CAN we PLEASE TALK GUN CONTROL NOW!?!?!?!
Posted: December 14, 2012 Filed under: Breaking News 84 CommentsIt appears that 27 people–mostly children–are dead this morning from what only can be called a gun massacre. The shooter was a 24 year old white man. The shooting occurred at an Elementary School so the victims are mostly under 10 years old. There is a news conference that is scheduled shortly. The President is being updated. The news conference will include the governor of Connecticut. The community of Newtown is considered a sleepy burb with very little issues.
This is the latest: 26 KILLED, INCLUDING 18 KIDS, IN CONN. SCHOOL SHOOTING: OFFICIAL.
MORE THAN 12 DEAD –including Children–at a middle school shoot out.
More than a dozen people, including children, were killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Friday morning.
The exact number of deaths is unknown, but officials are speculating that “at least 12” may be a conservative estimate. The shooter, who police say is likely a parent of a student who may have had a confrontation with the principal, is said to be among the fatalities.
Just in case you do not know how I feel about this you can check out my post form the last shoot out that occurred in a public place:
The NRA’s Deadly Legacy: Mass Shootings are “Commonplace” with “Ritualized” Responses.
Just to remind you how common these young white male shoot outs are:
A Guide to Mass Shootings in America
There have been at least 61 in the last 30 years—and most of the killers got their guns legally.
You can listen to local live coverage at the the link to this story at top. The shooter is dead. The shooter was a 20 year old male. Many parents are still unaware of their children’s status.
From CNN:
Children and adults gunned down in Connecticut school massacre
Update: 18 Children dead and 25-27 total dead. The Number is Rising.
From NBC:
At least 24 people were killed, including at least 17 children, when a gunman opened fire in a Connecticut elementary school Friday morning, a law enforcement official said. The alleged gunman, a 20-year-old male, was later found dead at the school.
The incident sent crying children spilling into the school parking lot as frightened parents waited for word on their loved ones.
“I was in the gym and I heard a loud, like seven loud booms, and the gym teachers told us to go in the corner, so we all huddled,” one student at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown told NBC Connecticut during its live broadcast. “And I kept hearing these booming noises. And we all … started crying.
“All the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us,” she added. “So then a police officer came in and told us to run outside. So we did and we came in the firehouse and waited for our parents.”
Two 9mm handguns were recovered from the scene, an official told WNBC’s Jonathan Dienst.
This post will be updated frequently.
update: One of the Sandy Hook gunmen was a 24-year-old wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying four guns http://slnm.us/Zgklguv
I just texted I love you to both my Eggs with Legs. The thought that you could just drop your kids off at their local elementary school and have some crazy asshole walk in and slaughter them just has me in the Tear Zone. I always thought it likelier to happen to me on a campus. I guess it just goes to show how much guns, anger, testosterone, and right wing angst still rule our country. You have one major political party continually making bad guys out of public schools and teachers and eventually some one feels justified to go off on them.
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Sky Dancing 
I lived in Newtown, CT I have friends in Newtown CT and my kids would have gone to Sandy Hook schools!
I may know people who have died!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG! This is horrendous. I’ve been out for awhile. I had no idea.
Yikes, I am so out of it, tears, and tears, can hardly walk my dog today. It time to stop this killing.
my kids were going to go to this school when we lived up there. omg omg omg
This person went in with like 4 guns and body armor and was likely buzzed in because they were a parent.
Unbelievable ..
You’ve probably met some of the victims. I’m so sorry. This is so hard to process.
I know at least 6 kids who go to that elementary school! I know a woman, Jesse, who was a translator for the fairfield schools…she works at all the schools near Newtown, she was my neighbor.
David Gregory was such an asshole, he should be fired, I had to shut Msnbc off because of the shit he was saying
what was he saying JJ?
I’m too upset to write now, I try and type letters but the words are all messed up with typos.
I don’t know if it’s what JJ saw, but I watched him say that we should wait till we know more about the gunman’s motives before we start talking about gun control. I nearly put my shoe through the TV.
I can’t stop the tears! These little kids who were looking forward to Santa and all the thrill of the holidays gunned down in an instant by some madman with an automatic weapon.
Words cannot describe the feeling that this has produced and my heart goes out to those families who are faced with this awful, unneeded suffering.
What is it going to take to make us stand up to an industry that serves this madness?
I am distraught and I can’t wipe the image of these helpless babies out of my mind.
Me too.
There needs to be spontaneous demonstrations in front of every NRA office in the country …
I am crying. The NRA should be charged as accessory.
This is so horrible – I saw something earlier on FB, but it was a breaking story which I didn’t follow.
This gun violence is madness. Complete and utter madness. The freaks who don’t want to have any controls on weapons or have “massacre fatigue” are terrified that those controls will be much like the controls that many of them want to place on women’s reproduction rights. The gun is such a phallic object and it’s primary purpose is to kill. Imagine these guys having limitations place on their weenie symbols – the horror.
The thought of anyone dying like this is horrific, but as Pat mentioned above, it’s the holidays, for crying out loud. I wish the coward who did this was still alive to face prosecution to the fullest extent.
My deepest condolences to these victims’ families, friends, coworkers.
If we can’t talk about gun control now, I despair for our future. Even more than before!
Yet, turn on the TV. Even the WH press secretary is saying now is not the time …
DRIVES ME NUTS!!!
It not NOW, WHEN? That’s absurd.
If the WH doesn’t want to do it, then turn Pat Leahy loose on the problem. I imagine he would be happy to talk about it.
I feel sick, I’m numb…I am worried for my friends, Jesse…and Sarah and their kids who go to this school.
I just flipped over to NBC and heard the tail end of a report saying that police went to search the suspect’s home and found his wife fatally shot there. Could this horror have begun with domestic violence?
Probably but it seem to me the real driver behind these killings is some kind of blind unfocused impotent rage. What could cause that much rage is beyond me, thank dog.
That’s because you don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh or watch Fox news who continually tell you the enemy is your child’s public school teacher.
I know they’re toxic but people have to suspend all rational disbelief to ever take them seriously. Obviously a lot of people do just that.
Okay I just heard that it’s not the shooter’s wife, it’s one of his parents that was found dead.
Name of shooter is Ryan Lanza
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/sandy-hook-elementary-school-shooter-identified_n_2301764.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
These television people are tripping over their tongues avoiding saying anything about guns. It’s mental illness, it’s our “violent society”, it’s anything but the goddamned guns.
Twitter peeps are calling out Carney saying IT IS the time to TALK about gun control … Salon … Mojo … print reporters are tweeting things about gun control
We’re such a violent society because of the easy availability of those goddamned guns. Surely that must occur to some of those shilling assholes.
Obama will make a statement at 3:15. I don’t expect any gun control talk.
Neither do I but I hope Leahy or someone does take it up.
Alex Wagner isn’t a complete idiot so that’s one.
MSNBC’s Alex Wagner: Hopefully CT School Shooting Will Result In ‘Political Capital’ To Reform Gun Laws
I just saw this at Alternet and came over to see the discussion – I just could not believe this at first. So at Alternet they have this guy’s tweet up (caution full-frontal victim-blaming):
“Shooters attack an elementary school in CT – another “gun-free zone.” Makes children sitting ducks”
So this a-hole thinks elementary kids should be armed?!? Or kindergarten teachers should be armed?????????
Geez I’m so scared of guns I freeze when someone brings one in my house no matter how well I know them. I literally freeze in fear.
JJ – I hope all is well with your firends. This makes it hard for me to imagine celebrating Christmas now.
Good grief. I’d never allow anyone with a gun in my house. I can’t even imagine that happening. I’m so glad I live in a blue state. We have pretty strict gun laws.
It’s the Wild West down here. That actually only happened once – an old friend from out of state. I made him lock it up in his van outside I think. Either that or lock it up in the guest room he was using.
This particular friend is also the last person I would trust to use it competently. He’d probably shoot himself in the foot first.
If I found out there was a house where my kids played with a gun,they were forbidden to go to that house to play. I didn’t forbid them from seeing the children or playing. Just from going inside the house. I had one friend call up screaming that her husband wasn’t a bad man because he had a gun in the house. I said I’d rather not bet my children’s life on that or some kind of accident thank you.
One of my boyfriends was a deputy sheriff along the lines of what Steven Seagal does. He was a musician so that wasn’t his first job. He was the only one I allowed in the house with a gun and it still made me nervous as hell. He’d put it up high with the safety on and I couldn’t sleep until it was out of the house. Made me even more nervous when he wore the uniform. I don’t deal well with guns and authorities needless to say.
One day before the CT massacre, MI legislature passed bill allowing guns in classrooms.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/14/1337551/michigan-guns-classroom/
Colorado governor said this before this morning’s massacre.
Hickenlooper shifts position on more gun control measures
God, I am so sick.
Facebook photos of gunman
http://www.ryot.org/school-shooting-in-connecticut-elementary-school/34706
Correction, the above person is not *that* Ryan Lanza.
http://blog.al.com/live/2012/12/this_is_not_that_ryan_lanza.html
There is reports on hln that the shooter was Adam Lanza, Ryan Lanza is the brother and he was taken into custody.
The shooter may not be Ryan Lanza. He is on facebook saying it isn’t him. The shooter is dead.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/school-shooting-reported-in-connecticut/story-fnd134gw-1226537283734
Yeah, Mediate has taken that post down…
My two friends and and their children are okay. Still waiting to hear from one of my friends.
Great to hear that……….and hope you hear soon from the others.
They know people who have had their kids killed…still waiting to hear more, but it is so upsetting.
Thank goodness, JJ.
I think someone needs to form a powerful organization to oppose the NRA every time they trot out their lame “facts” and excuses about freedom. We need gun control in some form. No crazies allowed to have a gun. We don’t need 100 rounds of ammunition available to us, especially over the internet. We don’t need automatic weapons..
What we need is the same firepower as the founding fathers had in 1776. No more.
I was just on the phone with my older brother and said we have to limit the number of guns in this country. His immediate response was, “Oh, it’ll never happen in our lifetime.” My response to him was that 20 years ago we said the same thing about same sex marriage and legalizing pot. We have to start this process sometime, let’s start today to honor the slain educators, kindergarteners, and their families by taking the first steps to reduce gun violence in this country.
20 kids dead at school. 6 adults at school dead. 1 shooter dead at school. 1 victim at Newtown house dead.
not including the one dead in NJ
29 total
The shooter’s brother is in custody and his girlfriend and another friend in NJ are missing.
Huffpo has that one of the shooters brothers has been found dead.
I learned of this from a facebook post by a good friend, pleading for a discussion on restricting guns. She was immediately called out by people saying gun control wouldn’t have helped, and “this is not the time”. My post in response.:
How anyone can in good conscience argue against gun control efforts in the wake of this tragedy is shocking. Yes you can kill with knives, no we don’t know how this person got his guns, but not to make it as difficult as possible to get weapons of mass destruction is unconscionable. Less than two years ago Jared Loughner was able to amass a small arsenal, quite legally, with no one noticing, and kill six people and wound many more. Maybe that and other events would not have been prevented by stricter control on guns, but by God, do we have to make it so easy for them!
Amen to that.
Here is what Obama said: Obama Tears Up, Calls For ‘Meaningful Action’ In Emotional Response To CT School Shooting | Mediaite
He did. I watched it. President Obama could barely speak the words and seemed to be overcome at times.
A major hurdle, assuming you could pass effective gen control laws, would be this version of the Supreme Court. I can’t see them letting anything stand against the 2nd Amendment, Not only Congress but the SC may have to change before having real success.
That’s not an argument against trying though!
Right. Even if we keep hitting a wall, we have to keep trying. Decades from now people will look back and wonder why the hell we waited so long.
What is it that fascinates people with automatic weapons? I don’t get it except that it must be related to control, power, technology… or maybe it substitutes for a lack of inner courage.
I don’t think Hollywood violence pron and war glorification has helped, either and trust me I LOVE movies).
JJ – I went to North Georgia Military college back in the early 70s as a coed (non ROTC). I’ll never forget a young cadet in the student union waxing orgasmic over this new automatic weapon that could kill 15 people at once. I was apalled. He would have been about this guy’s age.
All these gun-loving NRA types need to understasnd that at some point when society says – NO – you can’t have that – they need to grow up and get in line or move out. It is not fair that they get all the “freedoms” they want and the rest of us have to live in abject fear.
Freedom does not mean you get anything you want.
Look at it this way, Their freedom is some other peoples oppression.
Connecticut School Shooting: Worst Mass Shootings of the Past 50 Years | TIME.com
Eleven facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States
The Horror In Newtown: Reax – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast
Alyssa Rosenberg’s reaction was wonderful.
Three Presidents, Three Addresses To The Nation On School Shootings
Asshole: Fischer: God Didn’t Stop CT School Shooting Because He’s a Gentleman Who Doesn’t Go Where He is Not Wanted | Right Wing Watch
Oh dear heaven – that is the a-hole that tweeted the other victim-blaming thing above – that the school was a gun-free zone. I’ve never heard of this Fischer guy – so long ignorant bliss.
So essentially these gun-free God-hating elementary school kids brought it on themselves while God stood by politely. Got it.
I had no access to news today until I went online and then… OMG! Are things getting worse or what? Bad enough to have mass shootings in high schools, colleges, shopping malls and theatres, but now they’re targeting kindergartners too??? Enough is more than enough. It is way past time to have some sane gun control laws in this country.
I’ve been dealing with a migraine the last three days, today was the first day I have been without pain…until I heard at what was happening in a town I used to live in…
I just got back from the grocery store. Every one is talking about it. I can tell you that a bunch of us grandmotherly types are pretty pissed that a bunch of angry white boys are going around massacring babies.
David Frum: Every Day is the Day to Talk About Gun Control
They haven’t even released a press release. They’re letting fox news and right wing preachers do their bidding.
I really don’t know how you people can continue suffering this madness time after time while platitudes like a gun is a tool are parroted. I’m Scottish and this happened to us just once at Dunblane Primary School in March 1996 when 16 five year olds and their teacher were murdered and that resulted in a total gun ban. Even posession of a single round of ammunition will now result in jail time.
A statistic for you.
Number of Murders by Firearms, US, 2009: 9,146
Number of Murders by firearms, Britain, 2008: 39
Doesn’t that say it all?
We’re pretty helpless in the face of the lobbying money and power of the NRA to be perfectly honest. You live in a democracy and we live in a republic. Our politicians are more concerned with their elections then their constituents. Our legislative seats are in districts custom fit to special interest cronies. It’s sad really.
A country at the mercy of a group of gun nuts? That is indeed sad and in fact an abomination in the 21st century. There isn’t another country in the first world that even wants a society awash with guns. If you were to offer this “freedom” as Americans like to call it to the British or any country in Western Europe the people would think you had lost your mind. Litter their streets with deadly weapons for every nutcase with a gripe to obtain??? No thank you.
Shooter today likely fired more bullets in 1 mass shooting, than ENTIRE police force of GERMANY in an ENTIRE YEAR http://nbcnews.to/UY3n8G
and yes, we’re at the mercy of gun nut, religious nuts and anti-science nuts