Elementary School Shooting In Connecticut

[Bocefish]

WTF!?? Several children among the dead. Apparently some student's father did this before killing himself. Whoever the shooter is deserves a special place in hell for this. WTF, why in the world would anyone shoot children?!? This school is K-5th grade. 26 fatalaties reported including 18 children.

http://news.yahoo.com/connecticut-towns ... 53370.html

 

[mynameisbob84]

Just read about this. Fucked up beyond all belief. Stricter gun controls now maybe? Please?

Also, the media can be ashamed of themselves. Pushing small children to give detailed accounts of the trauma they've only just experienced. Fuck off with that shit and reassess what constitutes 'news values'.

 

[Jupiter551]

Disgusting. And not to get into this whole thing again but guns don't kill people, the whackos who can access them do. These school shootings don't happen anywhere else - I'm sorry but 18 dead children this week alone is too high a price to pay for unrestricted gun ownership. Also, there is no hell except the psychological one of 36 parents, this cowardly asshole got away scot-free, he should have been made to suffer the rest of his days in a maximum security prison. If there's anything close to hell - that's it.

 

[NoelleBright]

Did he off himself, or was he killed by police?

 

[NoelleBright]

They just released an update stating that the shooter was 24 years old, wearing a bullet proof vest, and was carrying 4 firearms.

 

[mynameisbob84]

I think I read he killed himself. I guess once you've done what he did, you've got a choice between living the rest of your life in prison (and all that comes with that...) and living with the knowledge that you murdered 27 innocent people, most of them children - or just killing yourself there and then. It's the easy way out.

 

[LaceyRoyce]

This is breaking my heart today.

 

[Jupiter551]

There are also reports of a second shooter which is a weird twist but is not hard to believe. Not meaning to sound callous but I think successfully shooting dead 27 screaming, panicking, stampeding moving targets is harder than it sounds, even if some are only children ugh, I hate even writing that.

 

[SatanJonez]

From what I know about prison child killers/molester last only long enough to be tortured & killed by inmates who have nothing to lose, maybe even some guards depending? Weird when even convicted criminals have standards. Of course, since this is second hand knowledge, I could be wrong/it could only happen in some cases.

Also, as much as I wish stricter gun control laws would work, I can't imagine in this country they would. As someone else stated on another forum and thread discussing this horrible event...

It would not work in this state even.

It will just cause more black market gun-based violence and paint a big target on Connecticut for the NRA and other gun advocates. Nothing will be changed for the better.

If it were my reality, the parents would get to do what they want with the second shooter, but alas two wrongs don't make a right or something like that.

 

[Jupiter551]

From what I know about prison child killers/molester last only long enough to be tortured & killed by inmates who have nothing to lose, maybe even some guards depending? Weird when even convicted criminals have standards. Of course, since this is second hand knowledge, I could be wrong/it could only happen in some cases.

Also, as much as I wish stricter gun control laws would work, I can't imagine in this country they would. As someone else stated on another forum and thread discussing this horrible event...

It would not work in this state even.

It will just cause more black market gun-based violence and paint a big target on Connecticut for the NRA and other gun advocates. Nothing will be changed for the better.

If it were my reality, the parents would get to do what they want with the second shooter, but alas two wrongs don't make a right or something like that.

Without the supply of new guns don't old black market guns eventually get cycled out of the system after being seized during crimes etc? It would also increase the price of guns compared to legal ones, thirdly your average white middle class estranged father (who commits a lot of murder-suicides statistically) doesn't know where to go buy a glock with the serial number filed off - he just walks into his local gun store, probably long before he ever considers committing the horrible crime; he's hardly likely to seek out a black market firearm dealer to have a gun for home defense.
Reduced availability, increased cost, and difficulty in procuring a weapon are ALL factors that would reduce instances like this. It would save lives, end of story. It works everywhere else in the world, to say it doesn't or that it wouldn't work is just NRA propaganda for its own purposes.
Since Columbine there have been 31 US school shootings, and 14 in the rest of the world COMBINED, considering the US has less than 5% of the world's population...something is clearly different in your country.
I know this isn't the place for comedy right now, but Chris Rock makes a really damn good point:

 

[Bocefish]

There are also reports of a second shooter which is a weird twist but is not hard to believe. Not meaning to sound callous but I think successfully shooting dead 27 screaming, panicking, stampeding moving targets is harder than it sounds, even if some are only children ugh, I hate even writing that.

It's unconscionable to even imagine, but it sounds like the 18 children were all gunned down inside one classroom. The adult victims were all near the Principle's office. Can't even begin to understand the depths of grief, trauma and loss the families are feeling.

Now there may be other crime scenes... the shooter's mother was reportedly found dead inside her residence. Hindsight will likely be 20/20, but evil sociopaths almost always give clues prior to something like this, be aware.

 

[Jupiter551]

There are also reports of a second shooter which is a weird twist but is not hard to believe. Not meaning to sound callous but I think successfully shooting dead 27 screaming, panicking, stampeding moving targets is harder than it sounds, even if some are only children ugh, I hate even writing that.

It's unconscionable to even imagine, but it sounds like the 18 children were all gunned down inside one classroom. The adult victims were all near the Principle's office. Can't even begin to understand the depths of grief, trauma and loss the families are feeling.

Now there may be other crime scenes... the shooter's mother was reportedly found dead inside her residence. Hindsight will likely be 20/20, but evil sociopaths almost always give clues prior to something like this, be aware.

my 8 year old niece is coming over today so I can take her for a milkshake and give her her birthday present, I'm going to have to try not to think of this horrible stuff as I look at her. That fucking asshole, kids are so vulnerable and optimistic and to take away the only life they have...no punishment is enough for that piece of trash.

 

[CallMeWilliam]

Gun control is only a small part of stopping these kinds of things from happening but will not stop it completely

See: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012 ... chool.html

However the kinds of guns that are available for purchase and own should be controlled. A hunter does not need a semi or automatic weapon to hunt nor does an average person need a large caliber weapon for protection.

Guns may not kill people but it sure in hell makes it easier to do so and in mass.

:twocents-02cents:

 

[Anonymous]

WTF!?? Several children among the dead. Apparently some student's father did this before killing himself. Whoever the shooter is deserves a special place in hell for this.

Agreed 100%!

I'm going to read up on this, and I'm curious what happened to the shooter's child? Did he/she get shot too?

 

[Jupiter551]

However the kinds of guns that are available for purchase and own should be controlled. A hunter does not need a semi or automatic weapon to hunt nor does an average person need a large caliber weapon for protection.

Guns may not kill people but it sure in hell makes it easier to do so and in mass.

:twocents-02cents:

I agree completely. Gun control isn't gun banning, it's just setting reasonable limits on what an average person needs a gun for. A double-barrelled shotgun for instance is probably better for home defense than any pistol for instance, yet it can't be used to cause a mass murder.

 

[NoelleBright]

They identified the shooter as Ryan Lanza.
He lived in NJ but was from Newtown originally.
His mother was a teacher there and was among those killed.

 

[Anonymous]

They identified the shooter as Ryan Lanza.
He lived in NJ but was from Newtown originally.
His mother was a teacher there and was among those killed.

WTF? His own mother?!

 

[Jupiter551]

They identified the shooter as Ryan Lanza.
He lived in NJ but was from Newtown originally.
His mother was a teacher there and was among those killed.

WTF? His own mother?!

Sadly, it makes more sense than someone killing a stranger. Usually these kinds of psychopaths have complex love-hate relationships with their family members; exactly why some men kill their wife and kids then themselves.

 

[NoelleBright]

They identified the shooter as Ryan Lanza.
He lived in NJ but was from Newtown originally.
His mother was a teacher there and was among those killed.

WTF? His own mother?!

Actually now I'm hearing it wasn't his mother, but his father. I'm not sure which is correct, reports aren't matching up for that part.

 

[mynameisbob84]

There's been conflicting reports. At first it was reported that they found his mother dead at their home, then it was the school, and now it's the father that was supposedly shot. His brother is also being held though it doesn't say anywhere whether it's just for questioning or if he's a suspect. The whole thing's just fucked.

 

[NoelleBright]

Ugh, they're also reporting there was a body found in his home.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/national_world&id=8920194

 

[NoelleBright]

There's been conflicting reports. At first it was reported that they found his mother dead at their home, then it was the school, and now it's the father that was supposedly shot. His brother is also being held though it doesn't say anywhere whether it's just for questioning or if he's a suspect. The whole thing's just fucked.

From what I understand he didn't live with his parents, he lived in Hoboken NJ.
Both of his parents were supposedly employed at the school, though.

 

[Nordling]

His mother and father. Apparently, his mother was the teacher of that class. I just heard that the other shooter, who they have in custody, is his brother.

The guns were legally purchased.

 

[AllisonWilder]

It's all just so tragic, I can't even begin to imagine. My heart goes out to all the victims and all the families that were forever changed today.

 

[sweetiebatman]

Wow, another absolutely senseless tragedy, and to lose ones so young with their whole lives ahead of them

CNN are now reporting his brother has been found dead in New Jersey, and his younger brother is in custody

I would hope to see a full and frank debate about gun control in the US in he coming weeks, Pandering to the wants of the minority at the expense of the innocent minority is clearly not working

RIP the 26 victims (not the 27th, the coward)

 

[alexa7]

my son is 6... he was in kindergarten last year, my heart aches.

When you are a parent, somehow you feel as if all children are your own.

How could anyone do such a thing...

I can't protect my child from these kinds of things, and as a parent there is something so horrible about that feeling.

 

[Red7227]

Reduced availability, increased cost, and difficulty in procuring a weapon are ALL factors that would reduce instances like this. It would save lives, end of story. It works everywhere else in the world, to say it doesn't or that it wouldn't work is just NRA propaganda for its own purposes.

That is the point really. Stringent licencing and requiring evidence that the owner has a registered gun in the calibre of ammunition that he is buying would make a huge difference without limiting the number of guns in legal hands. Criminals in Melbourne, 20 years after the creation of stringent gun controls, carry .22 pistols for the most part, because getting ammunition for anything else requires too much paperwork and effort.

 

[Avatar]

What frightens me most is the defective mental states that lead people to perform such heinous acts as this and the knife attack in China.

 

[mynameisbob84]

Sam Seaborn sums up my feelings on these things better than I ever could...

This is from a scene in the West Wing after one of the characters was shot but it's certainly relevant today.

But for a brilliant surgical team and two centimeters of a miracle, this guy’s dead right now. From bullets fired from a gun bought legally. They bought guns, they loaded them, they drove from Wheeling to Rosslyn, and until they pulled the trigger they had yet to commit a crime. I am so off-the-charts tired of the gun lobby tossing around words like ‘personal freedom’ and no one calling ‘em on it. It’s not about personal freedom, and it certainly has nothing to do with public safety. It’s just that some people like guns.

For the record, I think a lot of people own guns for the "right reasons" - personaly safety - but after trawling through twitter and seeing some of the shit people have been spouting today, it does seem that for many, the whole gun stance begins and ends with "I like my guns and nobody can make me give them up". As long as that attitude prevails, things like we saw today will continue to happen more often than they have any right to. :twocents-02cents:

 

[AllisonWilder]

I don't really think this thread needs to be about where the country (or we as individuals) should stand on gun control. That deserves it's own thread, far away from this one about children.