Mass Shooting in Connecticut-THREAD NAME CHANGE

[Thomas]

While everyone blaming the other reasons Obama is basically he is going to push gun restrictions so get ready for the storm because this one like hurricane sandy is going to have some bite. Me; personally I blame the video game that teach the kids it’s OK to kill or maim hundreds of people at a time

I've played a LOT of "shooter" games on the computer. Hundreds of zombies, henchmen, bandits and mercenaries have fallen to my pixelated firearms over the years. But I simply cannot fathom a situation where I would ever think to do something so vile to little children. It takes a LOT more than playing some video games to get someone to commit such a vile and vicious crime.

When I was a kid, I played a computer game where you actually got points for running over people (children were more points). I don't even think they make video games where you can run over people. Even in Grand Theft Auto, you can't run people over! It's definitely not the video games, they haven't given me any urge to kill people.

[JALLEN]

why don't we have plain clothes armed security at school? we had em at Skyline high school in dallas when i was a student in the early 80's .

When I was in high school, in the hill country a long, long time ago, there was a rifle hanging on the gun rack of just about every pickup truck, student and teacher alike, and pistols in the glove boxes, too. There was never a problem because we all knew better than to mess around.... somebody might get hurt!

When Charles Whitman started shooting from the Tower in 1966, lots of guys ran to their trucks, got their rifles and returned fire, ineffectively for the most part as the Tower is a near perfect sniper perch. But it distracted Whitman enough.

[sjfcontrol]

I just watched Obama's speech. He listed other mass shootings and said we must do something to change this regardless of the politics. He reached up to his eye several times to wipe away a tear. The thing I noticed was his eyes were not red. His voice was steady. His facial muscles were not twitching in an effort not to cry. The "tears" were not left to run far enough to be visible on camera. I compared that to the speech I saw him give his team after his re-election. The tears were running, and he struggled to manage his composure. He voice broke and he had to pause. I am saddened to realize he was more visibly moved when he thanked his re-election team than he was to discuss the deaths of so many children. Oh yeah, he will be using this to every possible advantage not to make schools more secure, but to disarm the law abiding. He well knows criminals and the psychotic will not care about any new laws.

It's called "crocodile tears"

[TexasGal]

Massad Ayoob discussed the solution Israel enacted to defend against shooters in schools:

"Israel began the program of armed citizen guards in the schools after the Maalot massacre in the 1970s, when a large number of children were slain in a terrorist incident. The volunteer parents work in plain clothes, armed with concealed semi-automatic pistols, and are trained by Israel's home guard. It is significant that in the more than a quarter century between Maalot and the incident mentioned above when the citizen guards shot down the terrorist in the school in 2002, not a single child was murdered in an Israeli school!"

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob81.html

[mojo84]

I like Ayoob's idea.

[Skiprr]

And in related news, Friday morning a man in the Henan province of Chengping, China, used a knife to attack and injure a total of 23 people at a primary (elementary) school. Evidently the man went after an elderly woman first, possibly a teacher, then cut or stabbed 22 children. I don't know if any of the injured died, but at least two children had to be taken to an urban, better-equipped hospital due to the severity of their injuries. The attacker was eventually subdued by security guards before he did even more damage. Reported briefly by WYTV in Ohio.

The MSM media and all the usual suspects (Brady Bunch, Bloomberg, et al.) immediately made the Newtown tragedy all about gun control. I guarantee we won't see much, if anything, about the school attack in China that was separated from Newtown by mere hours, but it's a compelling juxtaposition.

[philip964]

And in related news, Friday morning a man in the Henan province of Chengping, China, used a knife to attack and injure a total of 23 people at a primary (elementary) school. Evidently the man went after an elderly woman first, possibly a teacher, then cut or stabbed 22 children. I don't know if any of the injured died, but at least two children had to be taken to an urban, better-equipped hospital due to the severity of their injuries. The attacker was eventually subdued by security guards before he did even more damage. Reported briefly by WYTV in Ohio.

The MSM media and all the usual suspects (Brady Bunch, Bloomberg, et al.) immediately made the Newtown tragedy all about gun control. I guarantee we won't see much, if anything, about the school attack in China that was separated from Newtown by mere hours, but it's a compelling juxtaposition.

And yes most of my liberal friends have shown this as a reason to ban guns. With a knife the man was only able to wound.

[rm9792]

[ I don't even think they make video games where you can run over people. Even in Grand Theft Auto, you can't run people over! It's definitely not the video games, they haven't given me any urge to kill people.

I know you can in the Far Cry series and the Black Ops series. I have ran over many enemies in Far Cry 2.

[Heartland Patriot]

And in related news, Friday morning a man in the Henan province of Chengping, China, used a knife to attack and injure a total of 23 people at a primary (elementary) school. Evidently the man went after an elderly woman first, possibly a teacher, then cut or stabbed 22 children. I don't know if any of the injured died, but at least two children had to be taken to an urban, better-equipped hospital due to the severity of their injuries. The attacker was eventually subdued by security guards before he did even more damage. Reported briefly by WYTV in Ohio.

The MSM media and all the usual suspects (Brady Bunch, Bloomberg, et al.) immediately made the Newtown tragedy all about gun control. I guarantee we won't see much, if anything, about the school attack in China that was separated from Newtown by mere hours, but it's a compelling juxtaposition.

And yes most of my liberal friends have shown this as a reason to ban guns. With a knife the man was only able to wound.

I guess before firearms were invented, no one was ever killed.

Seriously, have those liberal friends never heard of phrases like "put to the sword"?

[TexasGal]

The guns used have been confirmed to have been legally purchased and registered to the shooter's mother. I have not heard if he also got the vest from her house. Were they in a safe and he got the combination or were they not secured? I am sure this will be the subject of further discussion in the days ahead. One report was given of a former neighbor who said Adam had Asperger's and OCD. She also reported the mom was a good mom, but very restrictive and Adam was sometimes rebellious against that.

[Dave2]

The guns used have been confirmed to have been legally purchased and registered to the shooter's mother.

And then illegally stolen by the shooter.

[TexasGal]

Yes. There were multiple laws broken in this. Yet, we will pass some more laws as if that will change the mental states of troubled persons and somehow make them less able to do harm. If he had not gotten access to those guns, I have no doubt we would still have a tragedy. He may have used other guns or other means, but he obviously had a lot of psychotic fury to vent using something.

[powerboatr]

Yes. There were multiple laws broken in this. Yet, we will pass some more laws as if that will change the mental states of troubled persons and somehow make them less able to do harm. If he had not gotten access to those guns, I have no doubt we would still have a tragedy. He may have used other guns or other means, but he obviously had a lot of psychotic fury to vent using something.

yes and what on earth possessed him to murder the children? Mom was deceased and according to the news, was dead at home.
why did he feel compelled to kill the children? I can not get out of my head the basic image of this thing standing there shooting these children, and he probably reloaded at least one pistol.
those poor souls,

say a prayer tonight for these little ones especially.

[TexasGal]

I'm not a psychiatrist, but the one interviewed on one station speculated the reason was those kids were "her" class and this kid had a lot of hate aimed at his mother. He was effectively destroying her over and over again in his mind. In the grips of psychosis, a person simply is incapable of seeing his/her actions in a normal way. One of the characteristics of Aspergers is a difficulty with empathy. It is empathy that brings most of us to such a sense of horror at something terrible happening to someone else.

[philip964]

I sent this letter this evening in response to a USAToday editorial about the Mall shooting a few days ago. If you see something you have previously posted thank you for your help. No doubt there will be even more negative gun editorials on Monday.

I hope you like the letter. No chance it will be published.

"Dear Editor,

In response to Bruce Khuger's editorial on Thursday "Kids Aren't Safe Even with Santa", yes adults are to blame for putting children in the line of fire. Laws preventing honest citizens from legal concealed carry in the Clackamas Town Center mall in Portland, Oregon helped the criminal murder two people.

The same is true with all school and college campus shootings and even for the Aurora, Colorado movie massacre. They were all "Gun Free Victim Zones". Honest citizens could not protect themselves or the lives of others. Now we have the so tragic massacre in Newtown, CT. another "Gun Free Victim Zone", this time as you feared in your article, small children were the targets.

"Gun Free Victim Zones" do not work and have not worked for a long enough period of time to ask our lawmakers for a change.

America needs to adopt the Israeli method that has almost stopped all mass shootings in their schools since 1970. Here the sheepdog is given back his fangs to protect the innocent sheep. The wolf has stayed away. There is a reason these sick people attack schools and not police stations, they want victims, not to be a victim at the hand of their intended target.

Many will see the tragedy at Newtown as a reason for more gun control. One has to look no farther away than Mexico to see how total gun control works. Here only the criminals have the guns and so many have died as a result.

The gun can not be uninvented, it exists in our society, as adults, we must decide who will have them, the honest citizen or the criminal.

Finally, as you run a story about gun violence in Chicago, New York, Mexico or at any of our schools and college campuses, please remind your readers that the shooting occurred in a "Gun Free Victim Zone"."