Evidence hints at deadlier plan in Conn. school massacre
NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) - The gunman in the Connecticut shooting rampage shot his mother four times in the head before going to the school and gunning down 26, authorities said Sunday as details emerged suggesting that Adam Lanza had planned an even more gruesome massacre but was stopped short.
Lanza blasted his way into the building and used a high-powered rifle to kill 20 children and six adults, including the principal who tried to stop him, authorities said.
The unthinkable bloodshed might even have been worse. Gov. Dannel Malloy said Lanza shot himself when he heard police coming. Authorities said they found multiple 30-round magazines and hundreds of bullets at the school, enough ammunition on him to carry out significant additional carnage.
"There was a lot of ammo, a lot of clips," State Police Lt. Paul Vance. "Certainly a lot of lives were potentially saved."
As President Barack Obama prepared a visit and churches opened their doors to comfort a grieving town Sunday, federal agents fanned out to dozens of gun stores and shooting ranges across Connecticut, chasing leads they hoped would cast light on Lanza's life.
Among the questions: Why did his mother, a well-to-do suburban divorcee , keep a cache of high-power weapons in the house? What experience did Lanza have with those guns? And, above all, what set him on a path to go classroom-by-classroom, massacring 6- and 7-year-olds?
Malloy offered no possible motive for the shooting and a law enforcement official has said police have found no letters or diaries left behind that could shed light on it.
Vance on Sunday officially identified Lanza as the shooter.
Lanza shot his 52-year-old mother, Nancy, to death at the home they shared Friday. She was shot four times in the head and found in her bed wearing pajamas, said a state official who was not authorized to disclose details of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Lanza then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School in her car with at least three of her guns, forced his way in by shooting out a window and opened fire, authorities said. Within minutes, he killed the children, six adults and himself.
Lanza had two handguns, a Glock 10 mm and a Sig Sauer 9 mm, and a Bushmaster rifle. Police also found a shotgun in his car.
All the victims at the school were shot with the rifle, at least some of them up close, and all were apparently shot more than once, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver said. There were as many as 11 shots on the bodies he examined. Lanza died of a gunshot wound to the head from a 10 mm gun, and the bullet was recovered in a classroom wall, said the same official who described the scene at his mother's house.
All six adults killed at the school were women. Of the 20 children, eight were boys and 12 were girls.
Asked whether the children suffered, Carver said, "If so, not for very long." Asked how many bullets were fired, Carver said, "I'm lucky if I can tell you how many I found."
Parents identified the children through photos to spare them some shock, Carver said.
The terrible details about the last moments of young innocents emerged as authorities released their names and ages - the youngest 6 and 7, the oldest 56. They included Ana Marquez-Greene, a little girl who had just moved to Newtown from Canada; Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old teacher who apparently died while trying to hide her pupils; and principal Dawn Hochsprung, who authorities said lunged at the gunman in an attempt to overtake him.
The tragedy has plunged Newtown into mourning and added the picturesque New England community of 27,000 people to the grim map of towns where mass shootings in recent years have periodically reignited the national debate over gun control but led to little change.
School officials were trying to determine what to do about sending the survivors back to class, Newtown police Lt. George Sinko said at a news conference Sunday.
Sinko said he "would find it very difficult" for students to return to the school. But, he added, "we want to keep these kids together. They need to support each other," he said.
Plans were being made for some students to attend classes in nearby Monroe, said Jim Agostine, superintendent of schools there.
Residents and faith leaders reflected Sunday on the mass shooting and what meaning, if any, to find in it. Obama planned to attend an interfaith vigil - the fourth time he will have traveled to a city after a mass shooting.
At St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic church, Jennifer Waters, who at 6 is the same age as many of the victims and attends a different school, came to Mass on Sunday in Newtown with a lot of questions.
"The little children - are they with the angels?" she asked her mother while fiddling with a small plastic figurine on a pew near the back of the church. "Are they going to live with the angels?"
Her mother, Joan, 45, assured her they were, then put a finger to her daughter's lips, urging her to be quiet.
An overflow crowd of more than 800 people attended the 9 a.m. service at the church, where eight children will be buried later this week. The gunman, Adam Lanza, and his mother also attended church here. Spokesman Brian Wallace said the diocese has yet to be asked to provide funerals for either.
Boxes of tissues were placed strategically in each pew and on each window sill. The altar was adorned with bouquets, one shaped as a broken heart, with a zigzag of red carnations cutting through the white ones.
In his homily, the Rev. Jerald Doyle, the diocesan administrator, tried to answer the question of how parishioners could find joy in the holiday season with so much sorrow surrounding them.
"You won't remember what I say, and it will become unimportant," he said. "But you will really hear deep down that word that will finally and ultimately bring peace and joy. That is the word by which we live. That is the word by which we hope. That is the word by which we love."
After the Mass, Joan and Jennifer stopped by a memorial outside the church filled with votive candles and a pile of bouquets and stuffed animals underneath, to pray the Lord's Prayer.
Jennifer asked whether she could take one.
"No, those are for the little children," her mother replied.
"Who died?" her daughter asked.
"Yes," said her mother, wiping away a tear.
Amid the confusion and sorrow, stories of heroism emerged, including an account of Hochsprung, 47, and the school psychologist, Mary Sherlach, 56, rushing toward Lanza in an attempt to stop him. Both died.
There was also 27-year-old teacher Victoria Soto, whose name has been invoked as a portrait of selflessness. Investigators told relatives she was killed while shielding her first-graders from danger. She reportedly hid some students in a bathroom or closet, ensuring they were safe, a cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC News.
"She put those children first. That's all she ever talked about," a friend, Andrea Crowell, told The Associated Press. "She wanted to do her best for them, to teach them something new every day."
There was also 6-year-old Emilie Parker, whose grieving father, Robbie, talked to reporters not long after police released the names of the victims but expressed no animosity, offering sympathy for Lanza's family.
"I can't imagine how hard this experience must be for you," he said.
The gunman's father, Peter Lanza, issued a statement relating his own family's anguish in the aftermath.
"Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy. No words can truly express how heartbroken we are," he said. "We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can. We too are asking why. ... Like so many of you, we are saddened, but struggling to make sense of what has transpired."
The rifle used was a Bushmaster .223-caliber, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation who was not authorized to speak about it and talked on condition of anonymity. The gun is commonly seen at competitions and was the type used in the 2002 sniper killings in the Washington, D.C., area. Also found in the school were two handguns, a Glock 10 mm and a Sig Sauer 9 mm.
A law enforcement official said Saturday that authorities were investigating fresh leads that could reveal more about the lead-up to the shooting. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Ginger Colbrun, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said earlier there was no evidence Lanza was involved in gun clubs or had trained for the shooting. When reached later in the day and asked whether that was still true, she said, "We're following any and all leads related to this individual and firearms."
Law enforcement officials have said they have found no note or manifesto from Lanza of the sort they have come to expect after murderous rampages such as the Virginia Tech bloodbath in 2007 that left 33 people dead.
Education officials said they had found no link between Lanza's mother and the school, contrary to news reports that said she was a teacher there. Investigators said they believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there Friday.
Authorities said Adam Lanza had no criminal history, and it was not clear whether he had a job. Lanza was believed to have suffered from a personality disorder, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lanza also had been diagnosed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness.
People with the disorder are often highly intelligent. While they can become frustrated more easily, there is no evidence of a link between Asperger's and violent behavior, experts say.
The law enforcement officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation.
Richard Novia, the school district's head of security until 2008, who also served as adviser for the high school technology club, of which Lanza was a member, said he clearly "had some disabilities."
"If that boy would've burned himself, he would not have known it or felt it physically," Novia said in a phone interview. "It was my job to pay close attention to that."
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jim Fitzgerald, Bridget Murphy, Pat Eaton-Robb, David Klepper and Michael Melia in Newtown; Denise Lavoie in Danbury, Conn.; Adam Geller in Southbury, Conn.; Stephen Singer and Dave Collins in Hartford, Conn.; Pete Yost in Washington and the AP News Research Center in New York.
Lanza blasted his way into the building and used a high-powered rifle to kill 20 children and six adults, including the principal who tried to stop him, authorities said.
The unthinkable bloodshed might even have been worse. Gov. Dannel Malloy said Lanza shot himself when he heard police coming. Authorities said they found multiple 30-round magazines and hundreds of bullets at the school, enough ammunition on him to carry out significant additional carnage.
"There was a lot of ammo, a lot of clips," State Police Lt. Paul Vance. "Certainly a lot of lives were potentially saved."
As President Barack Obama prepared a visit and churches opened their doors to comfort a grieving town Sunday, federal agents fanned out to dozens of gun stores and shooting ranges across Connecticut, chasing leads they hoped would cast light on Lanza's life.
Among the questions: Why did his mother, a well-to-do suburban divorcee , keep a cache of high-power weapons in the house? What experience did Lanza have with those guns? And, above all, what set him on a path to go classroom-by-classroom, massacring 6- and 7-year-olds?
Malloy offered no possible motive for the shooting and a law enforcement official has said police have found no letters or diaries left behind that could shed light on it.
Vance on Sunday officially identified Lanza as the shooter.
Lanza shot his 52-year-old mother, Nancy, to death at the home they shared Friday. She was shot four times in the head and found in her bed wearing pajamas, said a state official who was not authorized to disclose details of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Lanza then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School in her car with at least three of her guns, forced his way in by shooting out a window and opened fire, authorities said. Within minutes, he killed the children, six adults and himself.
Lanza had two handguns, a Glock 10 mm and a Sig Sauer 9 mm, and a Bushmaster rifle. Police also found a shotgun in his car.
All the victims at the school were shot with the rifle, at least some of them up close, and all were apparently shot more than once, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver said. There were as many as 11 shots on the bodies he examined. Lanza died of a gunshot wound to the head from a 10 mm gun, and the bullet was recovered in a classroom wall, said the same official who described the scene at his mother's house.
All six adults killed at the school were women. Of the 20 children, eight were boys and 12 were girls.
Asked whether the children suffered, Carver said, "If so, not for very long." Asked how many bullets were fired, Carver said, "I'm lucky if I can tell you how many I found."
Parents identified the children through photos to spare them some shock, Carver said.
The terrible details about the last moments of young innocents emerged as authorities released their names and ages - the youngest 6 and 7, the oldest 56. They included Ana Marquez-Greene, a little girl who had just moved to Newtown from Canada; Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old teacher who apparently died while trying to hide her pupils; and principal Dawn Hochsprung, who authorities said lunged at the gunman in an attempt to overtake him.
The tragedy has plunged Newtown into mourning and added the picturesque New England community of 27,000 people to the grim map of towns where mass shootings in recent years have periodically reignited the national debate over gun control but led to little change.
School officials were trying to determine what to do about sending the survivors back to class, Newtown police Lt. George Sinko said at a news conference Sunday.
Sinko said he "would find it very difficult" for students to return to the school. But, he added, "we want to keep these kids together. They need to support each other," he said.
Plans were being made for some students to attend classes in nearby Monroe, said Jim Agostine, superintendent of schools there.
Residents and faith leaders reflected Sunday on the mass shooting and what meaning, if any, to find in it. Obama planned to attend an interfaith vigil - the fourth time he will have traveled to a city after a mass shooting.
At St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic church, Jennifer Waters, who at 6 is the same age as many of the victims and attends a different school, came to Mass on Sunday in Newtown with a lot of questions.
"The little children - are they with the angels?" she asked her mother while fiddling with a small plastic figurine on a pew near the back of the church. "Are they going to live with the angels?"
Her mother, Joan, 45, assured her they were, then put a finger to her daughter's lips, urging her to be quiet.
An overflow crowd of more than 800 people attended the 9 a.m. service at the church, where eight children will be buried later this week. The gunman, Adam Lanza, and his mother also attended church here. Spokesman Brian Wallace said the diocese has yet to be asked to provide funerals for either.
Boxes of tissues were placed strategically in each pew and on each window sill. The altar was adorned with bouquets, one shaped as a broken heart, with a zigzag of red carnations cutting through the white ones.
In his homily, the Rev. Jerald Doyle, the diocesan administrator, tried to answer the question of how parishioners could find joy in the holiday season with so much sorrow surrounding them.
"You won't remember what I say, and it will become unimportant," he said. "But you will really hear deep down that word that will finally and ultimately bring peace and joy. That is the word by which we live. That is the word by which we hope. That is the word by which we love."
After the Mass, Joan and Jennifer stopped by a memorial outside the church filled with votive candles and a pile of bouquets and stuffed animals underneath, to pray the Lord's Prayer.
Jennifer asked whether she could take one.
"No, those are for the little children," her mother replied.
"Who died?" her daughter asked.
"Yes," said her mother, wiping away a tear.
Amid the confusion and sorrow, stories of heroism emerged, including an account of Hochsprung, 47, and the school psychologist, Mary Sherlach, 56, rushing toward Lanza in an attempt to stop him. Both died.
There was also 27-year-old teacher Victoria Soto, whose name has been invoked as a portrait of selflessness. Investigators told relatives she was killed while shielding her first-graders from danger. She reportedly hid some students in a bathroom or closet, ensuring they were safe, a cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC News.
"She put those children first. That's all she ever talked about," a friend, Andrea Crowell, told The Associated Press. "She wanted to do her best for them, to teach them something new every day."
There was also 6-year-old Emilie Parker, whose grieving father, Robbie, talked to reporters not long after police released the names of the victims but expressed no animosity, offering sympathy for Lanza's family.
"I can't imagine how hard this experience must be for you," he said.
The gunman's father, Peter Lanza, issued a statement relating his own family's anguish in the aftermath.
"Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy. No words can truly express how heartbroken we are," he said. "We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can. We too are asking why. ... Like so many of you, we are saddened, but struggling to make sense of what has transpired."
The rifle used was a Bushmaster .223-caliber, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation who was not authorized to speak about it and talked on condition of anonymity. The gun is commonly seen at competitions and was the type used in the 2002 sniper killings in the Washington, D.C., area. Also found in the school were two handguns, a Glock 10 mm and a Sig Sauer 9 mm.
A law enforcement official said Saturday that authorities were investigating fresh leads that could reveal more about the lead-up to the shooting. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Ginger Colbrun, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said earlier there was no evidence Lanza was involved in gun clubs or had trained for the shooting. When reached later in the day and asked whether that was still true, she said, "We're following any and all leads related to this individual and firearms."
Law enforcement officials have said they have found no note or manifesto from Lanza of the sort they have come to expect after murderous rampages such as the Virginia Tech bloodbath in 2007 that left 33 people dead.
Education officials said they had found no link between Lanza's mother and the school, contrary to news reports that said she was a teacher there. Investigators said they believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there Friday.
Authorities said Adam Lanza had no criminal history, and it was not clear whether he had a job. Lanza was believed to have suffered from a personality disorder, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lanza also had been diagnosed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness.
People with the disorder are often highly intelligent. While they can become frustrated more easily, there is no evidence of a link between Asperger's and violent behavior, experts say.
The law enforcement officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation.
Richard Novia, the school district's head of security until 2008, who also served as adviser for the high school technology club, of which Lanza was a member, said he clearly "had some disabilities."
"If that boy would've burned himself, he would not have known it or felt it physically," Novia said in a phone interview. "It was my job to pay close attention to that."
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jim Fitzgerald, Bridget Murphy, Pat Eaton-Robb, David Klepper and Michael Melia in Newtown; Denise Lavoie in Danbury, Conn.; Adam Geller in Southbury, Conn.; Stephen Singer and Dave Collins in Hartford, Conn.; Pete Yost in Washington and the AP News Research Center in New York.
Using the leftâs logic on guns:
1) Ban all automobiles- in 2009 alone, there were 10.8 MILLION accidents and 35.9 MILLION deaths at an average of 33,800 deaths PER DAYâ¦.
2) Ban Eating Utensils- Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which shows that 63.1% of adults in the U.S. were either overweight or obese in 2009
.3) Ban Writing Instruments- They misspell words ALLLLL the time.
4) Ban Television Sets- 29 Children were killed by falling T.V. sets....
5) Ban 'Black Friday Sales'- 450 people died during these sales
6) Ban Hot Dogs- they killed 70 children last year alone...
7) Ban Football- it killed 20 people last year
8) Ban Vending Machines- they killed 13 people last year
9) Ban Bath Tubs- They killed 340 people last year.
10) Ban Beds- they killed 450 people last year...
11) Ban Surgeries- over 500 people a year die because of botched surgeries.
12) Ban all Blunt Objects- Â these objects include anything from hammers, clubs, and baseball bats to bottles and tree branches, annually taking the lives of nearly 600 people in the States alone.
13) Ban ALL Personal Body Weapons- The third most common murder weapons are body parts such hands, feet, fists and head. 861 lost their lives by fatal body blows in the US.
14) Ban ALL knives and cutting instruments- They caused the death of 1897 people.
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over 50 MILLION gun owners killed NOBODY.
how the H3LL did this dude get an ACR?
 @thelegoperson2 Funny, in other reports there was no mention of a shotgun, and the .223 was found left in the car. I can see the mom purchasing the handguns for self-defense, but an ACR?!? Unless there are receipts with her signature, methinks it was planted to stir up the 'hornet' nest.
 @str1ngb3nd3r  @thelegoperson2 ~  The initial reports about the rifle being found in the car were incorrect...  The medical examiner, doing the autopsies, found 223 bullets (or fragments thereof) in the bodies of the deceased people.  Since the handguns that the gunman had were 9mm and 10mm, they could not have been used on the victims.  (The gunman ultimately used one of the handguns on himself... sadly, after he had already taken 28 innocent lives, using the rifle...)
I agree with you in re a shotgun... this is about the first time I've heard about that, too...Â
I think this says something about the way that breaking news stories are handled in the US... the reporters are so anxious to "e the first" with the story that a lot of incorrect or incomplete information comes out; everybody ends up being totally confused...and later on, they have to go back and correct all these mistakes... Â Seems to me that it might be better to report the "bare basics" of the story, then wait on the details until LE can provide them as confirmed information...
 @margay1 Thanks for the clarification!
Didn't the Oregon shooter have more magazines on him? However, an Oregon conceal carry holder drew down on the Oregon shooter. Now the shooter knew he was faced with a response of force and not all defenseless victims. Oregon shooter committed suicide almost immediately after seeing the CCW holder move to take action.
@Unknown
Won't see this story from main stream media on how close a CHL holder came to stopping the Clackamus town center shooter.
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http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html
@gunnutz ~ like you I'm extremely distraught over the insane killings; I feel compelled to address a couple things (this is not a personal attack, merely expressing an opinion as you have done).
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An AR-15 is a rifle .223 caliber to be exact (smaller caliber than allowed by law to hunt deer with). It's a semi-automatic gas operated weapon. Bushmaster is a brand name it's not a rifle and are you ready for this... ALL weapons are assault weapons no exceptions. They are also inanimate tools that are inert until a "human" decides to operate them.
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The horrific events in Oregon and Connecticut and Colorado and Arizona and so many other places we've lost count were a direct result of that decision. If you will note as well the recent attack in Wyoming was a bow and the knife attack in China recently that left 22 injured.
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My point is that the tool is irrelevant. If someone is so disturbed that they are going to attack people they will find a way.
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The young men that perpetrated these horrors were mentally disturbed. Where was the government? Where were their parents, family, friends, church, school, co-workers? Why weren't they identified and treated? The young man in Colorado was known to have mental health issues and he was not being adequately helped...Instead of flailing about (all of us) regarding the tool, how about addressing the system that missed a broken person which allowed them to use a tool to take the lives of all those people.
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I'm also of the opinion that media has a share in this as well. Look at how the evolution of violence and realism have developed a "real life" experience (Saving Private Ryan comes to mind) and simulated violence in video games (Battlefield, Enemy Territory, Call of Duty as examples) as an outlet, not to mention the manner in which these very incidents have been covered (reminds me of the Don Henley song, âDirty Laundryâ). Objectifying the reality of death will at a minimum diminish the value of life.Â
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The nature of our society is changing too. We don't have the associations we once did, strong nuclear famiies and consistent supportive relationships are the exception these days and not the rule like when I was a kid. The more isolated we become the harder it is to help / get help.
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You can legislate weapons out of legal existence it won't stop people from gaining access to them if they are determined enough (ask anyone in Britain or most places in Europe how hard it is to legally own any weapon).
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We need to do a much better job of taking care of our people as well as minding our tools better.
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Just my thoughts as I'm still crying for all those people.
 @Sad and tired old guy  @gunnutz That was very well said, thank you,  It is my belief that the mental health care in this country is seriously lacking. We talk about fighting cancer, heart disease and a multitude of other diseases/conditions but try and talk about overcoming a mental illness and the communication shuts down immediately.  It is very sad.Â
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 @gunnutz Sorry, but a carbine is the most ideal home defense platform due to low recoil, stability of the weapon platform, ability to mount flashlight and red-dot optics as well as more powerful cartridge and lower penetration through walls.
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Also, if 30 round magazines aren't needed, then why do governments and militaries have them? Would you want only governments to have them when we saw governments slaughter 100,000,000+ of their own civilians in the 20th century alone?
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Do some research on the purpose of the 2nd Amendment. Hint: Even the Amendment itself makes no reference to hunting deer.
 @Unknown  @gunnutz Dude, there's not a gun in the whole wide world that can protect you from the U.S. Military. If they want you dead, you will die, end of story.
 @gunnutz Exactly what I thought.  It can do NO good.  Thank you.  I realize hunters like hunting animals. Time old necessity and tradition. This is a gun for hunting and killing people.  Why are AR15s allowed to be sold?  They are for killing people?
 @my2cents All 3 of mine must not work then. They haven't killed anyone. I also have about 100 friends and acquiantances whose collective 500+ AR-15s haven't killed anyone.
 @Unknown  @my2cents Why do they even have them, and whatever that reason is, wouldn't it be worth it to give them up if it means them no longer being sold?
AGAIN ... I am astounded that gun lovers find it unnecessary to make sure their guns are kept locked up so carefully that others can not get at them. Â I don't want your guns. Â I would love to have you keep them. Â But what are you gun lovers DOING, to make sure they don't fall into the hands of people who do NOT have your astoundingly great knowledge and ability to use them safely? Â If you WANT your dratted guns, then tell us what you're going to do, to make sure children and mentally deficient people can't easily get them? Â If you think it's so important to HAVE them, then what are you doing to make sure we don't want to slap you silly because too many of you are this careless?
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I lay this crime at the feet of the first person who was murdered. Â She "loved" her guns. Â Awesome. Â And I'm sure everyone is going to insist that THEY are not careless with THEIR weapons. Â And yet ... young children come to school with guns. Â Those guns are not MINE, I'd like to point out. Â They are guns that GUN LOVERS own and do not keep locked up. Â
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So TELL US, all you who insist we're trying to take your guns away. Â What, besides moaning and whining, are YOU doing, to see to it that innocents are safe?
 @SilverGuardian love how you are blaming the victim
You miss the point. For those who buy into the idea that it is necessary to have a gun or guns for "self defense" (or "defense" of any kind, really) it is necessary to keep them UNLOCKED. In order to be useful for "self defense," the weapon MUST be kept loaded and at hand. By very definition, then, the firearm CANNOT be stored safely. Ms. Lanza, apparently, was one who was so fearful she kept numerous guns around the house. These weapons were easy for her son with "mental health issues" to obtain and use.
 @SilverGuardian I hate big government, I hate having to be concerned that politicians who are sworn to protect the constitution are talking about gutting it.
That being said, if they are going to talk about requiring anything, how about a minimum storage requirement?
Mr. Bauer--you shouldn't hate big government so much as you should hate the idea that we NEED big government. If the Kinkels and the Harrises and the Lanzas of the world didn't go around shooting kids, and if we didn't murder more than 18,000 people a year with firearms, well, maybe we wouldn't need gun control. If the Madoffs and Lays and Skillings of the world didn't go around lying and stealing people's money, maybe we wouldn't need the SEC. If people drove reasonably, we wouldn't need speed limits or even cops.
 @Unknown  @Mechanic By the way, you do realize you're a gun nut, right? I mean, I'm not saying that's evil or anything, but you are at least that self-aware I hope?
 @Mechanic Actually, fewer than 12,000 homicides per year are firearm related. Justifiable homicides are included in that, as are gang related shootings. When you sift through the numbers to find what # of people were murdered by complete strangers or not in a rival gang, the number is likely well below 6,000. Most are killed with small handguns in the .22, .25 ACP, .32ACP, .38, and .380auto calibers.
 Every time I read something about this tragedy I see something is different, The lack of disregard by the media in this situation is disgusting. How many times has their story change. Let's try something new, not report anything until it is confirmed. Leave this town alone and let them get through this and Perhaps the media needs to stop sensationalizing this tragic event and stop putting up a picture of the murderer from when he was  much younger than the age at which he committed this horrific crime
Please, please let's do something in this country to prevent this type of thing happening again. I volunteer in my granddaughter's school and I go in every Wednesday morning to help little 5 and 6-year children learn to read. I can't imagine why anyone would want to come into that class and kill most of the children. This country has to do something to address this problem.
 @peckishpete We can't understand what is going through someone's mind to make them do something like this. I'll bet, though, that he thought he was saving them somehow. Obviously it was a serious misguided attempt but, then again, he wasn't thinking rationally. I don't know if he thought he was sparing them from having to live with what they witnessed or heard or if he was sparing them from something his mother did to him or told him.
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While I agree something needs to be done. But the scale and magnitude need to also be a factor. Statistically events like this are very, very rare. Most kids these ages die from accidents. A statistically significant portion of them. But we usually don't get to hear their names or see their faces -- even if the same amount of children are to die in one day. That is what makes this different.
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Gun control isn't the answer. There can always be another weapon to use if someone is so inclined.
Imagine what their local cemetary is going to look like by next week. Possibly 26 new graves;Â 20 of them smaller than the others.
That picture should hang in every office of every elected official.
 @WendyTeagarden Oh.. so your one of those naieve people who think putting more laws on guns and restrictions will fix this from happening again? How's that war on drugs working out for us?! Remember that little thing called Prohibition? How that work? I'll keep my guns for my protection, hunting, and sport.
I may have been referring to mental health. I have always supported the 2nd amendment but I loathe the NRA; they lie all the time.
 @Liberty4_WA So let's do nothing! If you don't like the solutions being offered, then offer some of your own. People want solutions, so lead or get out of the way.
 @JTesla Good points.. but let me ask... why is it, action ONLY seems necessary when tragedies such as this occurs? Why can't these elected officials be PROACTIVE instead of REACTIVE? That, to me, is the BIGGER question.
We can offer all the solutions we want to our "wonderful" administration. The problem is, it is their way or the highway. They don't give a rats ass about what we want. They are just too incompetent.
Adam Lanza was a deeply disturbed kid. Why wasn't he in some kind of group home/mental health facility? Why would his mother keep all those weapons in the house when she knew her kid was a freak? Why wasn't he living with his father? Â Why did his brother have nothing to do with him for two years? These are all rhetoric questions. This is like Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Norman Bates and Mother. The kid even looks like Norman Bates. A deep hatred of women. In killing all those little kids, Adam Lanza was killing himself over and over again. His torment began when he was six or seven. He blamed his mother. FREAKY! Â
 @KKStJohn She had the money available to find a suitable place for him to live in a protected environment.  She probably didn't want to lose the control.  She was foolish.  She was extremely foolish to have guns available to an unbalanced son who didn't know what reality was.  His dad had made money available for her to live the rest of her life in comfort.  Perhaps her part was to take care of their son in the trade off.  What was his background in school for the testing and classes he must have had for his disability.  Or did she want to ignore his status and not cooperate?
@KKStJohn You ask why this kid wasn't in a group home or mental institution. In part because our society is not willing at this point in time to invest money into providing better mental health services. That's the bottom line.Â
 @peckishpete  @KKStJohn Group homes and mental institutions, as such, were eliminated in a social movement following Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" book and subsequent movie. They were horrible places where the people living in them suffered terrible lives, were physically and mentally abused, and had their rights ignored. The people institutionalized were treated as second-class citizens.
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We don't want that to happen again. Ever. So, yes, while time and money are issues, so are the tragedies of how we handled mentally ill citizens.
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As I've said before, once someone becomes an adult, there is very little anyone can do to get that person mental health (or to protect the community) unless they are willing to voluntarily admit themselves. I think changing this process whereby a panel of experts and close friends or family make the determination to have someone admitted for longer than 72 hours. At least until the person can be evaluated and suitable treatment determined.
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And, KKStJohn, its attitudes like yours that make it difficult for people dealing with different brain chemistries, mental health issues, and the like to even feel remotely comfortable in our world. Just because someone is different doesn't mean they will cause harm to anyone any more or any less than someone perceived as normal by society.
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I've interacted with a lot of people (in a variety of age groups) with varying degrees of mental incapacity (from a societal norm). I would say that knowing them really has enriched my life. Its been the "normal" people that have caused me the greatest physical and mental harm.
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Blanket statements don't help. Institutionalizing people who are different from you don't help. Understanding and accepting is what helps the most. Because, then , you'll be able to express your concerns to someone who is better able to help remedy the situation.
 @CTWU  @peckishpete  @KKStJohn "I've interacted with a lot of people (in a variety of age groups) with varying degrees of mental incapacity (from a societal norm). I would say that knowing them really has enriched my life. Its been the "normal" people that have caused me the greatest physical and mental harm."
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Amen to that.Â
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And as the AP authored story CORRECTLY points out:
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'Another law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lanza also had been diagnosed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness.People with the disorder are often highly intelligent. While they can become frustrated more easily, there is no evidence of a link between Asperger's and violent behavior, experts say.'
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To begin to profile (or 'suspect') those that have brain chemistry problems would be a terrible injustice. Â There is no greater prevalence toward violence for those diagnosed with a mental disorder vs. those that haven't been. Â The one disorder that is most closely associated with violent behavior would be the schizophrenic persons of the truly paranoid variety. Â Yesterday on a Sunday morning news talk show (forgot which one, I was flipping channels quite a lot) George Will pointed out that to even start to go down the path of subjecting persons with brain 'differences' to greater scrutiny would invite an array of civil rights / liberties concerns. Â
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Trying to get every firearm deemed 'undesirable' off the street is not practical not to mention the 2nd Amendment firmly established the right to own a variety of weapons. Â Even *if* a new stronger law were to be passed, it doesn't mean than many or even ANY criminal would be inconvenienced by it. Â Rather than urinating up a rope, I think the real solution is to rebuilding our health care, increasing resources and investment in the brain disorders/disabilities aspect in particular. Â Also, we should work to de-glorify the culture of violence and work hard to build/rebuild the family unit.Â
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About 70 years ago, in the midst of global violence and upheaval, when Mr. Schicklegruber embarked upon his demonic escapade to rid humanity of 'undesirables' guess which group of people he targeted first?
@CTWU @KKStJohn I worked at Fairview Training Center for 9 years and advocated for de-institutionalion and I feel perfectly comfortable around people with various handicapping conditions. I also worked with so-called "handicapped" kids in schools and they were certainly some of the most enjoyable kids I've known. I didn't mean that we needed to put people with, as you say, "different brain chemistries" in institutions and throw away the keys. I just wish we would dedicate as much money helping people with emotional difficulties as we do to making fighter jets, bombs, and aircraft carriers.Â
these tragedies will continue to occur until we do something about it. Whether that is arming more people or having gun reform, im not sure. We trust in the politicians to advocate the public best interest. What happened on Friday was a clear failure. We let those children down and they paid the ultimate price along with the teachers who perished trying to save them.Â
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Something needs to happen, we cannot wait any longer. How many more school shootings, mall shootings, temple shootings and theater will we need before this issue is addressed by politicians in a serious manner. I am talking action not just rhetoric and semantics. We have talked and talked, its time to walk. Obama has nothing to lose anymore, he cant get reelected. Please do something.
 @toobadsoosad Wait, do you actually think politicians care about us?
 @toobadsoosad ~ "We trust in the politicians to advocate the public best interest."  Well, if we elected "statesmen" instead of politicians, that might work... but the majority of the politicos in office now (and for decades past now) have focused on their OWN interests (money and power) FAR more than they have on we-the-people.   About the only time we get much attention is when it's election time and they're campaigning...Â
"I don't know if the rest of the country is struggling to understand it the same way we are here," she said. "Life goes on, but you're not the same. Is the rest of the country - are they going about their regular activities? Is it just another news story to them?" Not true at all Ms. Denner. The rest of the country and the world grieve with you, we are not just putting your tragedy aside and going on with our lives. Watching the news stories unfold on Friday, I stood in shock and really struggled to get through the rest of my day with all the sorrow I felt inside. I'm sure many many other people feel the same way.
@lorivance  Well said