One of the headlines in the local paper is selling Kleenex with, "Details emerge in Connecticut school shooting, but no answers".

What a ridiculous line. What a pitiful attempt to avoid the truth: life is not guaranteed. Violence is timeless among humans. The firearm has been in existence for over 400 years.

The insanity of attempting to blame everyone, anything but the shooter continues.

Denial is in full career. I predict that the national schizophrenia will now demand that the American service rifle only has moral certitude when killing people in the hands of someone in uniform, because that uniform is magic against misuse.

Amy,

Thank you for posting this.

We are already hearing the call for more gun legislation. The problem with outright bans or very restrictive gun laws is those laws are not followed by the criminals and mentally unhinged.

In this latest case -- the shooter was 20 and not legally allowed to own a handgun. He killed his mother to obtain the weapons and commit this act.

In Mexico, you can only buy a .22 rifle or a .38 revolver from the single gun store on a Mexican army base in Mexico City after filling a ton of paperwork and paying high fees.

In 2010, Mexico had 24,374 homicides. Of those 11,309 were by firearms.

There are about 84M guns of all sorts in the U.S. currently. Less than 1% of them will probably ever be used in a violent crime.

The weapon used in a crime is not the problem -- the problem is the person wielding it.

Morgan Freeman's statement about these random shootings, with which I happen to agree:

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

"It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you kn ow the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

"CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

"You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem."

Daughter #2 worked at a day care center here in town last summer and the summer before. She knew one of the little girls who died Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary. She wants to go to the services and of course she can. She must. But how sad. As she said "I never in a million years thought I'd ever go to a 7-year-old's funeral."

Thanks Amy,

I tried to blog this issue, as a gun owner, and it's too emotional for me.

I have a hard time taking allthis outcry seriously when the left outright ignored all kids killed in drone strikes authorized by Obama.

Yeah, Baby, yeah!

Interesting, I was wondering why there were only 2 dead in this case.

Also interesting far more carnage is caused by teenage drivers in our country than from firearms. Yet a 17 year old can own and operate a car, but can't purchase a firearm.

Mrs. Lanza was a survivalist, which makes me think she was delusional, paranoid and mentally ill. It's nearly impossible to get anyone committed involuntarily now--I can walk down 7th St. in LA and see at least 5 men who are a danger to themselves and others. Why no one else noticed that she and Adam were unhinged is beyond me. It's not the guns, it's the nut pulling the trigger. The Giffords shooter was also unbalanced, as were his parents.

"Mrs. Lanza was a survivalist, which makes me think she was delusional, paranoid and mentally ill."

Way to go with the broad brush.

I suppose if you have more than a month's supply of food, a generator and the means to defend it, now you're a homicidal maniac who must be imprisoned? Where do you set that bar?

No. Take a lesson.

And THIS is who is responsible for your safety.

Thanks for the link. I have a friend whose daughter is beginning to exhibit some of these behaviors. Some days she has to be carried out the house for school and my friend has to roll all the stops bc the kid tries to flee from the car. There is pattern of escalation in behavior that is becoming apparent. The worst part is that there appears to be no help for them. Without a diagnosis, what can she do?

The problem is that it too hard to get people like this committed before they do something to themselves or others. I agree that in the past it was too easy to stick people in the mental hospital, but now we have swung the other way.

I also wonder about the role of video games. All of these guys are obsessed with video games. I wonder if the imagery in the game becomes a part of their delusion. I don't know. What I do know is that if I had a kid like this, I wouldn't allow them anywhere near a game system. Of course, you never hear about people wanting to ban explicit games, even though they are factor in every one of theses shootings.

KateC, did you know this lady? Because if you didn't, that was an awfully harsh thing to say based on a snippet of a news article. If you lived in the Western U.S., you would find that there are plenty of people who have guns and like camp in rough conditions. Being labeled a survivalist doesn't make you crazy or likely to go shoot up a school. What a rude and uncharitable thing to say. Maybe she felt the need to have the guns bc like the lady in the article, she feared her son and wanted to be able to protect herself. Until we find out how he got the guns, we should reserve our judgements of her parenting skills.

Here, you guys, this article is about the Lanzas:

http://www.ctpost.com/default/article/What-pushed-shooter-to-kill-4121130.php

From the article:

"The 2009 divorce decree between Nancy Lanza and her ex-husband Peter Lanza, a General Electric executive who remarried and lives in Stamford, included provisions for alimony. So Nancy Lanza was able to purchase the 3,100-square-foot home in February of 2011, with the appraised value of $707,000, according to the town tax assessor. She was a gun enthusiast who was known to take her sons target shooting."

I don't think that makes her "delusional, paranoid, and mentally ill". If it does, then I'm delusional, paranoid and mentally ill as well, since I like target shooting. I'm damn good at it.

Well, well, this looks interesting:

http://beforeitsnews.com/economics-and-politics/2012/12/2-mass-shootings-connected-to-libor-2447738.html

Co-inky-dink? Hmmmmm, I wonder.

The first line of attack in the nanny liberal arsenal to to stigmatize guns, as evil, scary, and ugly.
The next line is to label anyone who is a gun owner, or enjoys shooting as mentally ill.
Yes, we survivalist types are all nuts, because of course, most of the United States is already Disneyland, (and the rest of it could be made so, if we would just surrender our individuality and judgement to the Borg
collective)

It is funny how these utopian schemes end up killing people by the millions (in the name of the greater good) of course,

It is going to take one hell of a shit storm to convince these deluded fools, that civilization hangs by a pretty tenuous thread. Chances are good, that most of them will not live through it. Personal experience is a very hard teacher, but there are many who will learn by no other way.

A person reading some news sources could be forgiven for thinking mass shootings in general and school shootings in particular are a uniquely American phenomenon. It's surprising how many have happened in countries with a small fraction of America's population - Winnenden 2009: 15 killed, Erfurt 2002: 17 killed...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7938486.stm

I guess some children's corpses make a convenient platform for those with a political agenda, and others don't.

Amy see

Yes, I love that piece:

You are NOT Adam Lanza’s mother. The sort of quasi-solidarity expressed in “We are [oppressed people]” or “I am [dead person]” appropriates the experiences of people who are unheard, in this case the victim of a mass homicide, and uses that to bolster a narrative that doesn’t even attempt to discover or represent the experiences of those they claim to speak for. Don’t do that.

(emphasis: Cridmo)

Reading my phone in a burrito shop while Xmas shopping. .. There's an ad for fire arms training at the top of the page. T

This is not a complaint for Amy. I understand that the choice of ads is made by computers a long, long way from her desk.

But this minor software clumsiness could do much to increase and accelerate political isolation on the interwebs.

Seconds later the ad is for bartender training.

They know me.

That same day (14Dec2012) some 20 schoolchildren were attacked with a deadly weapon. But not only was it in China, the attacker used a knife instead of a gun.

Heck, two teens (14 and 17) are awaiting trial for killing a man with - a pen. Ban ballpoint pens!

And the CT shooter was crazy, so let`s lock up all less-than-sane people - and have a monthly checkup for everyone, all 9.000.000.000+ of us...

No, I don't have an answer either. But those I`ve heard who think they do and shout it from the rooftops are posturing rabblerousers and fools.

I was forwarded this link about the Oregon Mall shootings. I haven't had time to check it out http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html

I know survivalists and the Montana militia--my father left strict instructions in his will as to who I could sell his guns and reloading equipment and those I should avoid. He was an NRA life member, a Marine sniper in WWII and a competitive shooter. I have a full set of NRA sterling that he won. Guns don't bother me, but weirdos who own them do. And people who fall into the Doomsday Preppers camp, as did Mrs Lanza, are nuts. The guns she owned aren't for hunting or even marksmanship--gangbangers and drug cartels own these types of guns.
Yes, the link is from the Daily Mail, but the US media are figuring it out.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2248983/Connecticut-school-shooting-Adam-Lanzas-survivalist-mother-obsessed-guns.html

And how many children died at the Branch Dividian complex (regardless of the cause of the fire) which was sanctioned and initiated by governemnt action? Where were a nations's tears then? The BDs were bad so it's ok to wipe them out as the nation cheers.

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it."

Abraham Lincoln from his 1st Inaugural Address

And people who fall into the Doomsday Preppers camp, as did Mrs Lanza, are nuts.

I don't know about your heritage, but my great-grandparents, my grandparents and my mother canned food at home. My family generally had about eighteen months worth of food canned, on the shelf, until the middle of summer as the fresh crops came in. Is that nuts? Or is that the result of living through the Great Depression and taking the lessons learned.

The Great Depression started about 1929. That was about 80 years ago. And I bet if we look at the economic indicators from the preceding few years to now -- they would have about the same lines.

The guns she owned aren't for hunting or even marksmanship--gangbangers and drug cartels own these types of guns. -- KateC at December 16, 2012 4:10 PM

Please educate yourself. The AR-15 uses a .223/5.56MM round. The AK-47 uses a 30-06/7.62MM round. Both rounds have been used for various levels of hunting for over 75 years, at least. Wrapping an AR-15/AK-47 frame around the same bullet does not make the weapon any less useful for hunting. It also does not make it any more dangerous than it's Winchester/Remington counterpart.

In addition the AR-15 is a semi-auto version of the M-16/M-4 used by the military. The AK that a civilian has is also going to be a semi-automatic weapon. Full automatic weapons are hard to get and have fees and background checks associated with them.

"The guns she owned aren't for hunting or even marksmanship--gangbangers and drug cartels own these types of guns."

Oh, crap. You're just trying to blame the weapon.

In the hands of your grandfathers, an automatic weapon was saving the world from the Nazis and the Japanese.

In your hands, the same weapon is, what? An atrocity, on its own?

No. The difference is that you don't measure up to the standards set by your ancestors, period.

"These types of guns" is irrelevent to the major use of the Constitutional provision of your right to bear arms. Now, you have a demonstrated duty to do the right thing at the ballot box so that you never have to see the cartridge box, but don't try this BS.

If you were taken hostage by a man with a knife, you'd beg for the police to blow him away with their automatic weapons, even as you might ignore that 100% of police are recruited from the public.

And the police will arrive with precisely the kind of gun you deplore.

You have some thinking to do.

> I know survivalists and the Montana militia

Not relevant. You said "Mrs. Lanza was a survivalist, which makes me think she was delusional, paranoid and mentally ill," as if that were all the information you needed.

I've resolved not to study the details, not to watch TV or to become too engrossed in the drip-drip-drip of details. This has already paid off in some important ways, both rhetorically. But I've also seen an aerial snapshot of the house she living in, and it's not what comes to mind when thinking of a stereotype-worthy "survivalist.'

Whoops typo, both rhetorically and emotionally. Lotta bullshit out there. Again, see this guy.

It seems to me, that anyone who leaves detailed instructions in his will as to the disposition of firearms and reloading equipment is the one who is nuts. A prudent person controls the disposition before their death by selling them or giving them away, after they quit competitive shooting.

Why should your dad care who you sold perfectly legal rifles and reloading equipment to after his death?

FYI. If your dad was a competitive shooter from Montana, he would have NOTHING in his possesion that could not be sold to anyone face to face with NO paperwork required.
Want a reloading set up that will crank out 500 rounds an hour? Call Dillon, and they will have it on your doorstep in two days. No licesne or criminal background check required.

I'm sorry KateC, but your statements here don't pass the smell test.
If you want to think anyone who does disaster preparedness is nuts, or thinks that the government is to be feared is nuts, you need to get out more, at least to your local library, and read a bit more history.
I shoot quite a few Olympic style matches, and a lot of NRA ones. Most people there are great people, but a few are paranoid elitists, who think that anyone who doesn't compete under strict supervision, in rigidly controlled matches shouldn't own a gun. We generally refer to these types informally as "assholes".

I also wonder about the role of video games. All of these guys are obsessed with video games.

One, on meet the press this morning someone said the same thing, and one of the guests, a social scientits who studies mass murderes, pointed out that very few spree killers play violent video games

Two, we are living in the safest period of all of human history in one of the safest countries.

Three, mass murderers existed before video games, before televistion, before electricity was ever harnessed - how do you explain them?

It seems to me, that anyone who leaves detailed instructions in his will as to the disposition of firearms and reloading equipment is the one who is nuts. A prudent person controls the disposition before their death by selling them or giving them away, after they quit competitive shooting.

I agree, afterall everyone knows the exact moment of their death, I will die in 12yrs 3 months and 36 seconds from the moment I post this, I will be struck by a bullet fired randomly into the air as it falls and hits me as I drive down the highway at 75miles per hour

I agree, after all everyone knows the exact moment of their death, I will die in 12yrs 3 months and 36 seconds from the moment I post this, I will be struck by a bullet fired randomly into the air as it falls and hits me as I drive down the highway at 75miles per hour -- lujlp at December 16, 2012 9:08 PM

There is a point where most people realize they are not able to defend themselves.

But I still lack any confidence in any of KateC's claims. Just as she quickly proclaimed the lack of regulation of guns here.

If you want to think anyone who ... thinks that the government is to be feared is nuts, you need to get out more, at least to your local library, and read a bit more....

That Constitution thingy was nice while it lasted.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/12/gov-dossiers-on-us-citizens/

> But I still lack any confidence in any of
> KateC's claims. Just as she quickly proclaimed
> the lack of regulation of guns here.

Everybody deserves some conceptual leeway, especially on this. There are similarities to abortion: I think you get to have an opinion on it even if you've never had one or never could. Wide-open enthusiasm for guns in every context is not only not a meaningful position to demand of others, it's no damn fun.

I just don't like to see "survivalist" equated with psychopathology. I'm twelve hundred feet from a slip-thrust fault in the earth's surface... Those of us who have a few gallons of fresh water around the house aren't trying to turn our backs on civilization.

Also, Reynolds took a spanking here, but I don't know that he deserves it.

Since the President has "promised action", you can be sure this will be used to tame those people who believe the Constitution protects them.

Buy a firearm as a gift today. Gifts are legal, you are NOT required to disclose where it went (see BATFE regulations), and recognize you are going to be painted as a criminal no matter what you do - until you do what government wants.

History, you know, repeats itself. We already have brownshirts, and legions of useless people who will cry, "It's for your own good!"

Your home is going to be searched. It's just a question of when.

I also wonder about the role of video games. All of these guys are obsessed with video games.

This is just as foolish and ill-informed as the gun-control sentiments. Unless you have some statistics that show that shooters are disproportionately represented among the Call of Duty set, I suggest you keep your wondering to yourself.

> I also wonder about the role of video games.

I wonder about those sports drinks, the caffeinated ones with names like Monster and Speed Death, the liquids are always a dangerously loud color.

Also, I think Ipods probably have something to do with it. These people walk around with that rap music in their heads all the time, completely disassociated from their surroundings, in a world of their own.

Also, those sneakers kids wear, the ones will all those weirdly-colored plastic parts on the sides. I don't know how, but that must have something to do with this.

Also, frozen TV dinners.

Scary!

'As she said "I never in a million years thought I'd ever go to a 7-year-old's funeral."'

Life is tough. When I was about 10 a neighbor boy, a friend, who was 7 or so died in a car wreck. His sister, the driver survived. I got into a fight with my friend the day before he died.

KateC, from my cold dead hands darlin.

I hate to go all Godwin's Law and everything, but ...

“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subjected people to carry arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subjected peoples to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.”

Adolph Hitler, Edict of March 18, 1938

How can you tell who the rulers of a country are?

Access to arms.

So.

Who are you?

Hmm...lots of cameras and press attention ... maybe it's a good opportunity for Jesus, Inc. to grab the spotlight.

Here we have a supposedly American pastor telling the "faith community" (apparently located at the intersection of Pious Self-Righteousness Ave. and Make Me A Victim Street) to join together and disarm our citizens.

For the children, of course.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/16/national-cathedral-dean-lets-mobilize-the-faith-community-for-gun-control/

William S. Burroughs as the exemplar of responsible gun ownership? I think Reynolds is trolling at a very high level....

> William S. Burroughs as the exemplar of
> responsible gun ownership? I think Reynolds
> is trolling at a very high level....

Niblets, what exactly is the disproportion in his selection?

Be clear: Not smirky. Be CLEAR. Is there something you wanted to share with the group?

"The AR-15 uses a .223/5.56MM round. The AK-47 uses a 30-06/7.62MM round. Both rounds have been used for various levels of hunting for over 75 years, at least."

Nits: The 5.56mm was the result of testing in the late 1950s, notably on a converted M-14 frame, before Stoner came up with his design, right? I have a 1958 copy of American Rifleman that tells the story.
The AK and its variants, such as the AK-74, are available in 7.62 x 39mm and 5.45 x 39mm, commonly, such designs being post-WW2.
Thus the oldest use would be about 62 years.
Both calibers are both predated and outpowered by the 7.62 x 54R, as found in Mosin-Nagant rifles and the Dragunov select-fire rifle, and the .30-'06, also measured as 7.62 x 63, used in the Springfield '03A3, the BAR, and the Model 1919 machine gun.

But the point is made: effective repeating arms have been around for a LOOOOOONG time.

As have lunatics and criminals. As Jeff Cooper once said about those, "If you do not have a crime problem, you cannot have a gun problem."

I suggest that the Kumbaya crowd has no idea about crime.

But the point is made: effective repeating arms have been around for a LOOOOOONG time. -- Radwaste at December 17, 2012 7:10 PM

Thank you for the correction. As you state, my misstatements are nits.

But for my misstatements I will submit that 1,004,675 Model 1892 rifles were made by Winchester.

They are effectively semi-auto rifles chambered in .44. We are all aware a .44 would blow your head clean off that means they have to be banned. It doesn't matter who carries it.

Sorry, Crid. I assumed a level of cultural literacy that is apparently lacking. Burroughs famously liked to get drunk and play "William Tell" with his wife. It didn't end well.

Ah, remember the movie, but had forgotten; Neever made time for that shit, myself.

> I assumed a level of cultural literacy

Don't bother, it won't get you laid here, nobody cares.

I mean, if you wanted to say in a straightforward, more-than-allusive way what you think about handguns, that would be cool.

No pressure, totes voloon-taree-oh-so!