Horror in a Connecticut elementary school
It’s hard to know what to say about the horror that took place this morning in a Connecticut elementary school. The combination of a madman, children and guns has left a reported 27 dead, including 20 children, most of them apparently executed in a single kindergarten classroom.
Again, 27 dead, and hundreds and hundreds directly connected to them have had their lives forever diminished. Even the millions of us who knew nobody in Newtown have been left chilled to the bone on this early winter day.
The 24-year-old gunman, dressed in paramilitary garb, is among those dead. His mother, a teacher at the school, is dead as well. Three weapons were reportedly found at the scene — a .223-caliber assault rifle and two semi-automatic handguns.
As always, the trauma inflicted on those families and that community is difficult to comprehend, and it is compounded by the brutal senselessness of the crime. Tragedies such as this always create questions — “How?” and “Why?” just the beginning of them — for which there can never be adequate answers.
I do know that anybody capable of such cold-blooded killings exists in a world that is far darker than any of us are able to imagine. I also suspect that crimes such as this are perpetrated in part to force the rest of us to glimpse — if just for a horrifying moment — that place so devoid of warmth and light.
Someone on Twitter just asked me: “WHY does this happen now when it didn’t 40, 50 years ago? WHAT is different?” I don’t know the answer to that one either. I suspect that we are witnessing a form of hysteria, as easily communicable as a computer virus from Aurora, Colo. to Clackamas, Ore. to Newtown, Conn., and once that virus is released it is impossible to predict where it might emerge next. Individuals who once might have stewed, alone, in their twisted anger and bitterness now recognize others like themselves on the evening news, and one violent incident creates a sort of permission for the next.
– Jay Bookman
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557 comments Add your comment
Jay
December 14th, 2012
4:40 pm
““Currently, anyone can walk into a store, and walk out of that weapon within 20 mins.”
You can do the same at a gunshow in about five minutes, long enough to hand over the cash and walk out with the weapon, no background check, no questions asked.
Aquagirl
December 14th, 2012
4:41 pm
Aquagirl, thanks for living up to the liberal stereotype that when you run out of cogent arguments, you resort to personal slander.
Hon—It’s not slander when it’s true.
Swagger + Gun + Opinion =/= Expert. It only means you’re a dude who has a gun and a mouth.
Brosephus™
December 14th, 2012
4:41 pm
Scout
I’m with you about 20% on the increase due to culture. I think that it’s more likely that we’re simply being bombarded with more news and info thanks to advances in technology. These incidents have been happening for a long time. News reporting today isn’t what it was even 30 years ago.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 14th, 2012
4:41 pm
40% of all legally owned guns are purchased without any form of background check.
But nothing can be done?
indigo
December 14th, 2012
4:42 pm
Many here say we should not have very strict gun laws because it punishes the majority of sensible gun owners.
Imagine that we no longer needed driver’s licenses. The majority of Americans would still drive safely and would make certain their children learned how to drive safely and correctly before giving them the car keys.
Unfortunately, there would be those relatively few dangerous drivers who would cause considerable carnage on our highways(more than we have now). Because of these few irresponsible and mentally deranged people, we all have to be tested and liceensed to legally drive. This is also the case with many prescription medicines.
The same must occur with guns or else these tragedies will continue and possibly increase.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
4:42 pm
That’s just pure crazy talk. You want to put a fully loaded firearm within easy reach of a classroom teacher — otherwise it wouldn’t be of much use — yet somehow keep it out of reach of the 20-something kids in that same classroom?
Cops walk around kids all the time with loaded weapons. Go the circus and there will be scads of kids there and lots of cops with guns.
Brosephus™
December 14th, 2012
4:43 pm
godless @ 4:39
I’m believing for the both of us today.
Ben Shockley
December 14th, 2012
4:43 pm
How many people died on 9/11/01, over 2,000?
What’s the liberal response to that one…banning airplanes? Banning tall buildings? Banning muslims? Other?
Soothsayer
December 14th, 2012
4:44 pm
Thank God! we don’t got gratuitous violence like this on the TEEVEE no more!
willie lynch
December 14th, 2012
4:44 pm
alittlecommonsense
December 14th, 2012
4:31 pm
I can’t believe you would even utter the words “armed teachers”. The silly part with all this pro gun nonsense is that just because your “sane” enough to buy a gun one day doesn’t mean something may not send you over the edge or that mental illness has not yet manifested itself.
How many of the mass shootings in the U.S. were carried out by people who aquired their weapon illegally? That means the existing laws have not adequately protected the populace from this type of madness. Yes people kill people, but guns make it a helluva lot easier.
Common sense is what has us in this mess. Good sense will get us out.
Banner123
December 14th, 2012
4:45 pm
I wouldn’t call myself a die hard gun enthusiast as I own several guns, including “Assault Weapons”, and I don’t believe you should ban guns for law abiding citizens. That being said, I think there is middle ground in on this issue of that reasonable people can agree on. Below is what I believe.
1. Gun show Loophole: YES but make the penalty for not doing it extremely harsh. One of the big arguments that gun control advocates state is there should be a background check on guns sold on an individual-to-individual basis. To me this could be solved by requiring these sales occur at a FFL dealer with the buyer paying a fee for the check. People would say, “ this is un-enforceable”. In and of itself, they are correct. However, you also pass laws that say if a gun was found used at a crime scene in which you sold to someone without the background check, YOU (the seller) would be charged with the crime just as the guy who committed it. This would be a pretty good incentive for all person-to-person transactions to go through the background check.
2. Banning so called “Assault Weapons”: NO. There is nothing that makes an “Assault Weapon” any more dangerous that any semi-automatic long rifle. They just look scary.
3. Ban Large capacity clips: YES. Anything the military doesn’t use, neither should individuals. Those 100+ round magazines for AR-15’s and other “Assault Rifles”, who needs them. If they worked so well, why doesn’t the military use them?
RB from Gwinnett
December 14th, 2012
4:45 pm
How come it was the Navy Seals who killed Bin Laden, but it was the guns that killed these children? If you’re intellectually honest, the gun is noting more than the instrument used by the man behind it. He was fully and completely responsible for it’s actions. In one case it perpetrated evil and in one case it delivered justice to evil. Only the man behind the gun knows the difference. The gun itself is capable of nothing.
Brosephus™
December 14th, 2012
4:45 pm
Cops walk around kids all the time with loaded weapons. Go the circus and there will be scads of kids there and lots of cops with guns.
Cops are also taught weapon retention and other defensive skills. If you’re gonna arm teachers, you’ve gotta train them well or it’s a waste of time in my opinion.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
4:45 pm
Despite what some media commentators have claimed, existing gun laws apply just as much to gun shows as they do to any other place where guns are sold. Since 1938, persons selling firearms have been required to obtain a federal firearms license. If a dealer sells a gun from a storefront, from a room in his home or from a table at a gun show, the rules are exactly the same: he can get authorization from the FBI for the sale only after the FBI runs its “instant” background check (which often takes days to complete). As a result, firearms are the most severely regulated consumer product in the United States — the only product for which FBI permission is required for every single sale.
Ben Shockley
December 14th, 2012
4:46 pm
Requiring ID and a background check to buy a gun will unfairly discriminate against the elderly and the poor. Many of them are house-bound and cannot afford to get an ID.
JamVet
December 14th, 2012
4:46 pm
Twenty four years old.
How does one become that monstrous and evil so early in life?
Ben, some people are heartless and some are just plain stupid. But in your case, that 4:43 indicates both…
jconservative
December 14th, 2012
4:46 pm
“…Individuals who once might have stewed, alone, in their twisted anger and bitterness now recognize others like themselves on the evening news, and one violent incident creates a sort of permission for the next.”
Jay, I believe you have hit upon a fundamental truth here.
The other half of your brain.
December 14th, 2012
4:47 pm
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 14th, 2012
3:20 pm
With these mass murders happening weekly or more frequently, just WHEN is the time to talk about acting to reduce these senseless acts. Just because action is needed does not mean that it is POLITICIZED but no matter, it is TIME TO ACT.
Please tell all of us what you suggest we do. How do you control the NUTS out there, you can’t.
Our laws will always be broken because our courts are the most lenient in the country and when they’re tough on crime then ceertain segments of society complain about that.
So tell us, what would you do.
Skip
December 14th, 2012
4:47 pm
Arm the teachers? Sure, like none of them are nuts. And as a whole I like teachers.
rightwingextreme
December 14th, 2012
4:47 pm
Krystal’sBalls
December 14th, 2012
4:39 pm
Tell us about this “culture” @0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
Maybe you mean this culture:
Where the president of this once great land invites a rapper to sing at the White House who hates America almost as much as he does?
President Obama met and shook hands with South Korean Internet sensation Psy at a holiday concert in Washington Sunday night, amid the controversy surrounding the rapper’s 2004 anti-American comments calling for the killing of “Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives.”
Or do you mean the culture where gangs have pretty much taken over southside Chicago?
Or the culture that celebrates unruly behavior though movies and television and songs on the radio?
Or where gangs or punks play the knock out game on innocents and aren’t prosecuted?
Or where rappers sing about killing cops?
Or where there are hundreds of thousands of innocent babies killed in the womb every year.
Or where the gangster life is celebrated?
Oh yeah…that culture.
They BOTH suck
December 14th, 2012
4:47 pm
Not to downplay this tragedy, but it is almost amusing that some want to talk about “culture”. I could bring up several issues right now (but I will not waste my time) that were “cultural norms” in the “good ole days” and some of the same ones bringing up culture would be posting about dredging up things and people not being able to let go and move on……
If we want to talk about what used to be better than let’s talk about it all………
But do carry on.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
4:47 pm
Cops are also taught weapon retention and other defensive skills. If you’re gonna arm teachers, you’ve gotta train them well or it’s a waste of time in my opinion.
Agreed.
Bro I was hoping to discuss R/C with you tonight during FNM but due to the day’s events, we’ll have to do it some other time.
skipper
December 14th, 2012
4:48 pm
Sometimes, folks are guilty of wanting it all. “Freedom of speech” is the mantra for so many who incite (yes, words DO cause bones to be broken-see Adolph Hitler)) with their riot inducing or hate inducing verbage yet the right to bear arms is a whole different subject. There needs to be some control, for sure. There are cases like the theater in Colorodo, the nut job at Va. Tech, the mall shooter, and now today’s wack job. Then, look at the killings everyday on the streets of Chicago, for example, and our own capitol, Atlanta. I have a 20 guage shotgun I have had since I was a kid; I have no plans to shoot up a place. What is the answer? We are so politically-correct that we do not (sometimes) cull the nut-jobs/criminals, and thugs among us. Look at the many cases in Atlanta, or Macon…… 99 1/2% of the killers in everyday reports of shootings had a rap sheet bigger than Governor Christie’s lunch box. You will not ever cull them all, but when the signs are there, do SOMETHING! People on Mars now know the Colorodo shooter was a loonie…….the system failed to protect us from him. Sure, everybody is entitled to a defense, but now the taxpayers get to spend millions delving into ths nut-cases mind, with varying opinions depending on defense/prosecution perspective. Take him out, hang him, and screw it. Barbaric? Not as stupid as spending millions, and either killing him 20 years from now or giving him room, board, clothing, medical care and three squares. The idea that Hinckly, for example, should be up for parole is an abomination. Folks, whether its this issue or any others, we are all going to see why there are too many lawyers. They profit off of stuff like this, even as they consider it a sacred duty. We will hear varying opinions, and nobody will have real answers.
JamVet
December 14th, 2012
4:48 pm
Reading some of these posts is almost too nauseating.
I’m out until FNM sheets…
Ben Shockley
December 14th, 2012
4:48 pm
I’m a strong supporter of gun ownership rights, but here’s a trade I’d be willing to make…go ahead and erect as many barriers to purchasing guns as you want…but put the exact same barriers around illegal immigration and illegal voting.
Death in Connecticut - NYTimes.com - New York Times | smssms
December 14th, 2012
4:50 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution [...]
markie mark
December 14th, 2012
4:50 pm
That’s just pure crazy talk. You want to put a fully loaded firearm within easy reach of a classroom teacher — otherwise it wouldn’t be of much use — yet somehow keep it out of reach of the 20-something kids in that same classroom?
Jay, its called a holster.
willie lynch
December 14th, 2012
4:50 pm
The other half of your brain.
December 14th, 2012
4:47 pm
There seems to be a certain segment of the population that is hell bent on mass murder.
Brosephus™
December 14th, 2012
4:52 pm
godless
Understandable… I think I’m about to bow out for the evening myself. I’m not really in the mood for reading some of the stupid stuff being posted here.
BADA BING (imagine an umlaut above the i, I'm trying to class this place up a little)
December 14th, 2012
4:52 pm
Increasingly, these acts are committed by troubled young men. What is it about today’s society that is producing these lunatics? Maybe we don’t need Gun Control, maybe we need Son Control.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
4:53 pm
Banner123 @ 4:45. Talking sense. I could agree with your proposals.
The other half of your brain.
December 14th, 2012
4:53 pm
Willie, There always will be.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 14th, 2012
4:53 pm
The other half, why don’t you go back and read what I have posted. Again, there are many common sense acts that can be taken. Close the gun show loopholes. Stop unlicensed dealers. Stop the insane “George Zimmerman Act”. Do background checks. That is just a start of common sense laws.
Thomas Heyward Jr
December 14th, 2012
4:54 pm
So guns are the problem?
.
Dummys.
This dude didn’t need anyguns to do Satan’s work.
.
In America too.
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster
Deaths
45 (38 children, 2 teachers, 4 other adults and the bomber)
Wounded
58
The bomber was school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe, 55, who was enraged about a property tax levied to fund the construction of the school building. He blamed the additional tax for financial hardships which led to foreclosure proceedings against his farm. These events apparently provoked Kehoe to plan his attack. He died in a car bomb he set off after he drove up to the school as the crowd gathered to rescue survivors from the burning school.
On the morning of May 18, Kehoe murdered his wife by beating her to death, then set his farm buildings afire. As fire fighters arrived at the farm, an explosion devastated the north wing of the school building, killing many schoolchildren. He used a detonator to ignite dynamite and hundreds of pounds of pyrotol which he had secretly planted inside the school over the course of many months. As rescuers started gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and detonated a bomb inside his shrapnel-filled vehicle with his Winchester rifle, killing himself and the school superintendent, and killing and injuring several others. During rescue efforts searchers discovered an additional 500 pounds (230 kg) of unexploded dynamite and pyrotol planted throughout the basement of the school’s south wing. Kehoe apparently had intended to blow up and destroy the whole school.
Where's My Party?
December 14th, 2012
4:55 pm
2 more children have died at the hospital. Now 20 children and 6 adults murdered.
Some say it’s not a societal or cultural issue. Sure it is. Look how we treat each other on a simple blog. No respect. No honor. No integrity. Just snarky comments, insults, name calling and the ever so common “piffle” which is just a veiled display of cowardice and disrespect.
The GOV
December 14th, 2012
4:55 pm
Such a tragedy. I guess a public forum allows people to vent. AND turn it into a gun control issue. I doubt if outlawing or restricting gun ownership will prevent this in the future. It’s a cultural issue. Does anyone here have kids that play the video game Modern Warfare? You compete killing multiple people and if you get killed you “spawn” a new life to kill again. Do you let your kids go to the “Ultra Violent” R movies? I don’t have an answer except that when I was a kid all we had was atari and it was boring. I played sports to compete (physical activity). My parents did not allow me to watch R movies.
Seeing real dead people was a shock to me. I realized the permanence of it and felt bad about it. I believe this is missing today.
Nunna Yobinnes
December 14th, 2012
4:55 pm
Granny – I think I’ll pass on giving up my only means of defending my family. Thanks for thinking of me though.
Jay
December 14th, 2012
4:56 pm
What you posted is at best misleading, heathen.
Yes, federally licensed firearms dealers at gunshows are required to conduct background checks. But private individuals at gunshows can sell with no such background check.
Nunna Yobinnes
December 14th, 2012
4:56 pm
Where’s my Party? – very well said.
The other half of your brain.
December 14th, 2012
4:56 pm
Where’s My Party?
December 14th, 2012
4:55 pm
2 more children have died at the hospital. Now 20 children and 6 adults murdered.
Some say it’s not a societal or cultural issue. Sure it is. Look how we treat each other on a simple blog. No respect. No honor. No integrity. Just snarky comments, insults, name calling and the ever so common “piffle” which is just a veiled display of cowardice and disrespect.
Amen to that.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 14th, 2012
4:57 pm
Brosephus, I agree. They just keep ranting the same insanity in various forms. The same posters who scream about “fast and furious” do nothing to provide the tools to law enforcement that they have requested to stop these weapons from unlawfully entering our society.
Welcome to the Occupation
December 14th, 2012
4:57 pm
Thulsa said downtstairs:
“So *I* think we need to have much greated controls over knives and machetes and baseball bats and cars. Because someone violent MIGHT, POSSIBLY, SOME DAY use them to attack children”
Answer: No. We need to have much greater controls over those weapons that enable you to kill in large numbers because someone violent WILL use them to attack people.
That Black Guy
December 14th, 2012
4:57 pm
East Lake Ira
December 14th, 2012
4:21 pm
TBG – Start at the top of the comments and it’ll make sense. If, after reading you still don’t get my point, you have my pity.
_____________________________
I did. Remember, I was the first (I think( to reply to you and included your own words.
My point is what you suggest WOULD NOT have stopped this or countless other mass shootings.
Nor would make a noticable dent in gun violence as a whole since MOST shootings are with weapons NOT classified as “assault weapons”.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
4:58 pm
Many here say we should not have very strict gun laws because it punishes the majority of sensible gun owners.
indigo: Did you see my earlier post about limiting the speed automobiles can go? Assuming you drive a car, would you sacrifice your freedom to drive a car at dangerous speeds (i.e. punish sensible drivers) in order to stop the deaths of hundreds of children every year?
pogo
December 14th, 2012
4:59 pm
And once again josef hits the nail on the head. Voyeurism. As the song said, “give us dirty laundry” and that is exactly what we want. It entertains us and gives the media something to feed us. And by being as we are, we continue to perpetuate and encourage these dillusional monsters who think that they can become famous or notorious or whatever just for a few minutes by performing these acts. As I told Ole Granny, the problem IS US. The guns are just one means to an end and if the guns weren’t there then it would be bombs, poison, gas and any number of horrid things that are capable doing much worse than a gun. There is no way to stop a person who has the smarts and time and that wants destruction, notoriety and death. That person will find a way and our society apparently is making more and more of these types of people which means it is screwed absolutely up.
Jay
December 14th, 2012
5:00 pm
“Assuming you drive a car, would you sacrifice your freedom to drive a car at dangerous speeds (i.e. punish sensible drivers) in order to stop the deaths of hundreds of children every year?”
We already do. That’s why the speed limit isn’t 100 mph.
Jeff Pruett
December 14th, 2012
5:00 pm
Damn us all for allowing guns everywhere. How many children need to die before we gather our courage and say enough is enough.
How long before we tell the idiots who think they should be able to buy, own and carry ANY kind of gun they want that we own this country and we won’t allow them to put us all at risk.
Are our children not worth the fight? If not what does it take?
deegee
December 14th, 2012
5:00 pm
So sad that this had to happen to innocent children, but isn’t this just the price we pay to live in a gun happy society? We decided that we want to live in a place where anyone can have as many guns and as much ammunition as they want. So why are we shocked when innocent people get killed? I’m over the shock, but I’m not over the sorrow for these innocent little angels.
The other half of your brain.
December 14th, 2012
5:01 pm
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 14th, 2012
4:57 pm
Brosephus, I agree. They just keep ranting the same insanity in various forms. The same posters who scream about “fast and furious” do nothing to provide the tools to law enforcement that they have requested to stop these weapons from unlawfully entering our society.
Keepup, What tools can anyone on this site who complained about F&F have done, do tell.
Do you mean throw out the people who are in office? Thought not. So in all your wisdom please tell us.
You don’t have any better answers than the rest of us.
Soothsayer
December 14th, 2012
5:02 pm
For those who died.
Music sheetz?
Jay
December 14th, 2012
5:03 pm
I’m trying to get in the mood, Sooth.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
5:03 pm
Yes, federally licensed firearms dealers at gunshows are required to conduct background checks. But private individuals at gunshows can sell with no such background check.
Just as they can sell them to their neighbor when they are not at a gun show. I think Banner123 @ 4:45 had a reasonable proposal about person to person sales that I could grudgingly support. This would also help with the straw sales problem.
Jerome Horwitz
December 14th, 2012
5:03 pm
Sad day in America – made sadder by some of the jackasses on this blog. You folks act like stupidity and arrogance are virtues.
The problem is like Pandora’s Box -it’s hard to put the mess back in. What we need is a way to keep weapons out of the hands of the deranged while protecting the rights of gun owners.
Like the President said I think we’re all going to hug our kids tonight and count our blessings and ask the Lord to watch over those families in CT tonight.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 14th, 2012
5:04 pm
For Jay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJE-onnw2gM
The other half of your brain.
December 14th, 2012
5:04 pm
Jeff, Your never going to get rid of the guns, what we can do is make our laws extremely tuff on criminals.
willie lynch
December 14th, 2012
5:04 pm
Guns in the hands of the general populace are unnecessary. How many armed citizens do we need patrolling the streets? We can shoot kids for playing music in a manner we’re not happy with or shoot them because they didn’t looked like they belonged.
We’ve got armed people patrolling our streets they’re called the police. Less guns less gun violence. Seems pretty simple.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
5:06 pm
We already do. That’s why the speed limit isn’t 100 mph
But your car, (well not your car Jay) is capable of speeds in excess of 100 mph. Would you support making it illegal to sell or own a car capable of exceeding the speed limit.
And it’s illegal to gun down kids in elementary schools, too.
Soothsayer
December 14th, 2012
5:06 pm
I hear you, Jay. This is sickening.
deegee
December 14th, 2012
5:07 pm
I wonder how many people are getting a shiny new gun for Christmas? I hope they say a little prayer for the babies that died in their kindergarten class every time they shoot a round.
The other half of your brain.
December 14th, 2012
5:07 pm
Willie, Whats your simple suggestion for getting over 200 million guns off the street, Seems pretty simple?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 14th, 2012
5:10 pm
I hope they say a little prayer for the babies that died in their kindergarten class every time they shoot a round.
Good idea.
I plan on going to the range sometime during the next couple of weeks and I will do just that.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 14th, 2012
5:10 pm
Other half, as usual you show your inability to engage a brain before you post. I gave you some specific examples and you ignore them. Now be a good little troll and go research what ATF and others have asked for as law enforcement tools to help stem the tide. Have you even looked at the bradycampaign.org? I certainly have better answers than you but I won’t waste my time until you have taken some steps to educate yourself. Come back when you can discuss some to why gun show loopholes must continue? Why there is not a comprehensive data base to perform background checks and to flag highly unusual or repeated buys?
Lawmaker calls for new gun controls after Connecticut shooting – Los Angeles Times | LICOOP
December 14th, 2012
5:10 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution [...]
Thomas Heyward Jr
December 14th, 2012
5:10 pm
Friday Dec 14 2012
Knife-wielding man injures 22 children in China
by Terril Yue Jones
BEIJING (Reuters) – A knife-wielding man slashed 22 children and an adult at an elementary school in central China on Friday, state media reported, the latest in a series of attacks on schoolchildren in the country.
.
sigh
Jerome Horwitz
December 14th, 2012
5:10 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V84STSWVp3g
God is greeting 20 new angels tonight.
pogo
December 14th, 2012
5:11 pm
Jay, why is my 4:36 in moderation? Nothing was said that should trigger moderation. I guess you are once again applying unequal rules to those you disagree with and protecting those you do agree with. Whatever.
josef
December 14th, 2012
5:11 pm
JAY
I do wish you would post the FNM you had planned. This, here, is the place to grieve, vent, and all that goes with these examples of us at our worst. There is the place we celebrate life. We need a little of that, too, at this time.
Look before I leap...
December 14th, 2012
5:11 pm
A whack job goes off his chump and decides to head to a school and start killing people.
There is not a law in the world that would prevent that from happening.
Some here seem to think this is a result of God being absent from the schools.
To that, I say, it sure looks like God picked a bad day to take off and go fishing.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
5:12 pm
I wonder how many people are getting a shiny new gun for Christmas? I hope they say a little prayer for the babies that died in their kindergarten class every time they shoot a round.
Nominated for most insipid statement of the day.
Nunna Yobinnes
December 14th, 2012
5:12 pm
“My Second Amendment rights don’t mean as much to me as my grandkids. And your Second Amendment rights mean even less” As some are prone to saying on this site, “there’s your sign.”
Isn’t that part of the problem? Essentially you have said that other peoples’ right to defend themselves means nothing to you.
Alex
December 14th, 2012
5:13 pm
People need to start beating their kids and putting the fear of GOD into them, that’s it.. Then they won’t hit age 24, and shoot their parents and 20 innocents with them because their parents told them it’s time to move out. There is no respect in families anymore, no understanding, and no one is helping the people in need, it’s all about them and only them, and when they don’t get what they want, they find a way to get a gun instead of dealing with life. Also these kids are morons, 90 percent of people having kids today, shouldn’t have kids, and then their kids have kids. Anyone notice we are getting dumber as a society? Of course you have.. It starts with asking for socialism when you have the greatest country of all, and ends with ??? How many people believe in global warming because Al Gore sold it? You’re morons.. Read the facts, for years people have been increasing their investment values by changing the demand and fabricating research (by fabricating I mean supporting the facts which will benefit you).. Do you even know why most people put toilet paper to roll out from the top instead of bottom? Research by the toilet paper company to tell you that you can see where it ends, easier to tear, etc.. All because you will use more of it.. Wow… I’m done, I can’t believe I even took the time to write this, only about 1 percent of you will even come close to understanding what I just said.. I hope one of these pricks comes into my house or office with the intentions of taking lives, that, I guarantee you will make news…
Chris Gurin
December 14th, 2012
5:13 pm
Once again, we have a mass shooting, and once again, we have comments from 2nd amendment advocates pointing out the obvious- a madman, bent on murder will find a way to carry out some version of their act, and, yes, even a country such as Norway, with far more gun control, Anders Behring Breivik was able to carry out mass murder.
Do we have to make it easier?
What is the problem gun advocates have with a waiting period?
The mindless slaughter of kids might still have happened, even with vigorous enforcement of existing gun laws, but we also know there are far too many loopholes and exceptions, allowing individuals who should never posses a weapon to obtain military grade firepower: please tell me, justify it rationally, why a non-combatant civilian, not associated with any police, military or law enforcement agency should have access to automatic weapons? We MUST have this conversation, we must also figure out how, in retrospect, so many disturbed individuals slip through the healthcare system undiagnosed with serious mental illness. I know the answer to this last question: We don’t HAVE a healthcare system, it isn’t a priority, and mental health, even less of a priority. A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. Based on this, and too many recent events, the verdict isn’t pretty.
willie lynch
December 14th, 2012
5:14 pm
The other half of your brain.
December 14th, 2012
5:07 pm
Well I imagine the federal government could get $200 million worth of counterfiet bills off the streets. My statement was less guns less gun violence. Less gas in my car the fewer miles I can drive. Less sweets fewer cavities….see where that was going?
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
5:14 pm
Good idea.
I plan on going to the range sometime during the next couple of weeks and I will do just that.
Maybe make some targets with the killer’s face on them.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 14th, 2012
5:15 pm
It starts with asking for socialism when you have the greatest country of all, and ends with…
Aaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnddddd, I stop reading.
indigo
December 14th, 2012
5:16 pm
godless – 4:58
That argument is, at best, disingenuous.
Cars are built for transportation purposes and drivers are required to be tested and licensend. Also, we have police on the roads to(hopefully) stop and arrest dangerous drivers.
Guns are built for KILLING. The testing and licensing we require for drivers should be at least as strict as for those who want to purchase and own guns.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
5:16 pm
To that, I say, it sure looks like God picked a bad day to take off and go fishing.
Word!
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 14th, 2012
5:16 pm
Maybe make some targets with the killer’s face on them.
No.
Talk about insipid….
Krystal'sBalls
December 14th, 2012
5:17 pm
Well @rightwingextreme
December 14th, 2012
4:47 pm
While you do nothing than further the initiial silly point I sought to counter from the beginning. That “culture” that you speak of is MUCH DIFFERENT and has social implications and is a byproduct of economics rather than the inability of one to deal with the world because he holds THE HIGHEST SENSE OF PRIVILEGE BECAUSE IT IS HOW HE HAS BEEN PROGRAMMED. The facts speak for themselves. It is not “punk rappers”, drug dealers and those in “the hood” who to commit the lowest most despicable acts of sick mass murder. That’s a “culture” that has as part of it a hyper paranoid, ultra-entitled mindset. If I can’t have it, NO ONE should have it. Poor little me, so I have to massacre everyone so that they will feel MY pain. Despicable.
willie lynch
December 14th, 2012
5:18 pm
Thomas Heyward Jr
December 14th, 2012
5:10 pm
Friday Dec 14 2012
Knife-wielding man injures 22 children in China
by Terril Yue Jones
I’m sure the grieving parents in Connecticut would rather have an injured child at home.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
5:18 pm
indigo: Cars are built for transportation purposes and drivers are required to be tested and licensend. Also, we have police on the roads to(hopefully) stop and arrest dangerous drivers.
You are dodging the question. Would you sacrifice your freedom to drive at dangerous speeds, for the children?
getalife
December 14th, 2012
5:19 pm
I think folks need to vent on this one.
I think our President will lead on gun control.
I think it will not pass the house.
indigo
December 14th, 2012
5:20 pm
Chris Gurin – “what is the problem gun advocates have”
The problem is that the gun advocates who count are Republican politicans who will do anything to protect the profits of their corporate sponsors. Little things like mass murders don’t seem to bother either the Republicans or their Big Business masters one bit.
It’s really as simple as that.
Jay
December 14th, 2012
5:20 pm
“You are dodging the question. Would you sacrifice your freedom to drive at dangerous speeds, for the children?”
Again, yes, because we already do. That’s why the limit is 65 rather than 100, or no limit whatsoever.
pogo
December 14th, 2012
5:20 pm
josef, politics is going to be the death of all of us (and that is not a joke). Too many now are making too much money off of political division. Politicians, journalists and miriad of industries are built upon it. And meanwhile our country crumbles.
So, why not listen to music? It is the last pure thing we have now.
shmootz
December 14th, 2012
5:23 pm
You could take away all the guns – every single one – and this sort of thing could still happen.
If I’m not mistaken, the worst school killing in US history was in the 1920’s and the sicko used bombs – not guns to do the killing.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
5:23 pm
And indigo, the current laws apparently are not working, as hundreds of children are dieing every year from excessive speed on the highways. Which of your freedoms are you willing to give up to stop the carnage? I proposed a solution that would save almost everyone of those kids – physically limit the speed of every truck and car to 25 mph. Are you with me?
Alex
December 14th, 2012
5:23 pm
It starts with asking for socialism when you have the greatest country of all, and ends with…
Aaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnddddd, I stop reading.
This comment you made about my comment means that you are part of the problem and that you are the parent who shouldn’t have kids, I say that in order to vote for a leader in this country – you should own something, like land, or some clothes which you worked for instead of receiving a handout. I know you will not agree with this statement, but that only reinforces my comment.
Nice of you to come out of the closet though..
Look before I leap...
December 14th, 2012
5:24 pm
I don’t know if Jay is gonna do the music thing today, but this one sprang to mind while I was reading the news accounts of the tragedy in CT:
David Archuleta’s “Falling”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_uRxxfVx5Q
fedup
December 14th, 2012
5:24 pm
Did you ever notice that the killers pick the most vulnerable people and places. They don’t shoot up a police station or military base. These nuts will not attack an armed place. Even if one has a gun in the house the nuts will invariably surprise a person.
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
5:25 pm
But Jay, it’s illegal to exceed the speed limit and it’s not working – kids are being killed at an alarming rate. Lets quit selling cars that will go more than 70.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 14th, 2012
5:26 pm
This comment you made about my comment…
Aaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnddddd, I stop reading — again.
josef
December 14th, 2012
5:26 pm
pogo
Thank you.
I know to some it may seem selfish on my part. But, given my job and my workplace, I’ve had this too much on my mind. Call it escapism, but, yes, it is…
getalife
December 14th, 2012
5:26 pm
josef,
Did they increase security at school today?
Welcome to the Occupation
December 14th, 2012
5:27 pm
“We already do. That’s why the speed limit isn’t 100 mph.”
Why not make super high-powered turbo boosters, rockets, etc. available on cars to those who can afford them and want that “freedom”?
The argument for unlimited gun freedoms collapses the moment you actually examine it at a strictly logical level
shmootz
December 14th, 2012
5:27 pm
One of the biggest things that needs to happen is that kids need to be “Re-sensitized” to violence.
All these blood and guts movies and video games can’t be helping the situation.
I’m a gun owner and I have no problem with background checks or even licensing. I’d feel safer knowing that gun owners at least had to have some kind of gun-safety training – like I had to take when I got my hunting license years ago.
JamVet
December 14th, 2012
5:28 pm
alex, can’t you find some nice private cesspool to wallow around in?
Jay for the love of ___, put up something musical. Maybe something festive.
There will be lots of time in the next couple of days for grief and sobbing, but lets live a little first, huh?
That Black Guy
December 14th, 2012
5:28 pm
Jeff Pruett
December 14th, 2012
5:00 pm
Damn us all for allowing guns everywhere. How many children need to die before we gather our courage and say enough is enough.
How long before we tell the idiots who think they should be able to buy, own and carry ANY kind of gun they want that we own this country and we won’t allow them to put us all at risk.
Are our children not worth the fight? If not what does it take?
_________________________________
Your solution is…?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 14th, 2012
5:29 pm
SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS!
godless heathen Christmas has declared war on me
December 14th, 2012
5:31 pm
Welcome: No it doesn’t. Guns are the most regulated item out there. I’m saying if you are truly concerned about the lives of innocents, you will agree to sacrifice some of your freedoms, too. Such as the freedom to own an automobile that will go more than a certain speed.