Already angered that a gun rights movement planned a campaign to promote the “good side of guns” on the first anniversary of the massacre in Newtown Connecticut, CNN’s Piers Morgan couldn’t contain himself when Alan Gottlieb, Founder of the Second Amendment Foundation brushed off the concerns of a Newtown family member.
Morgan read a statement from Erica Lafferty – whose mother along with 20 children and 5 other adults, were killed in Sandy Hook. In the statement, Erica called the planned event a “disgusting political stunt.” Gottlieb shook his head and smiled.
A bad move on his part.
“Why are you laughing?” Morgan asked
“Because that’s totally over the top. That’s not what our intent was. It’s not what anything we were going to do was.” Gottlieb answered.
“Wait a minute!” Morgan shot back. “You plan a campaign to promote the good side of guns on the first anniversary of the worst mass shooting at a school in American history, and you have the gall to laugh when I read out a quote from one of the victims’ families? How dare you?”
Gottlieb’s lame excuse was to accuse the “anti-gun movement” of politicizing the shooting. But that lameness was not calming fir Morgan. “How dare you laugh at them,” he continued.
Parents of Sandy Hook massacre victims are petitioning the state of Connecticut to prevent the public release of graphic photos and audio taken of the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
“We feel very strongly that we need to protect that scene,” said Nicole Hockley, who lost her 6-year-old son Dylan in the shooting rampage. “Once these images are on the internet they are out there forever and I don’t want my 8-year-old son to see these photos of his brother’s corpse when he is older.”
Nicole and her husband Ian Hockley, Mark and Jackie Barden, and Jimmy Greene and Nelba Marquez-Greene filed the petition on the website www.change.org on June 1. They are all parents of children who were murdered when Adam Lanza, 20, opened fire in Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, killing 20 children six adults.
His son is only 4 years old and the son had a six-year-old playmate. That playmate is no longer alive because the four-year old found a gun in the house and killed his friend. Now the four-year old’s father is under arrest.
Anthony Senatore, 33, was arrested Monday evening and charged with several counts of endangering the welfare of children, the acting prosecutor in Atlantic County, Jim McClain, announced in a statement.
According to the charges, which also include one count of being a disorderly person for allegedly allowing minors to access a firearm, Senatore had at least three weapons in his house in addition to the rifle that his son was holding on April 8 when he fatally shot his neighbor, Brandon Holt, in the head.
The other guns in the house, where three children ages 4, 8 and 12 live, included two Harrington & Richardson shotguns and a Remington 12-gauge shotgun, officials said. All were found “unsecured and in close proximity to ammunition and accessible to Senatore’s own children,” McClain said.
Senatore was released during the night on $100,000 bail.
The NRA would say that the way to fix this problem would be to give the six year old his own gun.
CNN) — Detectives on Saturday arrested the 12-year-old brother of Leila Fowler on a homicide charge in connection with his 8-year-old sister’s death, Calaveras County, California, Sheriff Gary Kuntz said.
The brother — who Kuntz did not name, but did speak publicly after his sister’s death — was arrested at 5:10 p.m. (8:10 p.m. ET) at a county sheriff’s office substation in his hometown of Valley Springs, according to the sheriff.
“Citizens of Calaveras County can sleep a little better tonight,” Kuntz said.
Leila Fowler and her brother were said to be alone on Saturday, April 27, in their family’s northern California home when she was found dead. The 12-year-old told police that he’d seen an intruder leaving the home, then found his sister suffering from stab wounds.
The 8-year-old died minutes after arriving at a hospital, authorities said.
After the incident, police offered a sketchy description of the suspect as a 6-foot-tall white or Hispanic male with a muscular build.
They also interviewed registered sex offenders in the area, ran down leads and searched in attics, storage sheds and more in the rural, mountainous community located about 60 miles southeast of Sacramento.
Authorities also combed the Fowler’s home and neighborhood looking for evidence.
“We did collect fingerprints during that search,” Calaveras County Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Macedo said days after the attack, “and we did collect what we believe to be DNA.”
Kuntz said law enforcement officers “put over 2000 hours into this investigation to provide Leila Fowler’s family with answers in her death.”
Leave it up to “people” like Rush Limbaugh to use the massacre of twenty-seven people including twenty children and make a dumb political joke out of it. But then again we are talking about Rush Limbaugh, and expecting any level of decency from this man is like selling all your worldly possessions to prepare for the apocalypse on December 21st, only to wake up broke on December 22nd.
A female caller asked if Limbaugh knows Lanza’s political orientation. Limbaugh noted that, in the past, shootings have always been politicized, citing ABC reporter Brian Ross‘s false accusation that Aurora, Co., shooter James Holmes was a Tea Party member.
The caller then stated her belief that 2011 Arizona gunman Jared Loughner was originally considered a “Republican,” but was later found to be “quite liberal.”
“They all are liberal,” Limbaugh said, eliciting a hesitant laugh from the caller.
“If they’re mentally disturbed,” he added.
“Oh, that’s not fair,” the caller interjected.
“You’re right. That was — I’m sorry. You’re terribly right,” Limbaugh replied, seemingly taking the remark back, before adding: “That’s one of those things you just can’t tell the truth about. You’re right. I should not have said it. I take that back.”
By now you’ve all heard about the insanity that took place yesterday on a podium and then transmitted nationwide, possibly worldwide for all to behold. You watched in utter amazement as the NRA’s CEO called for more guns in schools to stop school children from being murdered. And you’ve shared your feelings on this issue with those close to you and even on social media with people you haven’t even met.
It’s understandable. You’re shocked. You simply cannot believe or accept the fact that in one incident, twenty innocent lives between the ages of six and seven were violently slaughtered, and you looked for solutions. The NRA promised that solution would come at that podium and when you listened to what they had to say, you walked away more bewildered and angered than ever before.
Well have no fear, you are not alone.
Please allow me to suggest this video. It is sure to bring you some level of comfort knowing that there are still some sensible, levelheaded people out there, and it is sure to give you hope for the future.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC’s The Last Word, says all the things you wanted to say or all the things you’ve probably said, but he does it in a more… dramatic way.
Michael Steele was once the Chairman for the RNC, and after hearing what the NRA had to say in today’s press conference, Michael Steele said, “I don’t even know where to begin. As a supporter of the Second Amendment and a supporter of the NRA, even though I’m not a member of the NRA, I just found it very haunting and very disturbing that we are a country now that are talking about arming our teachers and principals in classrooms. What does that say about us?
“The idea that the message, the top line message coming out of this press conference is, ‘lets put a gun in the hands of our teachers in the classrooms,’ I do not think that’s where rank and file NRA members expected this to go to.”
Steele was a guest on MSNBC Live, and his disgust with what the NRA had to say in their press conference was apparent.
Wayne Lapierre, the CEO and Exec. VP of the NRA began his press conference by expressing his and his organization’s sorrow over what happened in Newtown Connecticut, where twenty children and six teachers were killed by a crazed gunman. After spending about five seconds acknowledging the horror of the shooting, Lapierre began pointing the fingers of blame at everyone else, while calling for even more guns… in our schools.
Lapierre blamed the media, the entertainment industry, the media, the politicians and the media. He even showed a video of a game where someone with a gun is shown shooting kids at their school. “It’s called Kindergarten Killers” Lapierre said, failing to see the obvious fact that even in the game, the player was using a gun.
“As parents, we do everything we can to keep our children safe. It’s now time for us to assume responsibility for our schools.” Laierre went on,”the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Trying to make his case for more guns on our streets, Lapierre points out that the President is protected by Secret Service with guns, and that the military uses guns to protect this nation. He then asked, “why is the idea of a gun good when it’s used to protect the President of our country or the police, but bad when it’s used to protect our children in our schools?”
The NRA’s solution to stopping these of mass murders in the United States is putting more guns in the hands of the average civilian. Lapierre even mentions the name of the Sandy Hook shooter, saying, “what if when Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary school last Friday, he could have been confronted by qualified armed security. Would you at least admit it’s possible that twenty six little kids, that twenty six innocent lives might have been spared that day?”
But this is an old argument from the NRA.
“It is old news,” says John Rosenthal, founder of Stop Handgun Violence. In his appearance on News Nation, Mr. Rosenthal points out that “there were two armed guards at Columbine High School. They were outgunned by the shooters with assault weapons and high capacity ammunition clips.” Rosenthal continued, “the FBI was even outgunned at Waco by David Koresh with a Tennessee made Barrett 50 caliber assault rifle that he blew up a tank with an killed police officers.”
Mr. Rosenthal concluded that Congress should “find their backbone, stand up the the dangerous NRA policies and enact an assault weapons ban and a background check for all gun sales.”
It seems that the NRA is foolishly choosing to disregard this fact: that the U.S.,accounts for 5% of the world’s population, but owns 50% of the world’s guns. With this knowledge, calling for more guns seem pointless.
Why are we still having this conversation? Why are we still debating whether we should regulate assault and military style (whatever that is) weapons and limit large purchases of ammunition? Why are we still beholden to an organization that believes that the United States Constitution guarantees an unlimited, unfettered, absolute right to a gun, despite a giant clause at the beginning of the Second Amendment that clearly refers to militias? Do we have absolute free speech rights? Religious rights? Rights to assembly? No. These are all regulated activities. We need to regulate guns.
I’ve read the arguments about how a weapons ban or more regulation would not have stopped this horrific shooting. I’ve listened and watched as talking head after talking head drones on about how politically difficult it is for a Democratic president to pursue controls on weapons because it would be political death.
I’ve had conversations in person and on social media with people for whom their weapon seems to be their most cherished possession.
“If they come for my gun I’ll give them the bullets first!”
“Over my dead body!”
“From my cold dead hands!”
“First it’s my gun, then they’ll come for my house and my family!”
“What we need is for every teacher and principal to be trained in how to use a gun and to be issued one for their classroom.”
Clearly I don’t understand the mania, the attachment, the fear, the anger, and the entitlement that many people have with their guns. I’m not advocating taking anyone’s gun away who can’t prove that they’re responsible enough to carry one. I’m questioning the idea that we don’t have to ask more questions, or do more background checks or limit what kind of gun people can buy and how much ammunition they can get at one time. There are responsible ways to do this. We regulate so many things in our society from marriage to driver’s to pet licenses, from who can be a teacher and a police officer to how fresh the meat and dairy has to be in our food stores.
But guns? Weapons that can destroy lives? Kill children? Apparently not more than the way we regulate them now, despite the fact that the system doesn’t work. When a system doesn’t work and results in people’s deaths, you fix it. That’s what we need now.
Are there ways around these proposals? You bet. And people will find them. But the point is to put them in place and see how they work because what we have now has led to one of the bloodiest, tragic, heartbreaking years this country has seen in quite a while. Gun deaths are preventable. Let’s prevent them.
A heartbreaking story of a 6 year old girl. She was in one of the classrooms when the shooter Adam Lanza, entered and began shooting. The little girl laid among her classmates as they were being killed. She pretended to be dead herself and after it was all over, she ran out of the building covered in her classmates blood.
When she got to her waiting mother she said, “Mommy, I’m okay, but all my friends are dead.”
Her story was retold by a pastor, who offered grief counseling the little girl’s mother after the incident. The other 15 students in her class were all killed.
They went to school that fateful day, but they never returned home. The names and pictures of the victims in the Newtown Elementary school shooting can be seen below – 20 children, 6 adults. A seventh adult identified as the shooter’s mother was also discovered at the shooter’s home.
The pictures of the children released to far are;
————-
————-
————- Caroline Provide – 6 years old
————-
The names and pictures of the adults revealed so far are;
————-
————-
————-
The shooter and his first victim, his mother.
House Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) told POLITICO Friday that if President Obama fails to act on gun control in the wake of the tragic shootings in Connecticut, she would have no problem “embarrassing everybody” in the administration into action.
McCarthy said before the election, she had spoken with White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew about the issue and told him, “Jack, I know the president is going through an election and I’m telling you after the election I’m coming out full force.” According to McCarthy, after the Connecticut incident, “the gloves are off” and she plans to do “everything” she possibly can to strengthen our gun control laws.
McCarthy’s plans include a campaign to pressure the White House into instituting an assault weapons ban. She acknowledged that the president might have his hands full immediately after the tragedy, but made clear that she expects a swift plan of action: “I want to talk to the White House. I know that they can’t give me an answer tonight, but I want to know what they’re going to do. I need to know what they’re going to do.”
The death of her husband and son in a mass shooting in 1993 was the impetus for McCarthy to join Congress fifteen years ago.
This afternoon I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel (for ?) their families.
We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years, and each time I learn the news, I react the not as a president but as anybody would, as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.
The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. (Pause.) They had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. (Pause.)
Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.
So our hearts are broken today — for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost.
Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for, as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.
As a country, we have been through this too many times, whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown or a shopping mall in Oregon or a temple in Wisconsin or a movie theater in Aurora or a street corner in Chicago. These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children, and we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.
This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter, and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight, and they need all of us right now.
In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans, and I will do everything in my power as president to help, because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or a loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories but also in ours.
May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds.
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