Reports out of Connecticut say a man dressed in military type garb with a flack jacket went into Sandy Hook Elementary school and opened fire in a kindergarten class. 18 children killed, 8 adults dead, including the shooter.
I am just heartbroken over this. Why harm children.
YOUR 2012 NCCA Tournament Bracket Challenge Winner
My kids school has the same method of entry. I can't tell you how many times the door does not fully shut or someone holds the door open and lets them in. I am guessing they must have known him since his mother worked there. So sad.
Newtown isn't that far from the area I cover (northwest CT), and it's not too dissimilar to the towns that I cover at work either. It didn't hit me until a few hours after it happened that this could have been Winsted or Norfolk or Barkhamsted. I've been gorging on the coverage of what's happened and... it still doesn't feel real. Newtown's the kind of town that people move to because this doesn't happen there.
As seems to be the case whenever this happens, people come crawling out of the woodwork to weigh in on gun control, to weigh in on the people weighing in on gun control, all this talk and ego-stroking. Maybe it's too soon to sort this out, but let's not take our eyes off of actual tragedy because someone else saw something shiny. My thoughts are with the victims and their families (and that includes Ryan Lanza, who millions were ready to string up until the police said it was his brother), but once the healing process is well on its way, let's just have an honest talk about what can be done.
You wanted the best, you got... the Out of Context Quote of the Week.
"£8.70 for a measly 16 out of your average fag machine." (dMr)
Originally posted by drjayphdNewtown isn't that far from the area I cover (northwest CT), and it's not too dissimilar to the towns that I cover at work either. It didn't hit me until a few hours after it happened that this could have been Winsted or Norfolk or Barkhamsted. I've been gorging on the coverage of what's happened and... it still doesn't feel real. Newtown's the kind of town that people move to because this doesn't happen there.
As seems to be the case whenever this happens, people come crawling out of the woodwork to weigh in on gun control, to weigh in on the people weighing in on gun control, all this talk and ego-stroking. Maybe it's too soon to sort this out, but let's not take our eyes off of actual tragedy because someone else saw something shiny. My thoughts are with the victims and their families (and that includes Ryan Lanza, who millions were ready to string up until the police said it was his brother), but once the healing process is well on its way, let's just have an honest talk about what can be done.
Given the pace of events like this by the time we've healed and mourned the appropriate length of time we should be about ready to begin the mourning for the victims of the next senseless act.
Every time a mass shooting happens, the mantra I hear from gun nuts* is that guns don't cause these things, and that evil people will find a way to do evil things regardless. Well, as a counterpoint, as well as a convenient if unfortunate contrast, we have this similar incident in China, also yesterday:
Man Stabs 22 Children in China
A man wielding a knife wounded 22 children and one adult outside a primary school in central China as students were arriving for classes on Friday, the police said.
The attack, in the village of Chengping in Henan Province, happened shortly before 8 a.m., said a police officer from Guangshan County, where the village is located.
The attacker, Min Yingjun, 36, was subdued by security guards and taken into custody by the police, said the officer, who declined to give her name, which is customary among Chinese civil servants. Guards have been posted at schools across China after a spate of attacks in recent years.
So, this evil dude also attacked 20+ children at a school, but with a knife. Number of deaths? Zero. Still an evil dude who deserves harsh punishment, and yet there are no deaths resulting from his actions.
That's not to say that people CAN'T die from a knife of course (in fact, the story I've linked to mentions an incident in 2010 where eight Chinese school children were stabbed to death), but I think it would be pretty hard and WAY more unlikely to kill 27 people only by stabbing them. And at the very least, to suggest that talking about many brain-dead Americans' infatuation with firearms has no place in the discussion of this incident is criminally stupid. I'm not in the US at the moment, so it's difficult for me to comment on specific media coverage of this incident, but I remember after the Colorado shooting earlier this year, the people saying gun control has no place in this discussion were out almost as soon as the gun had stopped firing. It's really sad.
* - I think a good working definition for "gun nut" is, "anyone who sees all the mass shootings that have taken place in the United States in recent years and doesn't think the country has a major, major gun problem." The guns used in the Connecticut shooting were purchased legally, though by the gunman's mother and not by him.
I think gun control and mental health issues need to be discussed and we need a better understanding of mental health, but only one topic will be discussed while people largely ignore mental health of people and outr fundamental misunderstanding of people that are mentally ill. Yesterday was a terrible tragedy and my heart aches for all the families affected. I will never understand how someone could do this let alone little babies. I read a story about one of the teachers hiding the kids in cabinets and telling the killer that the kids were in the gym. The woman was sadly killed, but she saved many lives and is a hero.
Both sides need to stop politicizing these things before the bodies are cold.
I'm also tired of America's need to have a simple cure all for anything bad. Feel sad? Take a pill. An issue like this has tons for factors. It reminds me of the Benoit tragedy. Everyone was looking for the silver bullet. Steroids, concussions, whatever. At the end of the day it seems like Benoit suffered from depression from the loss of his closest friends, imbalances from a cocktail of drugs in his system over the years, and brain damage from concussions.
Here I think it is a combination of the guy's autism, possibly side effects of medication, parenting, and access of guns he shouldn't have had access to. The mother collected guns. Ok, well if you do that you should damn well take safeguards to keep them out of your kid's hands.
Autism? Really? We are going to throw that out there an excuse? We will probably put more restrictions with people with Autism than we will on guns. We have one of these things a week now and doubt autism is the reason. The reason, no one wants to say it out loud, "We need gun control, now!" We don't need another NRA rally in that town to rub their noses in it. No one has the balls to stand up to the NRA. Instead we put flags at half staff and continue funding an industry that doesn't give a shit who dies with their product. If this was any other industry, they would be in jail now. I could say more, but I am just going to stop, because I don't want to get banned.
The Wee Baby Sheamus.Twitter: @realjoecarfley its a bit more toned down there. A bit.
Originally posted by ScottyflamingoBoth sides need to stop politicizing these things before the bodies are cold.
There have been so many mass shootings this year that if this rate, there will never be a talk about tighter gun control because people will always claim "let the families mourn."
Seems like a mass shooting every 8 weeks.
The mother collected guns. Ok, well if you do that you should damn well take safeguards to keep them out of your kid's hands.
I am VERY pro-gun control but this fact is getting lost in the reporting. The shooter didn't buy the guns because of lax gun control, it was access to family guns.
We will never know if they were in a gun safe under a lock and key and he had to kill her to get access, or she just left them loaded on the kitchen table. The point with this tragedy is that it wasn't loose purchasing laws in this case as he never even owned one of those guns.
There is no law that Dems can throw at this that could have prevented it. If someone wants a gun bad enough from a family member, and they're not right in the head, they will get it some way or another.
-- 2006 Time magazine Person of the Year -- -- July 2009 Ordained Reverend --
Why crucify the NRA? Gun ownership is part of Constitution - so important that the founding fathers made it 2nd.
It's a behavior issue , not a gun issue. There was something wrong with this kid and I agree it's part of the pill generation. Feed someone enough Prozac and killing is like a day at the beach. That's what needs to be addressed
Besides, we have like 1,042 gun laws on the books. How would one more help?
Don't hide behind "I'll get banned". Make yer point. CRZ is the constable and I think if you write semi-coherently, you might be able to make that point
If not, you're fucked
FLEA
Demonstrations are a drag. Besides, we're much too high
Originally posted by RYDER FAKINDon't hide behind "I'll get banned". Make yer point. CRZ is the constable and I think if you write semi-coherently, you might be able to make that point
No, trouble is I meant to close this thread up there and I guess I just left the reply and didn't. I'll be doing that now.
I basically have two options here: I can let everybody speak, or I can let everybody not speak. I have read the tea leaves and it's better that I just let everybody not speak.
(I gave Bucs one undeleted message, so I'll give FLEA one too. That's my warped sense of balance.)
EDIT: Ah, my "Close" button doesn't work any more! So I didn't imagine it earlier.
Title speaks for itself. Apparently, there was alcohol in his system. http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=6434a60c-a9ad-45a7-bdd1-7a5c4bac6a65