Elementary school shooting in CT, 20 kids & more dead

[rise]

People like this make me fucking sick. Disgusting acts like these are happening more and more frequently it seems.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323297104578179271453737596.html

At least 25 people, including 18 children, were shot and killed at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday, law-enforcement officials with knowledge of the matter said.

A law-enforcement official identified the suspected shooter as Ryan Lanza, 24 years old. The official said his mother was a teacher at the school, and she was believed to be among the victims.

The shooting, which began inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., at about 9:40 a.m., was concentrated around a single classroom, a school bathroom and a hallway, the official said.

[JNett]

Only about an hour from where I live. Completely sick and disgusting. Looks as though he wiped out his whole family, father and mother, while his girlfriend and a friend are missing. Awful stuff

[rise]

Death toll is up to 20 kids. This is insane. I have a friend who used to live a short while from there who's worried out of his mind right now wondering whether someone he knew was affected by this. Hope everyone you know is alright. This is tragic. I just had a vision of what this would be like if I was a little kid at school. Has me scared sick.

[benji]

Disgusting acts like these are happening more and more frequently it seems.

Key word here is the last one.

This one at least has a mildly interesting "story" based on the media reports thus far in that it involved two sons targeting their divorced parents (and girlfriend?) to go along with the 20-30 year old male (with mental illness?) aspect.

[benji]

[Andrew]

Ugh. I know in trying to make sense of terrible incidents like this, there's often a natural reaction to point fingers and assign blame, but no. Just...no.

As for the tragedy itself, what can you say? Absolutely terrible.

[Dc311]

It sucks what happened today.What a fucking coward.

But this is true,

[koberulz]

[Andrew]

Responsible journalism there.

[shadowgrin]

Americans, ineffective as always and too lazy to do the dirty work by using a gun.

A man in China injured 22 kids with a knife, not some gun like a lazy person would.
No one got killed but it's more effective because those 22 kids will live out their lives traumatized and in fear as they grow up. That's years of torment!
Azn effectiveness at werk.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1220230

[benji]

[koberulz]

[bowdown]

That Ryan Lanza comes off as a douche himself in his facebook posts. Sad though. The guy just shot his mother point blank in the face and drove off to the school and shot kids around 10 times each with a god damn semi automatic rifle. Was there even anything left to shoot at after the first few bullets probably mangled their little bodies?

[koberulz]

That Ryan Lanza comes off as a douche himself in his facebook posts.

Seriously? Have you ever been named as a mass-murderer on national news?

Not to mention, his mother had just been shot by his brother, who then went on to massacre children at an elementary school. I'd say he handled it pretty damn well.

a god damn semi automatic rifle.

Why do people insist on throwing around 'semi-automatic' like it means anything close to 'automatic'?

[benji]

To be fair, in this case the rifle he did use was indeed a semi-automatic.

Still, might as well post these:

[koberulz]

To be fair, in this case the rifle he did use was indeed a semi-automatic.

I'm aware of that, but I'm commenting on the 'it was semi-automatic! That's basically automatic! There's no need for anyone to ever have a semi-automatic weapon!' notion that people seem to have in their heads (specifically, the 'god damn' bowdown placed before 'semi-automatic rifle'), not the media's inability to know which weapon was used and what its specs are.

[benji]

He probably would have been far less effective with a bolt-action, his arm likely would have tired after the first clip based on the picture of him.

[Qballer]

a god damn semi automatic rifle.

Why do people insist on throwing around 'semi-automatic' like it means anything close to 'automatic'?

someone at work today pretty much hinted at the same thing and i had to explain the difference.

[benji]

It does go back to the media's unfamiliarity with and fear of guns despite koberulz's missing the connection to the image. Semi-automatic sounds frighting so they repeat it over and over again. If they breathlessly said "the shooter had a rifle that fired when the trigger was pressed" they'd sound like idiots.

People who don't know anything about guns except that they fire on their own and cause people to instantly kill without being loaded aren't going to learn anything about guns except what they are told by the media who knows as much as they do.

Thus a semi-automatic that's harmed someone is a MG-50 just like all bad dogs are pit bulls.

See, also: Media coverage of anything you happen to know about.

[Dc311]

[koberulz]

First amendment? What first amendment?

Untrue.

[Dc311]

Thanks for clearing that up.

[shadowgrin]

That Ryan Lanza comes off as a douche himself in his facebook posts.

Dunno if trolling or stupid.

[benji]

[benji]

lol

[Qballer]

real violence affects me, so i'll just stop playing video games??

[benji]

If you are online at the time change your comment window to “OSCeaseFire” If you are on a social network used the hashtag #OSCeaseFire. If you see people participating on the Dec 21st, post pictures on this page.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413319,00.asp

In the wake of Friday's tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., GamerFitNation founder Antwand Pearman is calling for a one-day "ceasefire" among those who play online shooting games.

Pearman wants gamers to "just put your controller down and show your love" on Friday, as part of the Day of Ceasefire For Online Shooters.

At this point, there has been no reported link between violent video games and Friday's shooting, which left 20 children and six adults dead. Pearman also says on his Facebook page that "we are not blaming video games." Instead, "I'm asking for a demonstration of peace — the one thing that money can't buy," Pearman said in a video message (below) about the effort. "I'm not asking for funds. If anything, I ask [that] you donate to the families of the victims when that becomes available. What I'm asking for is a ceasefire."

In the video, the game enthusiast talks about his own childhood, growing up around gun violence, and how he wants the world to know that gamers have hearts, too.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/online ... NC9lCBK8mV

Pearman, who is the CEO and Founder of GamerFitNation, is organizing an online cease fire for this coming Friday, Dec. 21. He wants all gamers to put down the controllers and stop firing virtual bullets to honor those who were killed by real bullets last Friday.

"I wanted to make a statement. I wanted gamers to come together to say we don't accept this. This doesn't say we blame video games. We just believe this is for us to do to show respect to the victims. It's a small sacrifice for a day," Pearman told ABC News. .

[shadowgrin]

Now trying to find the most violent online game I have on Steam to play on the 21st.

[bowdown]

That Ryan Lanza comes off as a douche himself in his facebook posts.

Dunno if trolling or stupid.

That is just the vibrations I got from it. His mom just died and his brother killed himself after killing 20 kids. He is more worried about telling people to stfu on facebook. Yeah that is quite the appropriate response. Even if people are wrongfully blaming him the last thing to do is go on facebook to tell people to stfu after ur mom and brother have been killed along with 26 people.

I wouldve empathized if his posts had a more sorry tone to what happened to go along with his frustration for wrongful accusations. Like I said, just the vibrations I got from it.

PS: I give two shits about the technical terms for the guns. Those types should be heavily regulated and restricted amongst ordinary citizens.

[benji]

PS: I give two shits about the technical terms for the guns. Those types should be heavily regulated and restricted amongst ordinary citizens.

Why should some people be able to keep their rights?

And you don't care about the "technical terms" but you want "those types" to be violently restricted? That's a fantastic way to maintain rule of law.

[bowdown]

When our Founding Daddies included the second amendment, the guns back then took 5 minutes to reload after each shot which had a 15% chance of hitting its target. Now we have guns that can mow down a large crowd in 30 seconds. The the more easily available an efficient mass murder weapon is to the public, the more likely a mentally unstable person will acquire it to go off on society once in a while.

If you make it harder for these weapons to be obtained then ON AVERAGE the mentally unstable person will probably settle for a handgun or knife and kill far fewer people before killing himself.

Yeah some people collect guns for fun, some people like target practicing, but at the end of the day guns were invented for killing and if them being so easily available increases the potential for lives being lost, we need to put more restrictions on their availability to the public. (Especially the "semi-automatic" types.)

I am not a law maker so that is why I dont care about the technical terms involved. I am just stating my reasoning for my stance.

[shadowgrin]

His mom just died and his brother killed himself after killing 20 kids. He is more worried about telling people to stfu on facebook. Yeah that is quite the appropriate response. Even if people are wrongfully blaming him the last thing to do is go on facebook to tell people to stfu after ur mom and brother have been killed along with 26 people.

You don't need to be Batman or an investigator to figure it out. He didn't know his brother killed himself or was the shooter because the police wrongfully identified the killer, him. Since a giant news organization just fucked up their information, it's easy to dismiss or continue denying that your mom is among the casualties until you find out for yourself like calling her which he wasn't able to do at first because he was at work.

In other words he didn't know anything that his family was involved at that point and only knew that an international news source is accusing him of killing children.

[benji]

Your reasoning serves to violently strip the right of self-defense (not to mention property ownership) for all people because a small fraction might violate the rights of others with similar tools.

Violently suppressing rights hasn't worked with the drugs, it has caused exponentially more harm. I can't imagine the numbers of lives that would be lost resulting from a confiscation of semi-automatic weapons in this country, let alone an expansion into all weapons.

And it's interesting that you want to restrict the rights of individuals in terms of what forms of self-defense they can have, but seem to have no complaints about leaving those weapons and worse in the hands of the greatest mass murderers and gangs that exist.

The founders comparison is always specious because you were expected to be able to own military arms. The government didn't generally own/hold the weapons and cannons and there was no standing army. Really, there's no reason to not restore those rights to the citizens instead of leaving them monopolized within an unaccountable entity.

You don't need to be Batman or an investigator to figure it out. He didn't know his brother killed himself or was the shooter because the police wrongfully identified the killer, him. Since a giant news organization just fucked up their information, it's easy to dismiss or continue denying that your mom is among the casualties until you find out for yourself like calling her which he wasn't able to do at first because he was at work.

In other words he didn't know anything that his family was involved at that point and only knew that an international news source is accusing him of killing children.

It wasn't just one news source. The police gave the wrong name to everyone.

[shadowgrin]

It wasn't just one news source. The police gave the wrong name to everyone.

STILL DOESN'T GIVE HIM THE RIGHT TO ACT LIKE THE DOUCHE THAT I PERCEIVE HIM TO BE ON FACEBOOK BY TELLING EVERYONE TO STFU!111!! NOT APPROPRIATE PLEASE!!111! HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MOAR APOLOGETIC SO HE WON'T BE ON MY DOUCHE LIST1111!. FEEL MY VIBRATION IF YOU WANT TO BELIEVE ME! YOU CAN DO THAT BY SITTING ON MY LAP11! FEEL IT!

[koberulz]

(Especially the "semi-automatic" types.)

How can you advocate this if you don't even know what they are?

[Oznogrd]

Tragic and scary. Here's my thoughts as a teacher even though this stolen from a friends fb post:

To parents who are not educators this may be hard to understand. But 5 days a week 7-8 hours a day we teach your kids. That means we educate your kids, play with your kids, discipline your kids, joke with your kids, console your kids, praise your kids, question your kids. Beat our heads against a wall because of your kids, gush over your kids, laugh with your kids, worry about your kids, keep an eye on your kids, make sure your kids eat, invest in your kids, protect your kids, love them unconditionally every single day. We would without a doubt take a bullet for your kids.

It is no where in our job description, it is not covered in the employee handbook. It is not in our contracts. But we would do it. and do it happily if it meant the child we love so much will continue to grow in life.



Also: better mental illness awareness would be a good thing. Just saying

[benji]

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/12/20/ ... deo-games/

CBS 2’s Lou Young met one seventh grader in Newtown on Thursday who was gathering a selection of his personal video games. He was getting rid of them for one reason and said he wants you to get rid of yours as well.

“All of it is kill, just kill as many people as you can without dying,” Max Goldstein said.

Each one is what they call a “first-person shooter,” a game in which the player looks at a digital landscape through the sights of a weapon and uses it on enemies.

They are among the most popular games on the market; violent, engaging, and, some say, addictive. In the aftermath of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Goldstein and his brother decided it was a digital world they could no longer embrace.

“I really think it’s rude and disrespectful to the families, who lost children, to play these games,” Goldstein said.

With his parents help he’s created a group called “Played Out” that uses the slogan “We choose not to play.” It urges fellow kids to ditch their violent games as well. Bins will be going up in Newtown on Friday.

“We hope people will drop off … and destroy them,” said Jackson Mittleman, Goldstein’s brother.

The adults are wondering why they didn’t think of it first.

“It’s just great. I think it’s just great the kids thought of something,” said Roberta Mittleman, the boys’ mother.

Goldstein said his goal is to reduce violent video games by a third in American homes. You can start by dropping them off Friday.

Notice how these people are getting their panties in a wad when their "innocent" video games,movies,and music are getting blamed,we need no rational conversation,ban them all right now and shut down the "entertainment industrial complex".

If the kids are saying it...it should be done. They should have a video game bonfire!

Good we need to get rid of this garbage created by liberals....AND the violent movies created by liberal Hollywood....funny the libs want to blame the NRA but not their own "kind" the liberal Hollywood elite!

Violence with out a moral component in entertainment is unacceptable.

It's like pornography for children. Enough.

[bowdown]

It wasn't just one news source. The police gave the wrong name to everyone.

STILL DOESN'T GIVE HIM THE RIGHT TO ACT LIKE THE DOUCHE THAT I PERCEIVE HIM TO BE ON FACEBOOK BY TELLING EVERYONE TO STFU!111!! NOT APPROPRIATE PLEASE!!111! HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MOAR APOLOGETIC SO HE WON'T BE ON MY DOUCHE LIST1111!. FEEL MY VIBRATION IF YOU WANT TO BELIEVE ME! YOU CAN DO THAT BY SITTING ON MY LAP11! FEEL IT!

well said.

[ixcuincle]

It's sad what happened, but video games are not to blame here. They are simply an easy target and scapegoat to skirt the real issue; mental health in America.

PEople play video games around the world, yet only America is afflicted by gun violence. Video games have been important to Japan for decades, yet there is nearly no gun violence there.

[shadowgrin]

Video games have been important to Japan for decades, yet there is nearly no gun violence there.

Kidnapping women for days to force them to make porn films.
Making a celebrity/artist out of a convicted murderer/cannibal.
Hentai.

[Andrew]

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/12/21

[benji]

[NovU]

It's sad what happened, but video games are not to blame here. They are simply an easy target and scapegoat to skirt the real issue; mental health in America.

PEople play video games around the world, yet only America is afflicted by gun violence. Video games have been important to Japan for decades, yet there is nearly no gun violence there.

Though it is not entirely to blame, I don't have any doubts that video games could influence children and some adults' mental health for ill, just like movies or any other entertainment culture could affect a person.

[koberulz]

So. Much. Stupid.

[shadowgrin]

Yeah, Penn Jillette is stupid for even calling CoD as art.

[hova-]

As long as there are people in the US who claim that you should fight those bad persons with a gun by giving a gun to a "good" person, there is no chance to help that country.

[benji]

Individual rights are never the problem.

[koberulz]

As long as there are people in the US who claim that you should fight those bad persons with a gun by giving a gun to a "good" person, there is no chance to help that country.

What else are you supposed to use?

[NovU]

'Trap was set' for gunned down N.Y. firefighters

A gunman set a trap and shot and killed two firefighters responding to an early morning blaze in Webster, N.Y., police officials said. Two other firefighters were also shot and both are listed in guarded condition at a local hospital.

This is insane. Some people suggested school teachers to carry the guns. How about for the fire fighters? Because there's no way to keep insane people from having guns. Let's all carry one or couple. This stupid 'You have one, I need to have one.' is a social stigma of no real control over guns.

[shadowgrin]

lol at the canadien.

As long as there are people in the US who claim that you should fight those bad persons with a gun by giving a gun to a "good" person, there is no chance to help that country.

What else are you supposed to use?

Knife or a spoon.