December 15, 2012
Looking for Reasons
There are no words to capture the horror of the school shooting, this morning, in Western Connecticut. Beyond the wave of raw emotion that nobody who hears the news can fail to feel, there isn't ultimately one thing on which to focus that emotion. Things that go so terribly wrong have a multitude of causes, and a society's perspective on addressing each one has a distant reach — different principles and boundaries of appropriateness and inviolability.
So, some people turn to tears and gratitude that the whims of fate haven't touched them in a certain way, thus far. Some look to name the illness that is necessarily behind a final snap. Some rush to blame the circumstances, whether the security of a school or the instruments of the act, in this case, guns.
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How about this Adam Lanza was an evil little f**ker?Maybe he was mentally ill also,but the overwhelming majority of mentally ill people aren't a danger to anyone except for themselves.
Connecticut has very stringent gun laws including some kind of assault weapons ban which obviously didn't prevent this.
I really resent foreign nationals like Piers Morgan and Martin Bashir ranting at us on OUR national networks about banning guns.They are resident aliens-guests-and yet feel comfortable lecturing us.Maybe they'd like a lecture on their ridiculous system of royalty and House of Lords and titled inbreds.I've been in the UK and saw some good things and some really bad things,but I wouldn't presume to dress them down in their own country.
I can't imagine the grief of the families of these children and school personnel murdered senselessly or the horrible effects on the first responders.
Maybe the major media that vomits out nonstop gratuitous violence on tv,film and above all,video games for profit ought to do some soul searching,but they lack any soul.And the disgusting reality shows that dehumanize people and exploit human failings for fun and profit.
Depicting violence and human weakness certainly has a place in art and literature and in film too-but we are subjected to way too much over the line crap.
In real war,there is no "start over"button.People that get f**ked up stay that way.
What a miserable situation this is-and we hate feeling helpless,but there isn't much that can be done-maybe armed security in schools.Hell.we guard armored cars full of money with firearms-our children are far more precious.
As more information becomes available about the horrific unimaginable tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre some things are becoming clearer.
Nancy Lanza (mother) was a gun collector and would take her sons to target shooting. All guns and rifles were legally purchased and registered to Nancy.
20 year old Adam Lanza (the shooter) tried unsuccessfully to buy a gun at Dick's Sporting Goods in nearby Danbury, CT on Tuesday.
Adam Lanza had an altercation on Thursday the day before the shooting with 4 of the teachers (3 of whom he killed). The altercation is not known if it happened inside or outside the school. Adam Lanza did attend Sandy Hook Elementary School as a younger student.
It is not clear if Nancy Lanza was a kindergarten teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School or a substitute teacher as news reports have this possible link muddied.
Adam Lanza shot his mother in the face and killed her Friday then drove to the school in his mother’s car with 2 guns and 1 rifle.
Sandy Hook Elementary School did upgrade their door security system last year and all doors are automatically locked at 9:30 AM start of school day.
Law enforcement doing the investigation has indicated Adam Lanza forced his way into the school.
After initial shots rang out, principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach with assistant principal ran out of main office to confront Lanza in the hallway. Hochsprung lunged at Lanza to disarm him and was killed so was Sherlach and the assistant principal was shot in the foot but was able to get back to the front office wounded.
According to law enforcement reports, Adam Lanza killed teacher Victoria Soto as she was shielding her first-grade children. Also killed were Lauren Rousseau a substitute teacher who finally became a full time teacher this year working at Sandy Hook Elementary School, teacher Rachel Davino and teacher Anne Marie Murphy.
Adam Lanza systematically killed the children in a kindergarten classroom and adjacent first-grade classroom shooting everyone multiple times (16 six year olds and 4 seven year olds) according to the CT medical examiner at close range; one person had 11 bullet wounds in their body before Lanza turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.
In the 10 minutes it took for local police, state police, FBI and medical first responders to arrive at the School the massacre was over.
The news media throughout their reporting has been very clear to report “children and Adults” not children and teachers.
Saw an interview a few years ago with criminology Prof. James Fox. Fox predicted that between the breakdown of the family structure, the blurring of societal lines between right and wrong and the 24/7 stream of violent images throughout all our media, we would see a frightening escalation in violent acting out among our young people in this society.
His words were so chilling I've never forgotten them.
How terrifyingly right he was.