement agent or a soldier needs a weapon like that. Ever. Maybe it would be prudent to make those who want to buy any gun go through a mental evaluation, a waiting period & a full evaluation of anyone living in their home or who can access those weapons. Im quite sure this kid wouldnt have passed a mental health test. This mother knew her son had issues yet she taught him to shoot & left him access to these weapons. Yes people should have a right to bear arms & defend themselves but a bushmaster is not required.
As far as the westboro baptist church being described as a religious group? Really? Not in my world. I dont see anyone who spews hate as a group i would associate with a religion other than that which follows satan. They are a hate group, plain & simple. In what religion would the killing of innocent babies be gods judgement or whatever that crackpot tweeted. Enough is enough with the freedom of speech bullcrap. These people dont deserve any freedoms. They are sick twisted & part of what satan has done to this world..

Beautiful tribute imo.   ::MonkeyAngel::

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO64urOFNaY

Hallelujah - The Voice
NBCTheVoice

Published on Dec 17, 2012
The coaches and artists pay tribute to the Connecticut shooting victims with Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."

Since the day I first heard about the shooter having autism, something kept bothering me. I knew he was 20 years old and also knew that 20 is right in the range for males to exhibit the onset of schizophrenia. It seemed to me that I had heard somewhere that there was some link between autism, even in mild form, and an increased possibility of schizophrenia. I asked at work today but everybody was too busy to find anything for me, so I just did an internet search, and there are lots of articles indeed on the topic. Bipolar disorder is also mentioned in some articles as seemingly having an increased occurrence when either condition is present. With all the misinformation that has been reported from media, I couldn't swear to the accuracy of it, but I did hear that the shooter had a personality disorder as well as asperger's. syndrome. Here's an excerpt from one article:

 ::snipping2::
But Judith Rapoport, chief of the child psychology branch at the National Institute of Mental Health and one of the researchers, sees a similarity. She's spent the past three decades studying how children's brain development is affected by disorders like schizophrenia. The brains of children with early-onset schizophrenia are much larger than normal in the first few years of life, for instance. Children with autism also have an unusual amount of brain growth before age 3. In this new work, she and her colleagues found that two places where variations in genes tended to cluster in people with schizophrenia were also more common in people with autism. "We're very excited about the link to autism," Rapoport says. "You have to see these as risk factors, very intriguing ones."

Rapoport is convinced that there are more genetic links between schizophrenia and autism, and the researchers are now going through their data with a finer comb, looking for more correlations—and, perhaps, stronger clues as to where the brain's path goes so grievously astray. There's no insta-cure here, alas. But having a clearer view of what the genes are up to makes it more likely that genetic diagnoses and treatments could someday be created. It also could help move the debate from arguing over whether there are environmental triggers for autism to finding them and coming up with ways to protect people who are genetically susceptible.
 ::snipping2::

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-parenting/2008/03/31/autism-and-schizophrenia-linked

and here:
  ::snipping2::

Definition

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses, and to behave normally in social situations..................

Childhood-onset schizophrenia begins after age 5 and, in most cases, after normal development. Childhood schizophrenia is rare and can be difficult to tell apart from other developmental disorders of childhood, such as autism.

 ::snipping2::
http://www.healthcentral.com/ency/408/000928.html?ic=506048

I have absolutely nothing to base a belief that the shooter was schizophrenic, it's just that I used to work in a community mental health center where we treated several persons with the diagnosis. One patient was ordered to receive treatment and evaluation there through our Psychiatrist while he awaited possible trial for homicide. He had been diagnosed as a child with mild autism. He killed his caregiver (Mother) at age 21 by crushing her skull with repeated blows by a baseball bat. Most of the staff preferred not to be around when he came for appointments (always scheduled at the end of the day) so I checked him in and took him back each time for them. After he would leave, I often had a chance to speak with the Doc about the case and there seems to be such remarkable similarities. She felt sure he had been misdiagnosed as a child and talked about the similarities and she believed there had been recent signs of worsening characteristics. The ongoing investigation proved her right.

I'm probably just trying to find an answer to something that we may never have an answer for. It's so hard to think of the Sandy Hook children and their families with no answers.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

Class picture, the girl in the middle is the one that pretended to be dead.I can not imagine losing all my friends at one time.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A-Xj5mJCEAAY1sx.jpg)

I did some reading yesterday on the Bushmaster. It's a semi-automatic. It's designed after a military weapon - but it is still technically just a rifle, right? One pull of the trigger - one shot. You can't just pull the trigger once and feed multiple rounds through it.

It looks very intimidating and can hold a lot of rounds - just like all of the handguns held a lot of rounds (30) in extended clips.

Please, correct me if I'm off on this. I am just not understanding why some are honing in on this rifle as the root of all evil.

When every weapon he had on him had roughly the same capabilities.

Gun sales surge after Connecticut massacre

By William La Jeunesse

Published December 18, 2012





 ::snipping2::

The previous assault weapons ban lasted from 1994 through 2004. It defined an assault weapon as any gun that was:

- semi automatic, meaning one round is fired per each pull of the trigger
 - used a detachable magazine

And featured any two of the following attributes:

- a folding or telescopic stock
 - a pistol grip
 - a bayonet mount
 - a flash suppressor
 - a grenade launcher

While the weapons look menacing, many gun advocates say they are no more deadly than some other guns that use a larger and heavier bullet. And since they are semi-automatic, they should not be called or confused with the fully automatic military version. Nor should a gun used by millions be outlawed because of the actions of a mentally ill young man.

Critics however say these high-power weapons, capable of firing multiple rounds quickly, are too dangerous, since their high velocity rounds can pierce most body armor and
 their magazines allow for mass shootings.

Yet, statistics show, unlike handguns or shotguns, rifles account for only a fraction of homicides in the United States. Of 12,664 murder victims last year, only 323 were killed with rifles, according to the FBI.

Both the Paducah, Ky., and Columbine, Colo., mass school killings occurred during the 10-year ban. In Paducah, the killer used a .22 caliber long rifle, 12 gauge pump-action shotgun and a Ruger MK II .22-caliber pistol. 

In Columbine, the shooters used 99 explosive devices, a 12 gauge pump action shotgun.  Hi-Point 995 Carbine 9 mm carbine, a 9 mm Intratec TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun, and a 12-gauge Stevens 311D double-barreled sawed-off shotgun.

In 2007, the Virginia Tech shooter used a Glock and Walther handgun to kill 32 and wounded 17.

More recently, AR-15s were used in the Colorado movie theater shooting, one last week in a Portland, Ore. mall and in the Newton elementary massacre.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/18/gun-sales-surge-after-connecticut-massacre/#ixzz2FPmGIRPx

From what I've read and been told (since I had the same questions), imo you're right.

http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html

Clackamas mall shooter faced man with concealed weapon

by Mike Benner, KGW Staff
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:18 AM
Updated yesterday at 11:52 AM

PORTLAND -- Nick Meli is emotionally drained.  The 22-year-old was at Clackamas Town Center with a friend and her baby when a masked man opened fire.

"I heard three shots and turned and looked at Casey and said, 'are you serious?,'" he said.
More: Gunman, two dead in Clackamas mall shooting

The friend and baby hit the floor.  Meli, who has a concealed carry permit, positioned himself behind a pillar.

"He was working on his rifle," said Meli.  "He kept pulling the charging handle and hitting the side."

The break in gunfire allowed Meli to pull out his own gun, but he never took his eyes off the shooter.

"As I was going down to pull, I saw someone in the back of the Charlotte move, and I knew if I fired and missed, I could hit them," he said.

Meli took cover inside a nearby store.  He never pulled the trigger.  He stands by that decision.

"I'm not beating myself up cause I didn't shoot him," said Meli.  "I know after he saw me, I think the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself."

The gunman was dead, but not before taking two innocent lives with him and taking the innocence of everyone else.

"I don't ever want to see anyone that way ever," said Meli.  "It just bothers me."

from the comments:

 ::snipping2::

Maybe the current massacre would have been deterred IF Adam had thought for one minute that he could possibly be taken down by an armed guard/principal/teacher prior to accomplishing his mission.

Maybe the current massacre would not have involved so many innocent lives IF an armed guard/principal/teacher had been afforded his/her constitutional right to protect self and their young charges.

The faculty and students at Sandy Hook Elementary were sitting ducks and Adam Lanza ... a troubled young man filled with rage ... was fully aware.

Janet


Stop school shootings by letting teachers fire back, say Texas officials
December 18, 2012
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/18/stop-school-shootings-by-letting-teachers-fire-back-say-texas-officials/

Rep. Gohmert: I wish Sandy Hook principal had had access to rifle
December 16, 2012http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/dec/16/rep-gohmert-i-wish-sandy-hook-principal-had-had-ac/


Ronald Reagan – 40th President of the USA (1981-1989)

"There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism -- government."

"You won't get gun control by disarming law-abiding citizens. There's only one way to get real gun control: Disarm the thugs and the criminals, lock them up and if you don't actually throw away the key, at least lose it for a long time... It's a nasty truth, but those who seek to inflict harm are not fazed by gun controllers. I happen to know this from personal experience."

I read an article and it had said that the gun he used could shoot 6 bullets per second.

Below is an article that was in the New York Times about the gun:

Rifle Used in Killings, America’s Most Popular, Highlights Regulation Debate

By ERICA GOODE
Published: December 16, 2012

It comes in black, tan and camouflage. A pink version was once raffled by a gun store to raise money for breast cancer research.

Favored by target shooters in competitions and by hunters who stalk small game and sometimes deer, its customizable features — stocks, grips, sights, barrel lengths — are endlessly discussed in online forums. It ranks high among the firearms bought for self-defense.

But the AR-15 style rifle — the most popular rifle in America, according to gun dealers — was also the weapon of choice for Adam Lanza, who the police said used one made by Bushmaster on Friday to kill 20 young children and six adults in an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., in a massacre that has horrified the nation.

The increasing appearance of the rifle in rampage killings — an AR-15 was used by James E. Holmes, who is accused of opening fire and killing 12 people in a movie theater in Colorado in July, police officials say, and by Jacob Roberts, who shot and killed two people and then took his own life in a shopping mall last week near Portland, Ore. — has rekindled the debate about its availability and its appeal to killers bent on mass slaughter.

It has also starkly highlighted the chasm between those who favor tighter regulations for firearms and those who believe that guns like the AR-15 are widely misunderstood and wrongly blamed for the actions of a few individuals.

Gun control advocates contend that semiautomatic weapons like the AR-15, the civilian version of the military’s M-16 and M-4, are a logical choice for anyone whose goal is to kill a lot of people in a short time because of their ability to rapidly fire multiple high-velocity rounds.

“The people we’re talking about, once they get into ‘I want to kill a lot of people,’ it’s not a leap for them to see that these guns are made and designed for war,” said Tom Diaz, a senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center. “And if you look at the industry advertising, that is a consistent theme.”

AR-15s are not the only weapons used by rampaging shooters. Semiautomatic handguns are also frequently employed. In Newtown, in addition to the Bushmaster M-4 carbine, two handguns were found at the scene, a 10-millimeter Glock and a 9-millimeter Sig Sauer, although the rifle is what Mr. Lanza used, pumping up to 11 bullets into each victim’s body, according to the medical examiner. All three guns belonged to his mother, officials said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/us/lanza-used-a-popular-ar-15-style-rifle-in-newtown.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Well i personally would never have a gun in my home because i have young children, however, i dont see the need for guns other than for protection in your own home or if you are a hunter who enjoys that hobby. As a gun for protection, why would one need anything more than a simple handgun? A gun that can quickly shoot many rounds with such deadly force has no place in the hands of civilians imo. I know nothing about guns so i wont pretend to but why does one person need an arsenal of weapons in their home? Shooting as a hobby? I guess i cant see how that is fun. Why dont we just go ahead & let everyone carry an armed weapon on their person at all times & see how well that turns out. We can just all have a weapon at our immediate disposal & act on instinct if we feel threatened. Isnt that what some of us are complaining george zimmerman did? Or we can have a weapon on us so that every crazy has a means to act quickly in a moment of rage & off the cause of their anger. People are indeed the problem. There is too much evil in this world to fix, but somehow there has to be a way to limit these psychos ability to kill innocent people. My 19 year old son could walk into walmart right now & buy a weapon after a background check. He has no criminal record but how do they know his intentions with that weapon or his mental status? Guns absolutely should be more strictly controlled somehow some way. Is there one good reason why this mother needed 6 firearms in her home?  does anyone?

An interesting read.

Janet

+++++


The US Should Learn from Israel How to Permit, Not Outlaw Guns
December 18th, 2012

<snipped>

Imagine if Germany or Poland’s Jews had been armed. Would rounding Jews up have been as easy or even possible? The answer is, obviously, no.

<snipped>

http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/the-us-should-learn-from-israel-how-to-permit-not-outlaw-guns/2012/12/16/

 ::MonkeyTears::


Sandy Hook First Grade Teacher Victoria Soto Remembered As Hero
December 17, 2012 8:27 PM

<snippped>

Wearing Vicki’s favorite color green, her younger brother Carlos and sisters Carlee and Jillian joined their mother Donna as she described what it was like on Friday morning, waiting on word from her oldest daughter while driving towards the school.

<snipped>

The image of a woman in a white sweater on her cell phone overcome with grief has come to symbolize the horror of that day.

Carlee Soto said the photo of her is a snapshot of the worst moment of her life, when she found out her sister was among the dead.

“It’s like a reminder of that moment all over again and it kills,” Carlee Soto said.

<snipped>

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/12/17/sandy-hook-first-grade-teacher-victoria-soto-remembered-as-hero/

The second amendment is not for "hunting" rights -- it's for protecting yourself and your home from both foreign and domestic threats (ESPECIALLY a tyrranical government).

http://www.kvue.com/news/USPS-sets-up-special-PO-Box-for-Newtown-mail-183963441.html
USPS sets up special P.O. box for Newtown mail
December 18, 2012

 ::snipping2::
The Newtown Post Office set up a dedicated post office box for all the letters, care packages and drawings from children.
To send your own condolences, the address is:

P.O. Box 3700
Newtown, CT, 06470

Video at Link
 

Fear of being committed may have caused Connecticut gunman to snap

By Jana Winter
Published December 18, 2012

NEWTOWN, Conn. –  The gunman who slaughtered 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school may have snapped because his mother was planning to commit him to a psychiatric facility, according to a lifelong resident of the area who was familiar with the killer’s family and several of the victims’ families.

Adam Lanza, 20, targeted Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown after killing his mother early Friday because he believed she loved the school “more than she loved him,” said Joshua Flashman, 25, who grew up not far from where the shooting took place. Flashman, a U.S. Marine, is the son of a pastor at an area church where many of the victims' families worship.

“From what I've been told, Adam was aware of her petitioning the court for conservatorship and (her) plans to have him committed," Flashman told FoxNews.com. "Adam was apparently very upset about this. He thought she just wanted to send him away. From what I understand, he was really, really angry. I think this could have been it, what set him off.”

A senior law enforcement official involved in the investigation confirmed that Lanza's anger at his mother over plans for “his future mental health treatment” is being looked at as a possible motive for the deadly shooting.

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/18/fear-being-committed-may-have-caused-connecticut-madman-to-snap/#ixzz2FRILO2lP

http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/2012/12/18/investigators-computer-conn-gunman-home-yields-data/q6GQWil2XSWs1t13OCRgpO/story.html

Investigators: Computer in Conn. gunman’s home yields no data
December 18, 2012

Investigators have not managed to retrieve any data from a computer they took from the house where the gunman in the Newtown, Conn., school shootings lived with his mother because he had all but destroyed the hard drive, a senior law enforcement official said Monday.
 
‘'It looked like he took steps to damage it — he smashed it,’’ said the official, adding that the FBI had joined the State Police in an unsuccessful effort to recover data that might lead to some understanding of what might have prompted the gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, to go on a rampage.
 ::snipping2::

I just heard this and came here to see if anyone else had. It was reported on air as something that official investigators wouldn't confirm at this time, so we'll see if the story changes yet again, but this makes more sense than anything I've heard so far. Thanks, San.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/18/police-find-no-evidence-connecticut-gunman-was-on-medication/

Police find no evidence Connecticut gunman was on medication
Published December 18, 2012

While Newtown buried two more young victims Tuesday in the shooting massacre, authorities said they found no evidence the gunman who killed 27 people was being medicated for mental illness.
 
Investigators searching the Connecticut home gunman Adam Lanza shared with his mother, Nancy Lanza, seized cellphones, computers and computer games, but found nothing at the residence to indicate he was taking medication, Hearst Connecticut Newspapers reported.
 
Authorities armed with search warrants are still working to obtain the 20-year-old man's medical records, according to the report. Lanza's parents told friends and divorce mediators that their son had Asperger's syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism, but it was unclear if he had ever been formally diagnosed.
Read more...

http://algonquin.patch.com/articles/report-newtown-gunman-had-aspergers-shot-sleeping-mother-four-times-8da07126

Report: Newtown Gunman Had Asperger's, Shot Sleeping Mother Four Times
2:43 pm
Updated 1:35 p.m., Dec. 18

CNN reported moments ago that the Farmington, CT-based Office of the Chief Medical Examiner says Adam Lanza on Dec. 14 shot his mother four times while she slept, and that she died of a single gunshot wound to the head.

The cable network also reports that the medical examiner has confirmed Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. According to the National Institutes of Health, Asperger's is a developmental disorder "characterized by a greater or lesser degree of impairment in language and communication skills, as well as repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior."
 ::snipping2::

I thought she had no connection to the school. And it makes no mention of whatever happed last Thursday at the school.

Well i never mentioned the 2nd amendment at all but again, i dont believe our forefathers  meant that we should put guns into the hands of crazies  also doubt they knew just how sick & twisted this country would become.  try & explain to me somehow why this mother r any other citizen should be allowed an arsenal of weapons. Fact of the matter is, all these people who are so upset about the possibility of losing their 2nd amendment rights dont know how it feels to lose your six year old to a crazy psycho who had easy access to these weapons because of our "rights".  some may be afraid of our government but im much more afraid of the psychos that walk among us every day with their rightfully owned guns.

George Will: Tougher gun laws, assault weapons ban won’t help
12:21 PM 12/16/2012

On Sunday’s broadcast of ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Washington Post columnist George Will claimed that strict gun control laws often do not prevent determined killers from committing deadly mass-shootings.

“In 1996, a man went into a gym class in Scotland, [and] killed sixteen 5-and 6-year-olds and the teacher,” Will said. “A few years ago in Norway, a young, deranged, young man killed, what, 69 people on an island, mostly teenagers. Connecticut has among the toughest gun laws in this country. Didn’t help. Scotland and Norway have very tough gun laws. Didn’t help.”

<snipped>

http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/16/george-will-tougher-gun-laws-assault-weapons-ban-wont-help-video/

Alagary.. this story is all over the place and I've learned to take "new" news with a healthy dose of salt until it's a day old, anyway, without changing.  ::MonkeyNoNo::

Earlier today, on CNN, they said that a reporter had spoken with a former classmate of Adam's while they both attended Sandy Hook school. I have no idea if that's true, but that's what they said.   ::MonkeyConfused:: ::MonkeyConfused::

I've said this before, but I've never seen such a big story with so many inaccuracies reported that are much later corrected. Any ideas what it is about this one that makes that so? I'm thinking that maybe the official investigators are being so careful not to let developments out, that reporters are doing their own investigations. IMO, the media stopped doing actual news years ago to become mouthpieces for their particular political point of view, so when they are presented with an actual news story, they suck at their jobs of real investigation. JMO.

Gun Contol?  On June 2, 2012 ... law abiding unarmed Canadian shoppers were at the mercy of a determined shooter who was well aware there would be little challenge to his mission to destroy lives.

Janet

+++++

Toronto Eaton Centre shooting kills 1, injures 7
Last Updated: Jun 3, 2012 1:22 AM ET

Toronto police are searching for at least one suspect after a Saturday evening shooting in the Eaton Centre left one man dead and seven others injured.

Const. Victor Kwong said the shooting took place in a busy lower-level food court, adding that one male victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Kwong listed the genders and conditions of all eight victims and the ages of three, which are as follows:

Male, 25, dead
Male, 20, critical condition
Male, 13, critical condition
Female, no age given, serious condition
Male, no age given, serious condition
Female, no age given, serious condition
Pregnant female, no age given, went into labour after being knocked down
Female, no age given, grazed by bullet

<snipped>

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/06/02/toronto-eaton-center-shooting.html
 

It wont help at all? How do we know this exactly? Im not naive enough to believe that stricter laws would eliminate the problem but if it helps in some small way than thats enough for me. Drugs are illegal & your 15 year old child cant just walk into a store & buy a gram of coke but drugs are still rampant. I get that, but the laws that are in place make it more difficult to obtain them. Anything that makes it just a little more difficult for the dylan klebolds & adam lanzas of the world to obtain guns to carry out their evil is a hrlp imo. Have a handgun in your home to protect u from intruders & keep u safe in your home. I dont have a problem with that, but be held accountable when u dont prevent someone mentally unstable from getting their hands on that weapon. If u want to own a firearm, go through extensive background checks & mental health evaluations before u can do so. Like i said, i doubt our forefathers knew of the evil this country would become. Nothing anyone can say will convince me that anyone needs powerful weapons in large quantities in their homes for protection. It frightens me to think of the everyday civilians who are out on the streets everyday "packing".

In July, 2011 ... if caregivers of the 84 norwegian teenage campers who were gunned down had been armed for their protection and the protection of the youth entrusted to their care ... maybe the outcome would have been different.  Instead those young people were sitting ducks.


91 Killed in Norway Island Massacre, Capital Blast
Published July 23, 2011

A Norwegian dressed as a police officer gunned down at least 84 people at an island retreat before being arrested, police said Saturday. Investigators are still searching the surrounding waters, where people fled the attack, which followed an explosion in nearby Oslo that killed seven.

The mass shootings are among the worst in history. With the blast outside the prime minister's office, they formed the deadliest day of terror in Western Europe since the 2004 Madrid train bombings killed 191.

Police official Roger Andresen told reporters that the total death toll was now 91 and that a suspect was in custody being questioned for both assaults and is cooperating with the investigators.

<snipped>

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/22/explosion-damages-buildings-in-norwegian-capital/

I agree.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/18/peter-lanza-adam-lanza_n_2324979.html

Peter Lanza, Adam Lanza's Father, Was Cut Off From Son Before Sandy Hook Shooting: Report
Posted: 12/18/2012 5:36 pm EST  |  Updated: 12/18/2012 5:36 pm EST

Peter Lanza -- Adam Lanza's father -- reportedly had almost no involvement in his son's life in the years leading up to the Sandy Hook shooting.

NBC News reports that Adam had cut off communications with Peter, refusing to see him, according to a source close to the family.

Peter and Nancy Lanza split in 2001 and in 2010, Peter started dating a new woman. The source said that's when Adam stopped speaking with his dad. The father and son hadn't seen each other since then, according to the report.

On the day of the Sandy Hook massacre, Nancy Lanza was her son's first victim.
 ::snipping2::

I get what you're saying, kcrn. I  even share some of your fears. I've seen them ink law after law... that wind up restricting the good citizen, the one that is willing to be put through background checks and testing - and wants to follow the law. One law - leads to another - leads to another... chip chip chip away. Until a complete ban will be passed. That's how the UK passed it through.
They take one horrific event and play to a reasonable person's desire to feel safe. They suck you in - because that 'emotional window' is open for a short period of time. They draw you in at your
weakest moment - and then get you to vote for a law, you'll be sorry for years later... because you couldn't possibly forsee all of the new problems it would cause by passing it.

In Chicago - 25 -50 teens die a day from gang gun violence. It's been happening for decades. ...but Sandy Hook happened, and Obama wants a fix on his desk immediately. What's wrong with this picture? The law will make it harder on people who are willing to follow it.... and the rest don't care... Eample: Nancy Lanza bought hers by the book... and for whatever reason Adam took them
and could care less about law, or school children or anything else. Ironically, one law did work - he was turned down earlier in the week for buying another rifle, he didn't want to go through
the waiting period. If that is the "making it a little more difficult for them to buy them" part you were talking about - it happened, and it didn't help much... but I'm sure glad it worked.

Psychos - criminals do not care. They steal, fabricate their own, and also import them (underground) guns that can continuous shoot off 1 pull of the trigger. Launch grenades and all sorts of wicked stuff.  I heart cops and SWAT - but they just won't stay at my house long enough. They are apparently very busy, and I can see why. If a scum pulls an AK and I am stuck with Barney Fife's gun and 1 regulation bullet that must be kept in my shirt pocket at all times.  ::MonkeyHaHa:: I forsee a small problem a brewing!  I'm not making light of your views. I think you have very valid points!
I just wanted to show you what I forsee happening. I am totally with you on the better mental health checks and controls, though. Nutters need not even be thinking the word 'gun'.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/18/us/connecticut-lanza-guns/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn (http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/18/us/connecticut-lanza-guns/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn)

Newtown shooter's guns: What we know
By Steve Almasy, CNN
updated 6:34 PM EST, Tue December 18, 2012

(CNN) -- Adam Lanza brought three weapons inside Sandy Hook Elementary school on December 14 and left a fourth in his car, police said. Those weapons were a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle and two handguns -- a Glock 10 mm and a Sig Sauer 9 mm.

In the car he left a shotgun, about which police have offered no details. Lanza used one of the handguns to take his own life, although police haven't said whether the gun was the Glock or the Sig Sauer.

In fact many details remain unknown about the weapons Lanza used that day to kill 20 children, his own mother, six other adults and then himself. Here's what is known so far:

 ::snipping2::

Read the rest at the link above

Precisely, they are hooking for their Master's PC spin viewpoint. Which is not news. News just is. It happens naturally. When it is crafted with political slant involved it spawns mass chaos and many inaccuracies. Which annoys the masses to no end - because they are aware they are being led. They do it so much these days - I can only come to the conclusion that it is achieving what they would
like it to do. Humans do make errors - but not 24/7 around the clock. What they are doing must be by intelligent design, imo.

I totally see your points too carpe. You always make alot of sense which is why i always enjoy your posts. It just breaks my heart to see the world i brought children into. I pray to god that my children will always stay strong & with god so they are never led astray. Im sure having a child with mental health issues is heartbreaking & the evil they may do is not necessarily the fault of the parents. I do think though that nancy lanza made a huge mistake in introducing her son to guns & allowing him access to them. She clearly knew he was troubled from the way it sounds. She had a duty to protect others from what ifs & a duty to him to protect him from himself imo.

Carpe always presents things in a clear, reasonable, and concise fashion in which I definitely lack the ability to espouse!! The common ingredient to all of these horrendous crimes ALWAYS boils down to mental illness.
Seems to me -- that is the issue we ought to be focusing our resources to.

Agree. Wish there was an answer.

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/17/15976160-new-details-emerge-on-private-lives-of-school-gunman-adam-lanza-and-his-mother

New details emerge on private lives of school gunman Adam Lanza and his mother
1 day ago

 ::snipping2::
Friends of Nancy Lanza in Newtown on Monday shed new light on Adam Lanza’s at-times strange behavior in the years before the shooting, but said she did not indicate that it had changed in recent months.

Ellen Adriani and Russell Hanoman, both of whom said they were close friends of Nancy Lanza’s, said the 52-year-old single mother was devoted to her youngest son, whom they described as intelligent, mild-mannered and socially awkward. He also had an aversion to human contact, they said.

Hanoman, who said he had met Adam on several occasions, recalled him as a “very mild-mannered” young man who was interested in technology and engineering and liked to maintain his distance from other people.

“I remember when I first met him, he deliberately stood maybe 6 feet away from me and took three exaggerated steps toward me … stuck out his hand, shook (mine) … put it back and (took) three exaggerated steps back.”

Adriani, who never met Adam, said Nancy Lanza told her of a time when Adam was ill while he was in high school and didn’t want her to enter his bedroom.

“But yet he still wanted Nancy there for him, so she camped out all night outside his bedroom door,” she said. “Periodically through the evening, he would ask her, ‘Are you there? Are you still there?’ and she’d be, ‘I’m here. I’m here.’ So he needed to have that security that she was there but not in his space.”

Hanoman also remembered Nancy Lanza as a devoted mother.

“Everything that she did in life … was devoted to making sure that he was taken care of,” he said.

Adam Lanza also was “an organic vegan” with a conservative worldview, he said.

“He was actually politically aware for a teenager,” he said. “… He was always very free-market economics and capitalism, as I think most people are in this country.”

He also was interested in target shooting, sometimes accompanying his mother to local shooting ranges to practice. (Federal agents investigating the school massacre said Monday that they have found evidence that Adam Lanza visited more than one range and "engaged in shooting activities."  And they say they know that he visited some ranges with his mother.)

In addition to his technological and weapons prowess, Adam Lanza was an excellent dancer – at least within the confines of the Dance Dance Revolution video game.

“It’s an arcade game as well as on the home systems where you basically dance around to a pattern on the screen,” Hanoman said. “And he was extremely good at it. He would often accumulate an audience of people around watching him…. (But) because it’s a two-player game … if anyone tried to come on the platform with him, no matter what he was doing, he would just turn around and walk out of the arcade.”

Despite such anti-social behavior, Hanoman said that mother and son had over the past several years looked at a number of colleges where Adam Lanza might be able to make a fresh beginning.

“He wanted to go back to school, so they were looking at colleges all over the country, looking for an ideal environment for him,” he said. “… He wanted to become more socialized. He didn’t want to stay trapped in his home the rest of his life.”

Tennessee Considers Training & Arming Schoolteachers with Guns To Protect Against Shootings Like Sandy Hook Elementary School (Virginia as Well)
 
More is better … especially when it comes to the safety of our children …

It’s time to look at all options.  In the wake of the horrendous Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, the Volunteer state of Tennessee is considering training and arming teachers in classrooms to help protect children. In an effort to look at all options to protect innocent school children and not just “banning” guns.  Republican  State Sen. Frank Niceley will  introduce a bill that would allow the state to pay for secretly armed teachers in classrooms.  When asked if putting more guns in schools in the wake of Newtown might make them more dangerous, Niceley said the sentiment was naïve. Not only does an unarmed school leave itself unprotected, it also presents a tempting target.

<snipped>

Posted December 19, 2012 by Scared Monkeys

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2012/12/19/tennessee-considers-training-arming-schoolteachers-with-guns-to-protect-against-shootings-like-sandy-hook-elementary-school/

Stop school shootings by letting teachers fire back, say Texas officials
December 18, 2012
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/18/stop-school-shootings-by-letting-teachers-fire-back-say-texas-officials/

Rep. Gohmert: I wish Sandy Hook principal had had access to rifle
December 16, 2012
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/dec/16/rep-gohmert-i-wish-sandy-hook-principal-had-had-ac/

!2/19/12 Murfeesboro mall bans man in T-shirt referencing Newtown massacre
 
"Police arrested a man after he was ejected from a Murfreesboro mall for wearing what mall security deemed an “extremely distasteful” shirt referencing the slaying of 20 children in Newtown, Conn.

Stanley Bryce Myszka, 42, was banned from the Stones River Mall by security Saturday after he refused to remove a shirt that read “Has your gun killed a kindergartner today?” He was then arrested by Murfreesboro Police, who responded to the mall at the request of security officers."

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121219/NEWS/312190133/Murfeesboro-mall-bans-man-T-shirt-referencing-Newtown-massacre?nclick_check=1

It's a real shame there are those that do these kinds of things.  It was just a matter of time before they popped up.  ::MonkeyNoNo:: 

http://www.kvue.com/news/BBB-urges-caution-when-donating-in-honor-of-Sandy-Hook-victims-184125241.html
BBB urges caution when donating in honor of Sandy Hook victims
December 19, 2012

AUSTIN — The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to be aware of phony charity solicitations following the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last Friday.
The BBB says there have been reports of "phony charity solicitations, supposedly on behalf of the families" of the shooting victims.
The BBB recommends you avoid giving to charities or funds through unsolicited phone calls, emails, texts or social media appeals.
 ::snipping2::
The BBB encourages donors to:
- Do your homework. Always research a charity through BBB’s Wise Giving Alliance website, www.give.org, before making a donation.
- Find charity yourself. Rather than replying to a charity appeal, BBB recommends choosing a well-known charity or one that has been endorsed by local or state authorities in the aftermath of a tragedy.
- Contact charities directly. Never click on links to charities on unfamiliar websites or in texts or emails.  These may take you to a lookalike website where you will be asked to provide financial information, or download harmful malware into your computer.
- Confirm text code numbers. If you plan to donate by text message, confirm the text code number directly with the charity. Also, keep in mind that text message donations are typically not immediate. Depending on your cell phone provider, the donation may not show up on your bill for 30 to 90 days.
Donors may contribute to a victims’ family fund through a collaborative effort between The United Way and Newtown Savings Bank.

Donations can be sent to:
Sandy Hook School Support Fund
c/o Newtown Savings Banks
39 Main Street
Newtown, CT 06470
Also, the U.S. Postal Service has created a place for people to mail their condolences to those affected by the Sandy Hook shooting:
P.O. Box 3700, Newtown, CT, 06470

Somehow I do not believe that Adam Lanza would not have pick this Texas School District to carry out his evil mission.  Could it be considered "peace through strength'?

Janet


Texas School District Teachers Carry Concealed Guns
4:48 AM, Dec 19, 2012
http://www.wltx.com/news/national/article/213252/142/Texas-School-District-Teachers-Carry-Concealed-Guns

SELF-EDIT

Lanza would not have pick this Texas

s/b

Lanza would have pick this Texas

I agree Janet, all of these instances of these horrendous acts are perpetrated by COWARDS.  "Peace through Strength" (Amazing how this concept works on so many levels!)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/adam-lanza-motive_n_2332641.html

Adam Lanza Motive: Medical Examiner Wants To Probe Sandy Hook Shooter's Genetics

Posted: 12/19/2012 4:26 pm EST  |  Updated: 12/19/2012 4:26 pm EST

Connecticut's chief medical examiner said he hopes Adam Lanza's biology will help explain why the Sandy Hook shooter went on a deadly rampage.

The Hartford Courant reports that Dr. H. Wayne Carver has asked a geneticist at the University of Connecticut to join in his investigation of the killings.

"I'm exploring with the department of genetics what might be possible, if anything is possible," Carver told the paper on Tuesday. "Is there any identifiable disease associated with this behavior?"

Carver is also awaiting toxicology testing results for the gunman.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-connecticut-shooting-20121219,0,676133.story

Connecticut school shooter was estranged from father
December 18, 2012, 9:27 p.m.

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The troubled young man who shot and killed 26 people at an elementary school had not had contact with his father in a nearby town for the last two years, despite his father's repeated efforts to repair the relationship, a family acquaintance said Tuesday as most students in the trauma-stricken town returned to school amid funeral processions.
 
The revelation that Adam Lanza, 20, had broken off contact with his father and his brother deepened questions into what was going on inside the Lanza household in the weeks and months before the shooting, whose genesis still remains largely unknown.
 
Increasingly it appears that few people other than Lanza's mother, 52-year-old Nancy Lanza, had regular contact recently with him. State officials told reporters Tuesday that she was shot in the head with a .22-caliber rifle, most likely while she was asleep, before her son loaded four weapons into her car and drove it to Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Peter Lanza, an executive with GE Energy Financial Services, had initially seen his youngest son weekly after he separated from his wife in 2001, said the family acquaintance, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be drawn publicly into the investigation.
 
But Adam Lanza began refusing to see his father and his brother, 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, at about the same time that his father began seeing another woman in the year after the Lanzas' divorce became final in 2009, he said.
 
Peter Lanza eventually married the woman, Shelley Cudiner, an employee at the library at the University of Connecticut, and moved into her home in Stamford, Conn.
 
"Ryan and his dad both had not seen Adam since 2010," the family acquaintance said. "It was around the time that his relationship with Shelley had become more serious. He reached out to his son, both directly and through his mother, but to no avail."
 ::snipping2::

Don't miss the Dana Pretzer Show tonight at 9pm ET

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a306/klaasend/Pretzer121912_zps276916b8.jpg)

EXCLUSIVE: Inside the mind of Newtown killer Adam Lanza; he ‘was like a ghost’

His mother spotted his precipitous withdrawal before he went on his rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School. ‘He didn’t understand why she wanted him to go out into the world. She told me she couldn’t reach him — and she was worried,’ says a family friend.

 In the days before the massacre, the mother of Adam Lanza was pushing her loner son to leave the Newtown home that provided his refuge from reality, a family friend told the Daily News Wednesday.

“He sat in his room playing video games for hours and hours,” the friend said. “She thought the best thing was for him to get out of the house and into the world. To interact with people a little bit.”

But the 20-year-old rejected the idea and stopped speaking to his mother, the friend said. Nancy Lanza and her youngest son hadn’t talked for three days before he fatally shot her Friday morning and then murdered 20 children and six staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Nancy Lanza had brought her son to a psychiatrist as he became increasingly anti-social — spending endless hours in his room by himself.

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/exclusive-mind-newtown-killer-article-1.1223612#ixzz2FYC2WsUd

Mom left school gunman Adam Lanza alone for days before school massacre: report

By DAVID K. LI
Last Updated: 5:27 PM, December 19, 2012
Posted: 4:14 PM, December 19, 2012

Mass murderer Adam Lanza spent two and half days home alone with his mom’s arsenal of weapons, giving him plenty of time to hatch one of America’s worst school shootings, according to broadcast report today.

Before Lanza slaughtered 20 kids and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday, he killed mom -- an avid gun collector -- Nancy Lanza in their home that morning.

Nancy Lanza had just arrived home early Thursday evening, following a two-night getaway to Bretton Woods, NH, according to Headline News.

She checked into the Omni Mount Washington Resort at 12:10 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 11, and checked out at 12:27 p.m. on Thursday, HLN said.

It’s 290 miles — nearly a five-hour drive — between Bretton Woods, NH, and Newtown, Conn.

Lanza had visited Bretton Woods before and had always driven herself there, according to HLN.

She had chatted with friends during her two nights in New Hampshire and appeared to be in good spirits, the cable news network reported.

Nancy Lanza often took mini-vacations by herself, friends said. She trusted leaving Adam alone, but didn't want him cooking, so she always prepared all his meals before her trips.

Yesterday, it was reported that Adam Lanza studied photos of guns and obliterated virtual victims in violent video games for hours on end, alone in his windowless basement den.

 ::snipping2::
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/massacre_left_killer_adam_lanza_ryNR31OfvVKAMm6Aw1y8FO

Definitely a coward! I think this kid picked an elementary school because he knew his little victims were helpless & it would be easy. I hope satan is showing him just what a helpless weak pawn he is now. I give kudos to the parent who prayed for him but im just not there yet. Mental illness and evil are not synonamous & he had some of the latter imo. Mental illness wont excuse it for me, im sorry. He planned this to the minute & to me, that takes evil. How do u look at those sweet angelic faces & carry out that plan?

The Aurora movie theater killer also picked a venue that had a big "gun free zone" sign on the building. The cowards pick places where they expect no one to retaliate. I don't think it makes ANY sense to give them more targets!

Just a request - from me to all readers here:

Mental illness is real. Rational minds cannot make sense out of what irrational minds do.

I think this event has a lot of components here - mental illness, gun control, parenting and further social issues like school/public protection.

But folks I wonder if mental illness should be equated with evil ?

Just a question because I know mentally ill people and if they are truly mentally ill, they have no reality.

There is no rationalization by us sane folks that could be applied.

Hope this makes sense.

This is so tragic on all levels - please let us learn as a society what we can going forward.

Blessings to all posters tonight.

I dont equate mentally ill with evil believe me. I am a nurse & i see all kinds of patients on a daily basis. Im not a psych nurse but i have worked there in my career. I do understand that mental illness is real but there is a very broad spectrum of mental illness. People with aspergers are not mentally ill they have a neurodevelopmental disorder. People with aspergers are not violent & calculated usually unless they have some other underlying schizophrenia or antisocial personality disorder in which case they should be seeing a psychiatrist & probably be on medication. I dont know this kids medical history but i also dont just give him an automatic pass  because he" must have been mentally ill. " i think anyone that can murder at all has some degree of mental instability but then, unfortunately alot of them also have quite a bit of evil in them. This may be a combination of both, but imo evil is there.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/12/19/bushmaster-223-weapon-used-in-newtown-shooting-a-lightning-rod-in-gun-debate/

Bushmaster .223: Weapon Used in Newtown Shooting a Lightning Rod in Gun Debate
Dec. 19, 2012

When 20-year-old Adam Lanza walked into the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, he carried two handguns, several hundred rounds of ammunition and a rifle that has become a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over gun rights in America.

Police say that the 20 children and six adults killed at the school were murdered with a .223 caliber Bushmaster AR-15 rifle. It’s one of the most popular types of sporting rifles in the country: between 2000 and 2010, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, more than two million AR-15-type rifles have been sold by various manufacturers.  It’s a weapon of choice among firearm enthusiasts and is “hugely popular for recreational target shooting,” according to Guns and Ammo.
 ::snipping2::
Because it falls under the federal definition of the term “assault weapon,” the AR-15 has long been a target of anti-gun legislation. “It was one of the weapons [specifically] banned by the Assault Weapons Ban legislation in 1994,” Christopher Koper, criminology professor at George Mason University tells TIME. According to the U.S. Code, an assault weapon can be “any repeating rifle which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge.”[/b]

Read more...

We don't seem to see this situation from the same point of view.  Which is ok.  We live in a country where we can both believe what we want because we have the freedom to do so.  Let's remember to allow each other our freedoms without mockery or name-calling.  To do otherwise would put us on the same level as WBC.

I was so glad to see that someone is going to look into Lanza's genetics.  I hope that they will also study his brain to see if there was something there that might have caused his problems.  Hopefully, there will be answers that will help others. 

It is a shame that he did not have contact with his father.  Maybe family counseling would have helped a bit.  It might also have given his mother another perspective on dealing with her son's issues. 

For me, it all boils down to this.  A troubled little boy grew up to be a troubled young man.  This will continue to happen until we lose the stigma attached to mental illness and start providing care for those in need.   

I think Nancy was in a wee bit of denial. I'm just sitting here thinking... she didn't trust him to cook for himself. Yet, she bought him a 2,000 pound  vehicle to drive on public streets. Apparently,
he had his own vehicle according to an article.

In what world do you live in - where you aren't trusted to make bacon and eggs,  but driving on a freeway sounds good. :rendeer:

Also not good, allowing your son to stay in a basement for days on end, like some Boo Radley spook-o-saurus. From the way it reads in the papers, he only came out to eat.

This never turns out well. She had plenty of financial resources to deal with this - but just couldn't seem to bring herself to do it, quickly enough.

He may have had severe problems, but thinking ahead wasn't one of them.

- The attempt at purchasing another rifle in advance of the shootings
- scouting out the school the day before
-completely destroying his hard drive

Lanza's background being investigated
Posted: Dec 20, 2012 7:09 AM EST Updated: Dec 20, 2012 7:27 AM EST
By WFSB Staff
 
NEWTOWN, CT (WFSB) -

Investigators are searching for more answers into the school shooting rampage in Newtown.

Currently, investigators are looking into Adam Lanza's past in hopes of finding out what may have caused him to kill his own mother and then 26 people inside Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Putting the pieces together is proving difficult, but investigators are gathering evidence and will analyze everything they come across, while trying to figure out what was going on in his head.

Richard Nova worked inside the Newtown School District as head of security. He said he remembers Lanza, his mother Nancy and his older brother.

"Adam was a boy very different from his brother," he said. "He was withdrawn most often, shy and basically scared of the world around him. He had some disorders."

Sources tell Eyewitness News the 20-year-old went through a psychiatric evaluation at some point in his life.

The evaluation was not court ordered.

Eyewitness News checked court records to see if his family wanted him committed to a mental health hospital. Court clerks said if there was a request then it would not be public record.

We are also learning Lanza and his father stopped talking about a year after his parent's 2009 divorce.

Meanwhile - Novia said nothing is adding up.  ::snipping2::
http://www.wfsb.com/story/20390787/lanzas-background-being-investigated

I didnt do any of that & i apologize if thats the way you took it. I just do not believe that we as a society should always chalk every evil deed up to mental illness. Its kind of a slap in the face to those who do suffer from mental illness. Mental illness does not entitle onr to massacre innocent lives in a school, a movie theater , a church or a mall. It doesnt excuse the abduction , murder & dismemberment of a 10 year old girl. Why is it that some of these heinous acts are carried out by just evil people & some are automatically chalked up to mental illness? This kid being a recluse & socially awkward does not mean he was necessarily schizophrenic or similar. There is alot of evil in this world unfortunately. I read commens posted after some of the articles posted on this tragedy & am amazed how mean people can be. I see people trying to profit off of this. There is evil in this world, like it or not.

JMO
not sure what the shooter had,as far as mental capabilities,from reading all
of the inaccurate reports though,id say he did have forethought,and mom
screwed up,she wasnt the only one, to pay the price for the screw up, i think
lesson learned is,dont stop trying to get help,and dont keep putting it off,
hoping it will get better or, other circumstances might make a/it dif
and screw the idea it should be kept behind closed doors,get in the open so
others can see and help

i think these  vids show why the bushmaster or any AR-15 rifle, is so controversial,one shows the
drum mag the second shows a lot of ,what accessories can be used,if you look around more you
will see that the rifle is really a versatile and the most Tactical weapon... EVER!,as the dude in vid
says,and from watching some of those vids,its scary to see some of the folks that own a gun
drum mag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_236442&feature=iv&src_vid=qZ2im_AoVzg&v=g62m7yOhgRY
Most Tactical AR15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q362H-xg0ZA
How to Build An AR-15 Video
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=11004/learn/
Bushmaster AR 15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFQozJDK0fk&list=PLC65B6E31B24C8076&index=21

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/16/us/connecticut-nancy-lanza-profile/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular

Tue December 18, 2012


Shooter's mother wanted her son to fit in, friend says

Newtown, Connecticut (CNN) -- Nancy Lanza was raising a quiet, socially awkward young man, the kind of teenager who, a former classmate recalled, would just go stand in the corner.

Lanza herself seemed nothing like her boy. She was affable and outgoing, and easily made friends.

Sure, she liked guns, say people who knew her. But she was responsible with them. She knew how to handle the weapons she collected.

How Adam Lanza apparently got hold of at least a few of them to commit a massacre in an elementary school is still unclear.

Authorities believe he killed his mother as she slept in her bed. She was shot four times in the head, Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver said Tuesday.


Shooter's mom kept guns for defense
Gunman's aunt speaks out
Lanza neighbor stunned
Shooting suspect's home Then, authorities say, Adam Lanza went to Sandy Hook Elementary -- which he'd once attended -- and killed 20 children and six adults.

Then, he used a handgun to kill himself with a shot to the front of the head, Carver said.

 ::snipping2::


CNN confirmed Monday afternoon with ATF that Adam Lanza and his mother frequented several gun ranges over the past several years. The agency will not identify which ranges.

Russ Hanoman, a friend of Nancy Lanza, said she was the "epitome of responsibility."

"They've painted her as some irresponsible gun freak, but she wasn't," he said. "She was a paragon for gun safety. She taught the boys how to use the guns responsibly."

 ::snipping2::

http://www.freep.com/article/20121220/BUSINESS06/121220080/Connecticut-shooting-Thursday-funerals-Nancy-Lanza?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Funerals for Nancy Lanza, other Connecticut shooting victims continue Thursday
7:51 PM, December 20, 2012

KINGSTON, N.H. — A private funeral has been held in New Hampshire for the woman whose son shot her dead at their Connecticut home and then drove to an elementary school and killed 20 children.

The police chief in Kingston says the funeral for Nancy Lanza was held Thursday at an undisclosed location.

Chief Donald Briggs says about 25 family members attended the ceremony in the small town, where Lanza once lived.
 ::snipping2::
 

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Exclusive-Lanza-s-Call-to-Duty-Denied-4133287.php

Newtown shooter dreamed of being Marine
Updated 12:41 am, Thursday, December 20, 2012

NEWTOWN -- Adam Lanza aspired to be a Marine -- one of "the few, the proud."
 
Failing that, he planned to join another branch of military service.
 
That is what he told his mother, Nancy Lanza, his biggest cheerleader, and that is what she relayed to one of her closest friends, Ellen Adriani, of Newtown.
 
At first, Nancy Lanza supported her youngest son's dream. She liked the idea that the military would give him purpose, a career path and structure to his life. But the more she thought about it, the more she saw a downside.
 
"It became overwhelmingly clear to her that it (military service) wasn't right for him," Adriani said. "She squashed" any notion of Adam joining the Marines or any branch of the armed services by reminding him "that he didn't like to be touched," said Adriani, and that if he were injured, "doctors and medics would have to handle him to treat him."
 
Lanza, 20, harbored a dream of joining the military after he stopped taking college-level courses at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, said a local merchant who knew the Lanzas. Adam Lanza first made his military aspirations known when he was 17, about the time his older brother, Ryan, was attending Quinnipiac University.
Read more...

http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/19/understanding-why-autistic-people-may-reject-social-touch/

http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/high-functioning-autism

I was thinking about the Lanza's today.  I can't imagine being a mom whose child rejected being touched. 

I hope that at some point, Lanza's father will tell the world what was done to help his son.  I hope he can bring something out that will help us all understand how this happened and how we can prevent it from happening again.  And I'm not talking about gun control.  I'm pointing at helping these kids while they are kids so that when they grow up they can cope.
 

Just my 2 cents. Young boys need to be trained to be young men. You can't just pop 'em out and expect them to mature all by their little lonesome.
They are constantly walking around - thinking to themselves... hey, what am I supposed to be doing?

They need their dads... or the next best thing. (a family friend/mentor)
Nancy loved him a lot - but couldn't do everything. There's a balance that is needed. Without that balance - he is left to figure out what it is to
be a man on his own. Some find it in a decent mentor - some find it running with the thug down the street (not good) - Adam found it in a basement playing
endless hours of a  shoot 'em up video game. (tragic results)

It's like a tree. It needs water and sun. Water only - doesn't grow well, or drowns. Sun only - dehydrates and the leaves fall off.

Balance. 1 part Yin 1 part Yang --- Confucius say: Off balance, produce bad nut. ::HelloKitty::

That's what I think. Sorry if I offend anyone with that. :smt111

SUCH a great, post Carpe and Kitty!!  :smt041

I can't tell you how many times I've started to post something on this thread and just deleted it before I did, because there are so many valid points and counterpoints. I'm angry that Nancy had guns at all in the house or took the shooter to a firing range. But......... maybe there were so few avenues to connect with her son or get him motivated to get out at all, so she grabbed at it, never conceiving that he had potential for real life violence. I understand a Mom struggling to reach her child, particularly when he had always been different and never fit in well. She must have noticed some shift in him that caused her to change directions, if the reports about her beginning the process of having him committed to a facility are true and being able to involuntarily commit anyone in Connecticut is almost impossible, if not absolutely impossible. I'd bet a lot that she had tried hard to convince him to seek help voluntarily. He was 20 and so there would have to be a formal procedure to attempt forcing treatment. I've wondered where Dad was and wondered what effect the divorce had on the shooter.

The shooter exhibited a lot of planning and evidenced awareness of guilt that horrible day. I have no compassion for him, and perhaps that speaks poorly of me, but I cannot relate to anything about him. He obviously could reason on some level and I just can't get past all those children and their teachers. With the ability to function he showed that day, I'm reminded he was 20 years old, had been capable of attending school, however awkwardly, and Mom, apparently, had been able to take a couple of days away with no ill consequences in the past. Whatever her misjudgements or mistakes were, she paid the biggest price she could for them. The problem is that she was incapable of protecting anyone else from him on that day.

This whole thing is such a horrible tragedy and long after it isn't front page news anymore, the families will go on struggling with loss.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

http://06880danwoog.com/2012/12/21/jennifer-huettner-and-the-adam-lanza-she-knew/

Jennifer Huettner, And The Adam Lanza She Knew
Posted on December 21, 2012

 ::snipping2::
Jennifer spent 3 years as Adam’s teacher.

“He had Asperger’s,” Jennifer says, confirming media reports. After being home schooled in 7th and 8th grades, Adam took freshman classes in a portable classroom at the high school. He was 13 years old.
 
“He didn’t want to be around people,” Jennifer explains. “Our goal was to get him back in the building.”
 
Adam’s mother Nancy would drop him off, then sit in the next room while Jennifer worked with him.
 
“He was very OCD. He’d clean the desk with Purell,” Jennifer remembers.
 
“He had a great ‘Latin mind.’ The language is very structured, and that fit well with him. He always knew the answers — but he wouldn’t say anything.
 
“The day he made his first joke, I almost cried.”
 
The next year, Adam moved into the high school building.

“He trusted me,” Jennifer says. “He started talking — that was a big thing. And he looked at me, with big eyes.” They were not the same eyes, she says, that the world has seen in “that horrible picture.”
 
Every day as a sophomore “he wore the same uniform: a blue shirt and khaki pants. He probably had 5 sets of them. The next year, it was a green plaid shirt.”
 
And — as Newtown students have reported — he always carried a briefcase.
 
“The hallways were narrow. It was difficult to walk through,” Jennifer says. “Adam would have his shoulder against the wall, with his briefcase out to protect him. He always took the same route, and never deviated from it.”
 
But, Jennifer says, “I never saw him lose it, or have a tantrum.”
 
Newtown students — like those she knows now at Staples High — are “very respectful of differences,” she says. “There was never any meanness or bullying. They’d ask Adam to sit with them.”
 
After 3 years Adam left Newtown, to take classes at Western Connecticut State University. Jennifer says he earned his GED there.
 
“I understand he dropped out of WesConn after 2 years,” Jennifer continues. “Then he sat in his basement for 2 years. Something happened.”
 ::snipping2::

MAYBE if in a "gun free school zone" six unarmed faculty members had not been denied their Constitution right to carry a concealed weapon for protection of themselves and their precious charges ... they would be alive today and ... twenty children would be anticipating a visit from Santa.

 ::MonkeyNoNo::

Janet

++++++


NRA chief urges armed guards in 'every single school,' dismisses calls for gun control
Published December 21, 2012

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre on Friday dismissed calls for increased gun control in response to the Connecticut school shooting, calling instead for Congress to support a plan putting armed police officers in "every single school" in America.

In an impassioned speech, marking the NRA's first in-depth public comments since the Newtown tragedy, LaPierre pointed the finger not at gun proliferation but violent video games, the media and the absence of armed guards at schools.

He argued that if banks and members of Congress can have protection, schools across America should be afforded the same security.

"It's now time for us to assume responsibly for our schools," he said. "The only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be permanently involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection."

He added: "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

Warning that the next mass killer could be "waiting in the wings," LaPierre urged immediate action to protect school children.

He said efforts over the years to pass laws for "gun-free school zones" have only told "every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk."

-snipped-

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/21/nra-chief-urges-armed-guards-in-every-school-dismisses-calls-for-gun-control/

 

I watched him speak & surprisingly, much of what he said made sense to me. I dont think however that we should arm all of our teachers like some have suggested. Thats alot to put on teachers whojust want to teach. Im a nurse & i work in a "gun free" hospital but i would never want the responsibility of carrying a gun. The nra suggests & i wholeheartedly agree, that we have an armed police officer in every school in america. Also they want a model for school safety plans. I think alot of what he ssid is good. I dont think a complete ban on guns would change anything but i do agree that there are some types of guns that should not be allowed to be available. I give the nra full respect in their idea that our children deserve as much protection as our politiciand, even more. I just think that there has to be a way to employ an armed police officer in each of our schools. My kids school has a resource officer that they share with the middle school but i think each school should have one inside that building and ready at all times. Im more than willing to pay extra taxes for the safety of children.

kcrn

May if unknown designated trained faculty carrying a concealed weapon would serve as a deterrent against the evil intent of a would-be shooter.

All I know is ... the Sandy Hook "gun free zone" implied that six faculty and 20 children were sitting ducks.  They never stood a chance.  It would have only taken one shot to take him down.

Janet
 

As I've said, I don't own a gun and know little about them or how to use one. I must say, though, that there have been times I would have been more comfortable in my home if I had one. On the seldom occasions that there are unexplained noises in the house, I'd be more comfortable investigating the source, holding a gun..... just in case. My Mom's house was broken into, and it would have been easier for me to go through it initially, if I had been holding a gun and knew how to use it. Given that, I have to believe that each one of those teachers at Sandy Hook on that fateful day, wished they had something to defend themselves and the children they were charged with. All they had were their bodies to shield them and they sacrificed themselves trying. As radical as it sounds, I'm not sure that it's such a bad idea that there be access to a weapon inside a classroom. Certainly it would require training and effective limited access to teacher only, but IMO, that would be both cheaper than a permanent armed guard per school, and far more efficient in a situation like Sandy Hook. A guard is one person who can only be at one location at any given time and would almost certainly be less well prepared than a shooter. Having never shot a handgun, I know that under the circumstances that the Sandy Hook teachers faced, I would have been able to get the kids against a wall or behind their desks and position myself to crouch behind something with a gun trained on the door. I could do that and it would have made a difference.

Many professions require training of some sort. We require staff (even office staff) to be certified in CPR. We take one afternoon every three years and bring in the Red Cross to teach, demonstrate, and test. It takes a few hours and costs $300.00. For teachers to be able to perform defensively in an emergency situation with a few steps similar to what I described, shouldn't be a huge deal. A staff day should do it. The whole idea seems radical to me, but once I get past the idea of it, I'm not sure there's a better answer. We can work on mental health issues, and assault weapon issues, and moral decay issues, but we need to take steps to protect children first. I don't know of a more efficient way to do that. I am convinced that arming classrooms would be a deterrent to anyone thinking about attacking a school.

Thats why i think an armed officer at the front door would have made a difference. They are trained & willingto pull that firearm at a moments notice. If there had been an obviously armed officer at that door, i dont believe adam lanza would have had the guts to shoot his way into that school. Bulletproof windows & doors & an armed officer standing right at that door may have been a deterrent for him. We will nwver know though. I know teachers & i know that many of them would not want to have a gun in their classroom full of children. I just think thats alot to expect of them. Maybe have a principal or other person at the school entrance who has access to a firearm as well. I just dont see every teacher in a school having a loaded weapon in their desk drawer as a good idea. The security of the school itself should be an issue as well. A buzzed in intercom entrance is not enough obviously. Maybe sounds radical, but bulletproof windows & doors, a system to lock all classroom doors at a push of a button, an armed officer & possibly an armed principal all sound like good ideas to me. Im not trying to be argumentative in any way but will we have to arm our daycare workers, sunday school teachers & sports coaches next? Make the school a panic room if that is what is required but i cant see how arming 50 or more staff members is such a great idea either

And that explains a lot.  I taught in public schools yrs ago.  My most heartbreaking moment was when a student that I'd poured so much time, attention, and love in was arrested soon after graduation for murder.  This young lady was such a sweet girl when I knew her.  Her home life was stable as long as she was with grandmother.  But her mom wouldn't leave her alone and kept taking her back.  Up and down, up and down.  I had some long serious discussions with her.  She knew right from wrong.  She knew her mother wasn't the person she needed to rely on.  She knew she was better off with her grandmother.  But, she loved and yearned for a relationship with her mom.  Now, she didn't have a disability.  But, somewhere in a 4 yr period, that girl I knew changed.  It was and is heartbreaking.  I think of her often in prison, growing old, because of a stupid choice and a longing for something that her mom wouldn't give her.

Given all that, add Aspergers' to the mix, and what do you do? 

And can I just say, as a parent, even when your child shuts you out, you still continue to reach out to them.  You never give up.  You call, you visit, you send cards, you send letters, you text, you email, you DO, so that your child always knows you love them.  They never doubt it.

 I agree that keeping a gun in a teacher's desk drawer is not a good idea. I'm thinking along the lines of a fire alarm pull with a teacher code release. Bullet proofing glass or guarding against school intruders wouldn't have helped at Columbine. I agree that arming a classroom teacher is a big responsibility for them and certainly I don't want a responsibility to hunt down a shooter, to fall to them. I just want to equip a teacher with something to defend his/her children long enough for police response. Something to stave off certain death long enough for help to arrive.

At one time in this state, we had School Resource Officers on every campus.  It was usually staffed by police officers and sheriff's deputies that would work their days off.  They were paid a nominal fee, wore their uniforms & guns.  At the lower grades, they would mainly work traffic duty in the loading zone, patrol hallways making sure the exits were locked, give presentations on appropriate topics to kids/staff, and occasionally sit in on meetings with parents where staff felt their presence would keep the tone down.

The upper grades were different.  You had fights & drugs that officers were involved in investigating.  But, after yrs of having this presence in the school, budget cuts meant those positions were the first to go followed by school nurses.  Now, on duty officers perform traffic duty in am and pm and have to be called for fights/drugs.  We joke that if you want to drive fast or commit a crime, do it during loading/unloading times because all the officers are occupied at the schools.  Sad.  We can fund research to grow hair on a bald man's head, make sure he can have a 4 hr erection, and study the sexual habits of animals, but we don't have the money to provide a safe/protected environment for our children and mental health for those in need.  Until parents start standing up to the stupidity of the gov't spending we'll continue to have these circumstances. 

It's interesting to read Darrell Scott's comments from May 27, 1999. His daughter died from gunshot wounds sustained during the Columbine incident. He, along with others, was addressing the House Judiciary sub committee looking into "Pending Firearms Legislation and the Administration's Enforcement of Current Gun Laws". Here are his comments:


"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good &evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.
"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact.
What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws.
Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him.

To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
- Darrell Scott

AMEN!!

CBB ... Thank you for posting Darrell Scott's commentary.  It is definitely a Tamikosmom's keeper.

Janet

 ::MonkeyAngel::
Video at link

http://abcnews.go.com/US/sandy-hook-shooting-moment-silence-victims/story?id=18034034

Sandy Hook Shooting: Moment of Silence for Victims
Dec. 21, 2012

Incessant rain and a dreary morning failed to keep onlookers away from a moment-of-silence memorial in Newtown, Conn., to pay their respects to the 26 people who were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
 
Officials scheduled the event to recognize victims of the massacre that began at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 14, when gunman Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook elementary and launched a shooting spree at the school, taking 26 lives, including 20 children, and then his own.
  ::snipping2::

After hearing many debates and discussions over the last week, one that I've been thinking about a lot and think could be helpful is to possibly have some (Admin) that have a concealed weapon on each campus.  I know some districts in Texas allow teachers to carry concealed weapons, but I'm not sure that's a good idea in all classrooms.  Resource officers could be a deterrent as well, but if that's one officer for all campuses like we've had here in the past; that's just not enough imo.   

CBB, I've read Darrell Scott's comments this week too.  Very well stated then, and so important to remember now too. 

I've also watched and read several speeches and/or discussions with Dr. Suzanna Gratia-Hupp.  I remembered the Luby's massacre in Killeen Texas in 1991 like it was yesterday, but her name didn't ring a bell until I started listening to her testimony.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanna_Hupp

One that really stood out for me was this speech regarding the 2nd Amendment.  I didn't save the exact link that I watched earlier this week, but I think this is the same speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ggg0LwhrH0

Her comments after Virginia Tech...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ggg0LwhrH0

There's a lot more out there, but hopefully those links will give a start to anyone interested.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324731304578193890846892734.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Updated December 21, 2012, 7:27 p.m. ET.
School Gunman's Downward Spiral

In his last few years, Adam Lanza shut himself off from the outside world almost completely, his troubles slowly escalating as his family splintered.
 ::snipping2::
A Wall Street Journal review of public records and interviews with more than three dozen government officials, relatives and friends of the Lanza family reveal that Mr. Lanza's alienation began at a young age, causing interruptions in his education and making it more difficult for the withdrawn boy to make lasting friends.

The troubles began shortly after Peter and Nancy Lanza moved in 1998 with their young sons to Newtown, Conn., from the New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts countryside where they both grew up—a change Nancy called the family's "great adventure," said Peter's sister-in-law, Marsha Lanza. The move would be a turning point.

At the age of six, Adam Lanza had problems soon after he started first grade at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Wendy Wipprecht, a 62-year-old freelance editor whose son, Miles Aldrich, was a classmate of Mr. Lanza, said she remembers a "couple of long talks" with Nancy Lanza.

"She was concerned about Adam," said Ms. Wipprecht, whose son is autistic. "He was clearly a very bright boy, but he wasn't doing all that well in school or somehow not comfortable in school."

By the 4th or 5th grade, Nancy was frustrated that the school refused to put Mr. Lanza in classes for academically gifted students, her sister-in-law, Marsha Lanza, said Nancy told her. At around this time, Ms. Lanza pulled her son out of school to home-school him or possibly enroll him in another school, family members and friends said. "She said [the school district isn't] meeting her needs," Peter's sister-in-law Marsha Lanza said.
 ::snipping2::

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324461604578194054206944718.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Updated December 21, 2012, 9:02 p.m. ET.
Solid Upbringings For Lanza Parents

KINGSTON, N.H.—The gunman responsible for the Newtown, Conn., shootings spent the first six years of his life growing up amid the farmland and woods here in the southern New Hampshire countryside.

Adam Lanza was born into a family full of promise with deep roots in this community. His mother, Nancy, grew up in an old farmhouse built in the 1740s in Kingston, a postcard-perfect New Hampshire town near the Massachusetts border. Nancy was the girlish, intelligent daughter of Don Champion, a TWA pilot, and his wife Dottie, a school nurse.

The Champions had another daughter and two sons, and raised their children to be respectful, friends said. Nancy's brother, Jimmy Champion, became a local police officer in town and recently retired.

"Jimmy Champion still calls me Mr. Smith," said Larry Smith, a longtime friend of the Champion family. "He will not call me by my first name because that's the way they were brought up. They were brought up very well."

His wife, Judy, added: "They were wonderful children."

Less than 15 miles away in northern Massachusetts, Peter Lanza, nicknamed "Mousey" in his high school yearbook and known as P.J. to family, was growing up with two brothers in Haverhill, the shy, smart son of a successful insurance salesman.
 ::snipping2::

i know a lot of info,i firmly believe that everyone,needs all the info they can get to form,and make
an informed decision,about the gun issue,if you search these,Resources on School Violence,
stop school violence = more info
teachers with guns in school,my gut tells me not a good idea,armed security maybe but some
criteria would have to be in place
1. only one way in
2. armed person would need a duty station at that point
3.see gun,DROP IT,the perp dosent,shoot now Q later
4. i see a lot of holes and Qs in the above 3 points,so its not really that clear cut
5. personal responsibility in all aspects of your life

nfo and more info
condensed highlight version wiki,of the THE FINAL REPORT,from the U.S. Secret Service
Impact on school policies
Secret Service report on school shootings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre#Impact_on_school_policies

THE FINAL REPORT AND
FINDINGS OF THE
SAFE SCHOOL
INITIATIVE: WASHINGTON, D. C. May 2002
http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf
Preventing
School Shootings
A Summary of a U.S. Secret Service Safe School Initiative Report
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/jr000248c.pdf

Campus Attacks
Targeted Violence Affecting Institutions of Higher Education 2010
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/campus-attacks
Resources on School Violence
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/school-violence

student paper
Heightened Security and Safety Measures in Public Schools
Anne Cline
York College of Pennsylvania
June 2004
http://www.ifpo.org/articlebank/heighten_security.html

10 myths about school shootings
By Bill DedmanInvestigative reporter
msnbc.com
updated 10/10/2007 3:44:58 PM ET
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15111438/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/myths-about-school-shootings/

interactive maps on US school shootings. Complete stats and info
http://www.stoptheshootings.org/
list
http://www.stoptheshootings.org/attacks

http://www.examiner.com/article/adam-lanza-nancy-lanza-questions-and-answers

Adam Lanza, Nancy Lanza: Questions and answers
December 20, 2012

(http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/67/88/1356072567_5928_Adam6.jpg)

 ::snipping2::  On Dec. 20, 2012, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) sent out a Psychiatric News Alert expressing its concern about blaming Adam Lanza’s crime on Asperger’s syndrome, Autism, or mental illness.
 
APA is concerned “about proposals that have been voiced that target the mentally ill and media accounts that inaccurately portray people with mental illness. Stigma remains one of the greatest barriers to early identification, intervention, and treatment for Americans seeking help for mental illness and we hope that Congress will avoid making generalized assumptions about persons now in or seeking treatment for mental illness. …The vast majority of violence in our society is not perpetrated by persons with serious mental disorders.”
 ::snipping2::

WOW.  That looks nothing like the young man we've seen photos of.  You can see a light in this kid's eyes and a real smile on his face.

If there can be anything good come from the heartbreak of Sandy Hook, let it be more of this...
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/269308/40/Help-for-Phillip

Help for Phillip
12:58 AM, Dec 22, 2012 

I'm all for having someone carry a concealed weapon in schools.  That person should be trained in carrying and using the weapon.  I'm not sure it should be the principal.  With all the schools in the United States not all principals will be willing to carry a weapon.  Not all principals will be qualified to carry the weapon.  I think it should be someone with a law enforcement/military background.  I also believe there should be security cameras installed in every school.  Maybe this person could monitor the school by monitoring the camera and also by walking around the outside of the school.  I'm also wondering if every teacher should be carrying some type of walkie talkie to communicate with each other and report any suspicious activity.

I agree.  If someone is coming into your school with his gun drawn then he is coming in to do damage.

I also believe that the lower level windows need to be secured.  Make it more difficult for a person to gain access by blowing out the school window.  I see a lot of schools that have this grating covering the windows now where it will still be impossible to gain entrance.

Why does there have to be a one sized fits all policy?  Why can't communities make their own decisions?  Put their own plans into place?

I've listened to the 'gun free zone' arguments and think that 'gun free' makes them sitting ducks.

The problem with a 'one size fits all' plan?  They're still sitting ducks.  If everyone knows 'the plan', regardless of what 'the plan' is, I think it makes them sitting ducks. 

Why not let every community come up with their own plan and live and die with the consequences?

How many would know of a shooting in CT a hundred years go?  Before modern communication?  Not many.  Likely it would not have made the national news.  I think there is a real blurring of what is important as a nation and what is important at the community level.

If you take out the 'risk' and make everything a known quantity, what is the point in having a master plan for every school?

How do they get out in the event of a fire?  Fix one problem and create another?  Re-engineer every school in America and the nation goes bankrupt because of one tragic event at one school?

Isn't it possible that crazy/insane/terrorist people will just engineer a way around all those preventative measures?  Go bankrupt and enable terrorists?

Anyone ever build a better mousetrap?  Eliminate all mice?  I don't think so.

Look at housing codes and doors.  For thousands of years, door opened in.  For some reason, smart people decided that in case of fire, someone might be saved by having the door open outward.

Don't thousands of years of experience mean anything to 'smart' people?

Many of the schools I've been in already have lower windows that do not open.  They are climate controlled and nobody can open the window, much like a hi-rise.  What is there to secure? 

Every solution is also a problem waiting to happen. 

just my humble opinions of course

I grew up in So. Cal., all of the schools built in the 50's & 60's were built with an open campus.  Classrooms spread over many acres - they are not a single building or two as there are throughout most of the rest of the nation. 

Securing them is so much more difficult than say locking the front door with one way in and out, logistically impossible.  Fences have risen, gates are sometimes locked, how do they make such campus' safe and secure?

My husband worked maintainance for over 25 years at a middle school campus in an extremely gang-infested area.  The district tried armed sheriff's, armed guards etc., went to every extreme possible to the point it was cost-prohibitive.  We didn't see much of any of these measures really work........When a punk wanted in they found a way, be it to attack a child or teacher, set fires and many times they were armed.

It came to a point where the district enclosed the office/administration building in wrought iron fencing, security alarms & locks to protect the office staff but the classrooms are still open and easily accessable............This is just one school out of 45 in my district alone in a community that was once considered a safe/quiet town!  Now between the gangs and the mentally ill roaming the streets, the violence happening rarely makes the news.  I know with California's strict firearm laws there will never be armed staff.

We retired to Texas, another small town....pop. 5,000, this week alone the high school has been cleared out 3 times due to bomb threats.......they caught the 3 girls  leaving the threats in the bathrooms......they are facing 3rd degee terroriisms threats, all because they probably wanted out of testing. 

 The school district that are having they're staff arming themselves is a hundred miles up the road from here and I imagine it won't be long before our schools will do like-wise.  Who would have thought that the USofA would have to resort to this to protect our children!

Don't often post, but do read! And appreciate this site to help deal with the feelings and get answers. It would be wonderful to put into place a lot of these measures that have been discussed, but what if the 1-3 people on staff who are sharpshooters and armed are not in that day, in a very different area, doing different tasks, etc.? Schools and parents  have been raising money for a long time for arts and staff - if a certain group wants to do that for an armed guard, go for it - I would! (however, that armed guard needs to be in the right area at the right time if something happends) . Unfortunately, they will leave the poorer districts out in the lurch. MORE training for school staff!
Parents must attend NAMI to fully understand (in an experienced support group) what is going on with their young person. It seems to me AL should have been put in some type of residential treatment a long time ago, he was really breaking down, staying in the house is just not normal for as long as he was, though I do acknowledge there may have been legalities that took way too much time to force him into this (a kind of comittment) because many will not willingly go). Yes, there is a stigma to MI and most MI people are harmless, prefer to harm themselves, but guns in any type of home that has vulnerability (domestic violence, laxity, substance abuse ) can be very scary.

I took a walk down the block and took a picture of the windows of the elementary school down the block.  These gratings are all around the school and I'm sure in case of a fire that they could be opened.  I'm also sure they could get out the doors of the schools 5 main entrances.

Even if the windows were secure I'm pretty sure they aren't bullet proof.  Adam Lanza shot the windows to gain entrance.

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d118/Sanddrops/Schoolwindow1_zps22f2a450.jpg)

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d118/Sanddrops/Schoolwindow2_zps4eb39d61.jpg)

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d118/Sanddrops/Schoolwindow3_zps26cada78.jpg)

Babs our little town once was a safe place but no any more. I have nieces and nephews that work in the school district there it isn't getting any better.  While everyone has had wonderful post and insights to this horrific crime. I don't see any answers to what is happening in our country.

I see a mother that made some really bad choices what ever her reasoning was. It's been said she needed them for protection. Really. You need an assault rifle. She knew her son had mental issues and she still thought it was okay to have guns in her home. To me that was a very bad choice. Why put temptation any where around someone that is hurting themselves as it's been reported.  I am sorry but in my opinion that is asking for problems.

I understand trying to get help for anyone with a mental health problem is difficult for many reasons. I think we need to focus on fixing that. But to me the mom had her own issues and made some really bad discussion, And that is why there were 26 innocent lives lost. I guess what I am trying to say where has common sense gone. I just don't see much of it out there any more.

I agree.  It was said that she kept the guns in the same part of the house he played he video games but it was only in a different area in the basement.  They said the guns were secure.  How secure could they have been if he had access to them.

Its not just one tragic event at one school. Its happened multiple times. Go bankrupt if it means protecting our children.  not really sure u understand the magnitude  of that one event..

What is important then? Our children are more important than anything imo. I dont see the blur. I also think your comment about living & dying with the consequences is rather insensitive

http://www.kltv.com/story/20408421/new-details-emerge-a-week-after-school-massacre

Conn. town in mourning inundated with gifts, money

Posted: Dec 22, 2012 2:37 AM CST
Updated: Dec 22, 2012 7:18 PM CST
 
(http://apmobile.images.worldnow.com/images/1937889_G.jpg)
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig). While their son Jake Hockley stands between them, Nicole Hockley and her husband Ian Hockley touch their heads together at the end of a funeral service for their son Dylan Hockley in Bethel, Conn., Friday, Dec. 21, 2012.

By PAT EATON-ROBB and JESSE WASHINGTON
Associated Press

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) - Newtown's children were showered with gifts Saturday - tens of thousands of teddy bears, Barbie dolls, soccer balls and board games - and those are only some of the tokens of support from around the world for the town in mourning.

Just a little over a week ago, 20 children and six school employees were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, attacked the school, then killed himself. Police don't know what set off the massacre.

Days before Christmas, funerals were still being held Saturday, the last of those whose schedules were made public, according to the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association. A service was held in Utah for 6-year-old Emilie Parker. Others were held in Connecticut for Josephine Gay, 7, and Ana Marquez-Greene, 6.

All of Newtown's children were invited to Edmond Town Hall, where they could choose a toy. Bobbi Veach, who was fielding donations at the building, reflected on the outpouring of gifts from toy stores, organizations and individuals around the world.

"It's their way of grieving," Veach said. "They say, 'I feel so bad, I just want to do something to reach out.' That's why we accommodate everybody we can."

The United Way of Western Connecticut said the official fund for donations had $2.8 million in it on Saturday. Others sent envelopes stuffed with cash to pay for coffee at the general store, and a shipment of cupcakes arrived from a gourmet bakery in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The Postal Service reported a six-fold increase in mail in the town and set up a unique post office box to handle it. The parcels come decorated with rainbows and hearts drawn by schoolchildren.

Some letters arrived in packs of 26 identical envelopes - one for each family of the children and staff killed or addressed to the "First Responders" or just "The People of Newtown." One card arrived from Georgia addressed to "The families of 6 amazing women and 20 beloved angels." Many contained checks.

"This is just the proof of the love that's in this country," Postmaster Cathy Zieff said.

 ::snipping2::

At the town hall building, the basement resembled a toy store, with piles of stuffed penguins, dolls, games, and other fun gifts. All the toys were inspected and examined by bomb-sniffing dogs before being sorted and put on card tables. The children could choose whatever they wanted.

Jugglers entertained the children, a dunk tank was set up outside and the crowd of several hundred parents and children sang an enthusiastic rendition of "Happy Birthday" to one child. A man dressed as Santa Claus was in attendance, and high school students were offering arts and crafts such as face painting and caricatures.

Newtown resident Amy Mangold, director of the local Parks and Recreation department, attended with her 12-year-old daughter, Cory. She acknowledged that most people here could afford to buy their own gifts but said "this means people really care about what's happening here. They know we need comfort and want to heal."

She pointed to two people across the room. "Look at that hug, that embrace. This is bringing people together. Some people haven't been getting out since this happened. It's about people being together. I see people coming together and healing."

 ::snipping2::

Town officials have not decided yet what to do with all the money. A board of Newtown community leaders is being established to determine how it is most needed and will be best utilized, said Isabel Almeida with the local United Way, which has waived all its administrative fees related to the fund.

She said some have wondered about building a new school for Sandy Hook students if the town decides to tear the school down, but that decision has not been made.

And while the town is grateful for all the support, Almeida said, it has no more room for those gifts. Instead, she encouraged people to donate to others in memory of the Sandy Hook victims.

"Send those teddy bears to a school in your community or an organization that serves low-income children, who are in need this holiday season, and do it in memory of our children," she said.

 

Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed, Christopher Sullivan, Eileen AJ Connelly, Susan Haigh and John Christoffersen contributed to this report.

Dylan, our beautiful butterfly: Proud parents of the British boy killed in America's worst school shooting open their hearts for the first time
By Caroline Graham
PUBLISHED:17:30 EST, 22 December 2012| UPDATED: 17:30 EST, 22 December 2012
 ::snipping2::
A simple silver butterfly is pinned above her heart on the vibrant purple sweater she wears in honour of the little boy she called ‘Mister D’. Her faced is etched with grief as she talks of her ‘special angel’ who will never get to unwrap the Christmas presents that sit under the family tree.
 
Yet, in her quiet agony, Nicole Hockley – mother of Dylan Hockley, the young British boy who died in America’s worst school massacre – is determined to focus on the positive.
 ::snipping2::

Dylan, who suffered from autism, died cradled in the arms of his devoted special needs teacher Anne Marie Murphy who was also killed.
 ::snipping2::

Ian, 42, moved his family from Eastleigh, Hampshire, to Newtown, Connecticut, two years ago in the belief that America would give his boys – Dylan and big brother Jake, eight – a better start in life

more
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252233/Dylan-beautiful-butterfly-Proud-parents-British-boy-killed-Americas-worst-school-shooting-open-hearts-time.html

I don't know the exact policy schools should adopt, but I do think there should be a KNOWN presence of defensive weapon/weapons in the building. Personally, I don't think that one security armed guard is the best answer. I'm thinking of our high school which is sprawling and huge and the expense of adding a full time position to every school in the nation.  Lots of students could be shot while a security guard simply gets from one side of the building to the other, and even then, a shooter could easily position himself to pick one guard off. There's a narrow window of time that any defensive measure would be needed because the police would surely be on their way.... it's just those dire minutes before they arrive that's the issue. I am convinced that if the message that schools were efficiently staffed and equipped to defend the students in an emergency, then those precautions would almost never be needed. I don't think that placing a teacher in a position to hunt down a shooter is appropriate, but I have no problem with giving a teacher access to something other than her/his wits to stand between his students and someone armed to murder them. Shielding only against an intruder is not the whole answer. Columbine should teach us that.

No matter what the policy should be, it won't address Mall shootings, or movie theater shootings, but I do think that because students are required to attend school during designated hours, we should and can stop it there. I really believe that adopting specific policies, specific to school settings, can make a real difference. I don't see any way to accomplish that without the known presence of guns within the building and a widespread belief that they will be used to protect the students from the moment their lives are threatened. IMO, we owe our children that assurance.

I agree CBB.

Ryan Lanza mourns Newtown shooter sibling and mom, claims he's a victim

By CANDICE M. GIOVE
Last Updated: 8:59 AM, December 23, 2012
Posted: 1:25 AM, December 23, 2012


Newtown killer Adam Lanza, who shot dead his mother, six other adults and 20 children, is badly missed by his brother.

“I am a victim,” Ryan Lanza, 24, told The Post yesterday in a Facebook chat. “I loss [sic] my mom and brother.”

In a Facebook photo tribute, Ryan Lanza shared a smiling image of his younger brother, Adam (top photo), lounging in a long-sleeved shirt and a pullover tee.

“R.I.P.,” he wrote.

“I will miss you bro. I will always love you as long as I live,” Lanza posted.

Lanza also posted a picture of his mother, Nancy, 52 (bottom photo). In it, she looks carefree as she sweeps blonde curls away from her eyes and laughs.

“I miss you mom. I love you so much. You will be always in my heart,” he wrote.

Adam Lanza sprayed bullets into his sleeping mother’s head before he massacred 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He killed himself as cops moved in.

Ryan Lanza, who once attended Sandy Hook, grieved on Facebook for his brother’s youngest victims.

“You all will be truly be missed,” he wrote. “God Bless.”

Lanza has joined Facebook victim groups as well as groups that support him called “Support Ryan Lanza” and “Clear Ryan Lanza’s Name.”

(http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2012/12/23/news/web_photos/23.1n009.Lanza1.C--300x300.jpg)(http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2012/12/23/news/web_photos/23.1n009.Lanza2.C--300x350.jpg)

The entire "opinion" article by Gayle Trotter is a good read ... common sense.  IMO

Janet

+++++

Mother of six says school kids deserve to be protected by armed, trained guards
By Gayle Trotter
Published December 22, 2012

<snipped>

Already, gun-rights opponents have begun scoffing at the notion of armed guards in our children’s schools. That doesn’t prevent the gun-rights opponent-in-chief from relying on a government-provided security detail to protect his own children.

On any given school day, no fewer than 6 marked Secret Service police cars surround the Sidwell Friends School, where the Obama girls attend. In these cars, good guys are ready to respond with deadly force to any threat of harm to the first daughters.

The Secret Service’s mere presence deters anyone who would attempt violence at the school founded by Quakers, who adhere to pacifism and nonviolent principles. In this haven of Northwest Washington, D.C., the pacifists depend on guns for protection.

<snipped>

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/12/22/mother-six-says-school-kids-deserve-to-be-protected-by-armed-trained-guards/

A Double Standard?

Politically potent Hollywood escapes heavy scrutiny in wake of shooting
Published December 23, 2012

In the wake of last week's Connecticut school shooting, many in the media and on Capitol Hill blamed one powerful lobby, the gun industry, and suggested banning assault weapons would lead to safer streets.

<snipped>

Yet, there's another powerful lobby in Washington that few scrutinize, let alone criticize: Hollywood, though many argue the movie and video game industry also bears responsibility for incidents of adolescent violence.

"Hollywood is very touchy about the idea of taking responsibility for the stuff it actually does," Parents Television Council's Dan Isett said. "What happened in Newtown is absolutely heartbreaking. It shouldn't take an instance like that to have 20 dead children that just went to school that morning, to have a real discussion about why this happened.  To have a real discussion about what media does to our kids."

Not unlike the NRA, lawmakers fear the Motion Picture Association of America and their political allies. Consider the clout and fundraising acumen of producer Harvey Weinstein, a major heavyweight in Democratic politics, along with actors George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Leonardo DiCaprio, all of whom have acted in or produced violent films.

<snipped>

Read More:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/23/violent-movies-avoid-scrutiny-following-mass-shootings/

I'm for this also one of my best friends just became a principal here in CT she would do what ever she had to do to protect her kids in school..

Do you know their are kids in my grandson class  that are afraid to go back to school .
He said three kids are so scared they stayed home last week.

We here in CT are going through a lot every other day now, their is a lock down in one of our schools.
 I thought we were safe here in the woods people are robing banks with people inside right down the street . I will not go into a bank anymore.. debit car only and  direct deposit ::MonkeyNoNo::

Been researching - ( I work in mental health so I am trying to figure out what is going on)

Mom definitely had her own stuff going on (and in support I want to say it was probably very difficult to live and deal with him and think about him having to leave and go to some type of institution or group home). Still, the guns......And now I hear he was on meds that say they are for schzophrenia - Uncle says he was on Fanapt, drug for schizophrenia, but newer (see drugs. com) - did he drink alcohol with his Mom (contraindicated for this med), did he not take it while she was away or did he have a reaction to it? Did he not have enough medication?
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2012/12/predictions-confirmed-shooter-adam-lanza-was-on-violence-linked-anti-psychotic-fanapt-2517754.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9750422/Connecticut-school-shooting-Adam-Lanza-was-assigned-psychologist.html

Psychologist says AL fit the pattern on other school shooters:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/keeping-kids-safe/201212/adam-lanza-psychotic-shooter
I personally know a professional  who knew the Kinkles socially  (educators who were killed by their son - he shot people in his h.s. cafeteria,killed two and injured more)  and urged one of them  to get him help, it may be hard to overcome the denial as parents still remember the sweet kid

FBI profiler of Unabomber  says same thing  - (AL fit the pattern of school shooter) -hopefully this knowledge will help someone out to see this pattern as a social problem as well as an individual one, and to take action quickly enough
http://www.countytimes.com/articles/2012/12/20/news/doc50d3d6531769d550249727.txt

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/12/us/sandy-hook-timeline/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

Sandy Hook shooting: What happened?
December, 2012

(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/interactive/2012/12/us/sandy-hook-timeline/media/sandy-hook-labeled-map-lg.jpg)
A graphic depicting the site of the shooting. (CNN)

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Adam-Lanza-s-online-gaming-history-probed-4141582.php

Adam Lanza's online gaming history probed
Updated 9:16 am, Sunday, December 23, 2012

Newtown, Conn. --
Video games played, screen names used and credit cards billed to buy online gaming time are areas of interest to investigators trying to unravel the reasons behind Adam Lanza's rampage inside Sandy Hook Elementary School.
 
Electronic and forensics experts say information could be pulled from computers seized from Lanza's Newtown home, even if they were struck with a hammer, as some reports say.
 
"If he drilled holes into it, that would be a different story," said Mark Morton, a laboratory supervisor in the University of New Haven's electrical engineering department. "It depends on how much the federal government wants to spend. I believe if the federal government wants to recover data, it will get the data."
 
Morton said techniques to recover data from severely damaged computers include dismantling and reassembling hard-drive pieces or using software owned by the Department of Defense.
 
Sources have said the State Police are heading the shooting investigation.
Read more...

This was a comment someone made under an article I read.  It's so true.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/newtown-shooters-pause-may-have-saved-lives-say-investigators/story-fnd134gw-1226542647644

Newtown shooter's pause may have saved lives, say investigators
December 23, 2012  5:27PM

 ::snipping2::
The arriving officers encountered a shocking scene in Soto's classroom. Lanza had shot her, as well as special education teacher Anne Marie Murphy and six of Soto's 6- and 7-year old students. Seven of Soto's students were found huddled and unharmed in a classroom closet, apparently hidden by Soto when she heard shooting. The other students fled the classroom.

Based on initial statements from surviving children and the fact that Based on initial statements from surviving children and the fact that unfired bullets from Lanza's rifle were found on the ground, detectives suspect that some students were able to run to safety when Lanza stopped firing, probably for a short period of time, the officials said.

It is possible that Lanza, who reloaded the rifle frequently, mishandled or dropped a magazine and unfired bullets fell to the floor, they said.

But it also is possible, they said, that the mechanism that fed bullets into the rifle jammed, causing Lanza to remove the magazine and clear the weapon. Unfired bullets could have fallen to the classroom floor during that process as well, law enforcement officials said.

The six children who escaped Lanza's rampage ran to a home a short distance from the school. Upon reaching the home, one of the boys told the owner that "we obeyed the rules, we stayed on the sidewalk," one of the officials said.
 ::snipping2::

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/21/when-your-child-kills-the-parents-of-criminals.html
When Your Child Kills: the Parents of Criminals
December 21, 2012

In the aftermath of the Newtown school shooting parents are asking what drives kids to murder. In an excerpt from Far From the Tree, author Andrew Solomon explores how parents deal with criminal children—and speaks to Dylan Klebold’s parents about the aftermath of their son’s attack at Columbine.

More...
Video at Link

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/heartbreaking_smiles_ms_soto_class_mIAtV7NpFzD81i36jbTcvK

Newtown massacre victims (and survivors) pictured in Victoria Soto’s class photo
Last Updated: 9:18 AM, December 23, 2012
Posted: 1:25 AM, December 23, 2012

(http://www.nypost.com/r/nypost/2012/12/23/news/web_photos/web_sandy_school--525x429.jpg)
BEFORE THE NIGHTMARE:Victoria Soto and co-teacher Anne Marie Murphy join their first-grade students in an official class photo taken last fall. Those labeled were gunned down in the Dec. 14 massacre, while the others survived thanks to Soto’s heroism.

 ::snipping2::
“This is Victoria Soto’s class,” said Shannon Engel, the mother of slain 6-year-old Olivia Engel, holding back tears as she looked at the image.

Olivia and her classmates are pictured smiling with their teacher and protector, Soto, 27, who was killed trying to protect the students from Adam Lanza.

Fellow teacher Anne Marie Murphy, 52, also pictured, was slain as well. She was said to have been found with her arms around one of the slain children.
 
With Lanza cutting his murderous path through Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Soto hid her students in a classroom closet and cabinets — and put herself between them and the killer.

When Lanza entered the room, after killing 14 children in the classroom next door, she tried to steer him away by saying her students were in the auditorium.

But a handful of students, including Olivia, tried to flee. Lanza shot them.

In the photo are Soto’s other fallen students — Dylan Hockley, Allison Wyatt, Jesse Lewis, Avielle Richman, all 6 years old.

But because of Soto’s heroic actions, most of her little students survived the horror.

Thanks grace-land.  I knew where the link was but I didn't want to post it because it was so sad to see the picture.

You're welcome, San.  I didn't know that this was the article that you were referring to.  I believe that they were all angels and heroes that day.  God bless them all.  ::MonkeyAngel::
 

Alone together: Grieving dad at Jesse’s grave

By REUVEN FENTON and BETH DEFALCO
Last Updated: 6:07 AM, December 25, 2012
Posted: 12:40 AM, December 25, 2012

(http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2012/12/25/news/web_photos/25.1N008.littlejesse1.C--300x450.jpg)

No father should have to spend Christmas Eve in a cemetery.

But it was the only place Neil Heslin could be with his 6-year-old son, who was among the 20 youngsters slain in the Newtown, Conn., massacre.

Heslin last saw his adored son, Jesse Lewis, Dec. 13, when the two went Christmas shopping.

“He was rambling on about how this was going to be the best Christmas ever. We got into the whole meaning of Christmas, about giving and not receiving,” Heslin recalled.

“I told him, ‘What makes it happy for me is giving to you and seeing you happy.’

“And the next day — that happened.”

Jesse died a hero. Witnesses said he’d been leading other children to safety when he was gunned down by Adam Lanza.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/alone_together_grieving_dad_at_jesse_0LVqEcH51jNMcF4YB0Ls2K

That is heartbreaking! I saw the interview with his dad after it happened & he had me bawling. Seems like thats all he had was that little angel. I hope he takes care of his daddy from heaven.

Yes it is heartbreaking kcrn.  I've seen another interview with him also.  I hope he does take care of himself.  In that interview he said his little boy had no fear and that's why he thinks he made a run for it.  Very sad.

Earlier there was a reference to Israel and their gun laws.  Here is what the Israelis responded

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Israel-Gun-Control/2012/12/25/id/468967

Also, references to taking God out of schools.

How does one explain all of the pedophile priests, ministers, and pastors?

By understanding that God gives everyone of us a free will.  Those monsters chose to prey on innocents and thumb their noses at God.  Have no doubt, HE will punish them.

Pedophilia (classified as a mental disorder) develops in childhood and many pedophiles are attracted to professions that allow them exposure to children. If the suggestion is that because immorality occurs in church settings, the unabashed teaching of morality and belief in a purposeful God in school, is proven ineffective, then I disagree. If anything, the reinforcement of definition of right and wrong, recognition of how valuable we are as God's children, and closeness encouraged in family relationships, might very well be just what a child needs to internalize to be able to tell someone that an adult, in church or elsewhere, was being inappropriate with them.

Very well said

Which God are you going to have?  Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Native American, etc?

Anyway, above it was referenced that Lanza was on schizophrenic drugs.  The "uncle" who said that is a total imposter.  Not an uncle at all.

And the FB posts where Ryan Lanza says that he is a victim, etc. are a total fraud as well.

SM FRONT PAGE

Liberal Hypocrisy … NBC’s David Gregory Mocks NRA’s LaPierre for Proposing Armed Guards in Schools, Yet He Sends His Kids to High Security School (Update: Obama’s Daughters Have 11 Armed Guards ar Their School)
 
Once again we are presented with liberal hypocrisy and the double standard. What is good for them, is not the same that “We the People” are allowed.

<snipped>

David Gregory mocked the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre for proposing that armed guards be at every school in America. But the NBC host seems to have no problem with armed guards protecting his kids everyday where they attend school in Washington, D.C.

<snipped>

Posted December 26, 2012 by Scared Monkeys

Video:
http://scaredmonkeys.com/2012/12/26/liberal-hypocrissy-nbcs-david-gregory-mocks-nras-lapierre-for-proposing-armed-guards-in-schools-yet-he-sends-his-kids-to-high-security-school-update-obamas-daughters-have-11-armed-guards/

12/24/12  School Obama's Daughters Attend Has 11 Armed Guards
 
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/12/23/School-Obama-s-Daughters-Attend-Has-11-Armed-Guards-Not-Counting-Secret-Service

I see nothing wrong with armed guards. We have police in the high schools where I live and I assume they are armed.  We are not a  high crime area. 

I have never wondered where the money comes from but I do now.

Who is going to pay for all of this?

Some schools are so spread out that it is going to take a few just to cover a huge area.

And they need to eat and go to the bathroom so one will not work.

Then there are all of the field trips and after school activities.  What about that?

I suppose one can arm teachers, but we all know at trained officers make mistakes.  People who to the firing range and get constant training.

And if the teacher is concentrating on getting children out of harm's way and keeping them quiet, is s/he guiding and directing with one arm and shooting with the other?

Maybe where you live people love to spend money on schools.  Where I live, they are not interested.