E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSInvestigators believe the gunman shot his mother at home, where he lived with her, and are researching the suspected gunman's writings, looking for any clues as to what might have precipitated one of the worst mass shootings in history. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
The weapons used in Friday’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., were legally purchased and registered to Nancy Lanza, the mother of the gunman, Adam Lanza, two law enforcement officials told NBC News.
The gunman was clad in black and used two 9mm pistols to kill 20 small children and six adults at the school. It was unclear how many shots were fired there.
Two 9mm handguns, one made by Glock and the other by Sig Sauer, were recovered inside the school. An AR-15-type rifle also was found at the scene, but there were conflicting reports Friday night whether it had been used in the shooting.
In total, 28 people died in Friday's rampage, including the gunman, who was found at the scene, and a woman believed to be Nancy Lanza, found shot dead at a home in Newtown. She was a teacher.
Under Connecticut law, people under 21 are prohibited from purchasing or carrying handguns. Adam Lanza was 20.
The nonprofit Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence ranks gun control laws in Connecticut and neighboring states New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts as the most stringent in the nation, after California.
Government officials
Undated photo confirmed by government officials to be Adam Lanza, who apparently killed himself after killing more than two dozen others, including 20 school children.
Connecticut allows possession of assault rifles, except those with certain features, such as a fixed bayonet type lug, or a collapsible stock, according to attorney David Clough of Southbury, Conn.
Otherwise they are allowed, and like other rifles, easier to acquire than handguns.
Under Connecticut law, anyone 21 or older can purchase ammunition, Clough said.
The Associated Press, citing an unnamed official, reported that state police records show that Nancy Lanza had legally purchased five firearms, all registered in Connecticut, though the reported was not independently confirmed by NBC News. The AP later reported that authorities also recovered three other guns — a Henry repeating rifle, an Enfield rifle and a shotgun. It was not clear where those weapons were found.
There have been several mass shootings in 2012 alone, and on Friday President Obama said politicians will need to come together to take action regardless of the politics. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
Related content from NBCNews.com:
- Elementary school massacre: 28 killed, including 20 kids
- Vigils, services honor school shooting victims
- Video: 'Our hearts are broken,' Obama says
- Gunman's mother owned weapons used in massacre
- 'Screams were coming over the intercom'
- Video: School shooting reignites gun control debate
- Massacre leaves America shocked and grieving ... again
- Connecticut school shooting is second worst in US history
- Authorities ID gunman who killed 27 in elementary school massacre
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
To all the folks defending this country having 300 million guns floating around, I have two words. And you can guess what they are. YOU are the problem.
You actually think that criminals will obey gun control laws? You're a special kind of stupid, aren't you? The 2nd Amendment doesn't exist so we can go hunting, but so we can defend our freedom from Tyrants!
So the people defending having guns are the same people that failed to treat the mental health issues that caused this tragedy? Your anger and blame are directed at the wrong place.
The Second Amendment was crafted when the English were still threatening our independence. At this point our military is larger than the next six nations combined. Still think we need six-shooters to defend our borders?
Idiot.
Moron.
Am I being clear?
I use a gun to defend my family and home, not the borders. That is the job of other people. I understand you don't want to address the actual issue of mental health. It is much easier to be simply reactionary and blame guns. No thought required on your part.
Yep, you sound sort of psychotic . You need to give up Your guns . The rest of us will protect you from the other psychotics .;-)
If your lucky.
The second amendment was has nothing to do with the English threatening our independence as a nation. The second amendment was added to the constitution because at the time it was unlawful for anyone except the wealthy upper class in Britain to own or carry a weapon which the founding fathers saw as one of the primary reasons for the oppressive conditions that drove many of their fellow colonists here in the first place.
Guitarma: Nice of you to bring up the English who still occupy part of Ireland. Now they've had restrictive gun control since WW2. Did that stop the IRA & Unionists from mass murder?? They simply used bombs.
Further: I recommend you read the Letters of The Presidents of the era. They were NOT afraid of the English per se. They were afraid of governmental power gone amok . Same reason for the 1st & 4th amendments.
Now with all the "SPRINGS " popping up around the world today, were their worries unfounded?
And finally, why do we spend millions on actual military grade assault weapons or worse for other countries citizens to achieve "Democracy"?? Yet , constantly , endeavor to disarm our citizens?? Do we have a problem with our own people??
"Idiot.
Moron.
Am I being clear?"
It's clear many of you antis are frustrated irrationals.
So, all this may have been avoided had the mother safely and securely locked her weapons up and didn't tell her son where the keys to the lock on the trigger was...
That said.. On a few of the forums covering this, people are quick to point their fingers at the NRA and the "Violent video games".
I have yet to go on a shooting rampage or feel the need to grab a gun and shoot up a school. Can't say I don't have the means because in my house, we Hunt. I have quite the means however, I don't react and want to shoot up the innocent or to randomly target people with guns..
To all the anti gun folks out there, here is something for you to mull over. After the Japanese destroyed our Navy on Dec 7 1941, they could have attacked mainland United States as there was nothing left to defend the country from attack on the west Coast. The only reason they didn't was the fact they knew how many guns were in the hands of private citizens. Or how about the 20 MILLION Russians killed by Stalin after he disarmed them. I didn't see any one demanding that every jet be grounded after terrorists used them to kill 3 THOUSAND people, or ban fertilizer after 186 were killed in Oklahoma by Timonty Mcveigh. Fact is people bent on killing others will find some means, and not necessarily need a gun to do it.
So the mother owned the guns legally and knew he had mental health issues that's a problem right there. when a family member of mine was being treated for mental health issue after a brief hospitalization she could not come home until the guns I LEGALLY owned were removed from the house and she is banned from owning weapons and if I bring them into the house they have to be kept in a cabinet locked away from her in an area she doesn't know about. we as family have chosen not to keep guns in the house, even though we are hunters and grew up around them because why take the chance she gets into them. This young man's family failed to protect him from himself and as a result 18 plus children paid. And as stated above 1 gun is for protection but 2 guns of that type? Not for protection unless you are in a war zone. And where did he get the amount of ammo used? Did mom keep it in the house? If so why? If not where did he buy them or did another family member (brother/mother) buy it for him?
The father lived in NJ and the mother in CT. We don't know where the gunman lived.
so if every single gun was confiscated, do you think theyll stop with the metal detectors and cameras on every street corner and drones flying over your house and all the other goodies coming your way? hahahaha. no.these are the tactics of a creeping police state and this was why we were given the right to arm ourselves.........just in case of such a future horror.
No gun shop issues...his mother had the guns. If weapons-repressive countries like Norway and Britain have even great slaughters than this, what makes you think we won't have them.
The unfortunate truth is that people having been killing eachother in horrible violent acts for millions of years with millions of different weapons and will continue to do so until our culture as a species evolves. Banning guns will not solve the problem, mass murder existed long before they did and will persist long after we move on to the next creative way we come up with to kill eachother.
What a sad day. My thoughts are with all involved.
But please don't blame the gun.
You can never take away peoples ability to kill others, we have to address the root cause of these issues in
society.
We need to have a conversation about guns, but not what most of you may think.
Gun Free Zones don't work, how many times do we need to be reminded. Please allow teachers/faculty the
ability to defend (concealed carry) themselves and more importantly those who cannot protect themselves.
Not to mention it is illegal to have them on school property, so it was a gun-free, target-rich environment for a lunatic.
This from a friend of mine today:
"I played out an example of this to the people at the laundry today. 99% of the conversation was ban all guns! I got a conversation going with all them I pretended that I was the perp walking into the laundry and shooting it up..."killed" them all (20) ....then had them pick two people to have carry permits so I would not know who they were... started again, I got 2 "shots" off and was killed. Likened that to having an armed licensed teacher and how fast that could have potentially ended and the potential of saved lives. "
Mourn first though; coulda, woulda, shoulda comes later.
You - the people who have to have handguns to feel empowered - you are the reason these children are dead today. There is no good reason for the mother to have owned these weapons. Hunting? I don't think you use a Glock, Sig Sauer or automatic rifle to hunt. Self-protection? Well, she's dead now, isn't she? Didn't work out that well did it? Brainwashed into thinking handguns bring some sort of personal safety?
Now you got it.
lets see how free youll be without them.this isnt some utopian paradice.this is earth. filled with millions of mental defectives.most are in office around the world.life isnt guarenteed .we are animals.with basic animal needs.guns do more good than harm.its the animals of this planet that are dangerous.thet will find a way to kill.bombs,planes,cars,knives,deseases,gm foods,drugs,and on and on.guns are a necessary evil in an unecessarily evil world.
You do realize , that in no state in the US , is a "automatic rifle to hunt" even near legal?? Actually , fully automatics s are highly restricted in ownership, and not used for hunting.Yup , yet another blaring example of anti-gun ignorance. But don't feel bad, the way our government seems to work lately, they'll ask you to write the laws.
See comment below. You are so wrong.
Apparently you don't bother to read the news stories where a private citizen has stop a crime or save a life because they were carrying. The people whose lives were saved aren't calling for gun control.
Rational people know that gun laws don't keep the criminals or mentally ill from getting guns.
I don't hunt, but I've seen my father get shot. I am a gun owner.
Guitarma
It is illegal to own a fully automatic rifle or pistol,unless you have the proper licenses. If you think that it is so easy to get an automatic weapon I suggest you try to buy one. Just as an exercise go to your local Sporting Goods store that sells guns and try to buy an AK-47 fully automatic rifle. Be sure to ask for a full automatic AK-47.
Guitarma, you are one seriously deluded individual, who completely lacks any ability to think critically. You've proven this repeatedly, and yet you still persist in posting formulaic drivel that has no basis in fact or reality. Nobody cares what you think, because you have demonstrated that you cannot. I won't waste any more time on the likes of you. When you figure out how to disarm the police, the military, and the criminals, then you can talk about disarming the law-abiding populace. Until then, just STFU and GTFOH.
Gun laws work. Here's a prime example of how well.
Under Connecticut law, people under 21 are prohibited from purchasing or carrying handguns. Lanza was 20.
Just as well as Gun Free Zones.
Ban Gun Free Zones, allow responsible adults to conceal carry.
Disarming the innocent does not protect the innocent.
Thoughts are with those involved. I think everyone shed a tear today. Just so sad.
I wonder if mom is proud?
His mother is dead; it appears at his hand. Are you proud of your stupid comment.
Are your parents proud of you Leroy?
I didn't think that conservatives thought that death WAS the end. My parents are non-existent now so they can't be proud or not proud of me or anyone else. Of course, there are those who would argue that my parents still do exist...
leroy brown
That seems to be your problem. You don't think before you open your mouth. YOU should try it; you might even like it as it will stop you from making an ass out of yourself.
I do realize that not every conservative is a gaawwd freak. but lots of them are and do not think that death is the end. [a dangerous idea, suicide bombers are certainly convinced of it!]
Sick people do sick things. No matter what the apparatus they use, be it guns, explosives, poisons, fire, or vehicles or what ever they can use to do their dirty deeds they will use them. I also believe we have lost the ability to teach our children discipline, and respect for our fellow man as well as recognizing and getting help for troubled individuals. Guns don't kill people, people kill people with whatever they can use.
http://gunssavelives.net/
Ban handguns.
Bann liberal anti-gun anti freedom people.
Liberals are all about freedom, dumbass, it's the most basic fundamental of liberalism. Freedom pretty much defines what liberals are all about. Try looking up the word sometime.
Leroy, that may have been the case in the past. The liberals of today are big government and over regulation.
careful , that's bad bad Leroy Brown , your talking too. I heard he was the bad est ;-)
DanHoelck-(In either case, legally owned firearms were misused because of owner negligence, making all of us look bad.She should have known better.)
You have virtually no evidence the mother did anything wrong, yet you are willing to be judge, jury and executioner. That is pathetic. There are countless cases of people who showed no previous evidence of mental instability, including the shooter who just killed two people, shot a third and then himself at a mall packed with 10,000 people. Yet that killer was carrying three weapons, including a rifle, all stolen and hundreds of rounds of ammo.
Who is to say this mother didn't get some of her guns from her husband who may have died or another relative as a gift or inheritance for protection? Perhaps her son forced her to get the weapons before killing her as well. People who are determined to commit crimes with weapons will find a way. No matter how much effort others put in to try and keep them locket up.
Ultimately, it is killers who are responsible for choosing to do such a heinous, evil and unspeakable acts. They will find a way to carry out their deeds one way or another. Evil can't be seen in the hearts of others until it bears bitter fruit.
Windancersong - Her surviving son stated that his brother was mentally unstable.
If he was legally adjudicated as being a danger to himself or others, it'd be a felony to allow him access to the firearms.
Even if he hadn't been declared unfit by a court, it's still negligent to leave firearms accessible to people that you know are unstable. (And if his brother knew it, his mother sure as hell knew it.)
If you own a firearm, you need to own a safe. It's expensive and inconvenient, but it's responsible gun ownership.
No one is debating that a determined killer will find a way to kill, I'm arguing that as a gun owner, she should have known better than to leave her weapons unsecured.
Blaming the mother without proof that she did anything wrong is putting the cart before the horse. How about waiting until the facts actually come out? There is no evidence she left them unsecured. Until there is, how about we don't blame a murder victim? That happens far too often in our society already. Especially when they are women. If this had been a guy, folks would be saying the kid broke into the old man's secured cache and stole the weapons, killing him in the process. There is always automatic labeling that goes on. And no one would think twice about the number of weapons he owned.
Well, the war on drugs , alcohol and prostitution etc is working just so great . Yeah ban guns and lets see the Mexicans really getting rich off us. I am sure the criminals will support gun control. riiiiiiiiiiiight.
Yes, I'm sure the meth problem would be greatly improved if meth were available in aisle 3 of your local Piggly Wiggly.
It's actually pretty tough to get guns in Mexico. That's why the drug syndicates buy them here, then smuggle them back across the border. We're their gun supermarket.
The Mexican cartels don't come the US and buy their machine guns from the local gun shop. Their guns may be coming from the US but they sure as hell aren't coming from the civilian market. They are getting diverted from the millions of weapons Uncle Sam has been sending down to South America for decades in an attempt to combat communism/drugs/take your pick.
That's odd it says ignoring author next to the flea bitten mutt.
There are several posters who seem to live in a fantasy world where everyone being armed would prevent this. There was a recent shooting in NYC where several policeman were shot. Turns out, all were friendly fire victims. These shooting cases are difficult. Certainlly sometimes it would help but when NYC policeman under the stress of a situation like this end up shooting themselves, I have a hard time in understanding how the average Joe will do better. I can certainly envision the confusion of a mall shooting like Portland and Swat flooding the scene and the public with there weapons drawn making it very difficult to know who is doing the shooting, who is defending themselves. I can also imagine tremendous problems in a dark theater. The guns and the gun culture are a big part of the problem. I left the NRA in the 70's because the organization is nuts. It gets nuttier all the time.
This guy was not sane , if by some miracle you could erase all the guns off the planet . He still would have killed people maybe more. If you do not believe that is true , you are living in the fantasy world.
We have not missed you.
Guitarma: The 2nd Amendment is not about hunting. The first thing a dictator does is disarm the people. I think what America has to ask itself is two very different questions. 1: In the last 40 years this kind of tragedy has become more common. I grew up next to Newtown CT. No one took weapons to school. Now with all this New Age thinking about "conflict resolution" and no corporal punishment the values of this country have been degraded by the progressives. This behavior has been more prevalent. There is right and wrong and black and white especially with kids. The adults have to take control again. 2: Why in the last 40 years also have so many of our citizens begun to feel threatened by the "Big Government"? That is why so many of these weapons are around. obama should look at himself and what he represents. An all powerful, Federal Government that unConstitutionally is stripping our rights away and control over our own property. People feel powerless and these young people feel, if they do not get their own way, they have the right do terrible things to others. In a free society where Individual rights are protected, a sense of community is actually stronger and children grow up with better values of right and wrong. In our new progressive socialist leaning culture, the group think is producing these misfits who bring horror to all of us. And obama stutters and progressives talk more gun control. We have always had guns. It is your new progressive culture that is producing these monsters.
Why in the last 40 years also have so many of our citizens begun to feel threatened by the "Big Government"?
OOh, ooh, I know! Call on me!! It's because the wingnuts have managed to convince them that the Government is hatching all sorts of nefarious schemes to: prevent them from celebrating Xmas; round them all up into FEMA concentration camps; impose socialism; tax them into poverty; (fill in your favorite silly notion here).
These are all nonsense, but some people, when fed a steady diet of this crap, actually swallow it.
Paul from NM. I agree especially about the Big O and his Big Government. Read my post # 68.
Or it could be that the government over the last few decades has implemented laws giving themselves the power to detain people indefinitely without trial, search or seize property with no warrants, execute its own citizens without trial as long as they are abroad and suspected of "terrorism". No I'm sure you're right it's because we're all just delusional and afraid their going to take Christmas away.
"These are all nonsense, but some people, when fed a steady diet of this crap, actually swallow it."
Kind of like today`s youth being fed a steady diet of murder and gun glorification from Hollywood and video games reacting to it by murdering with a gun?
Dick: Well said. New think has made parental discipline almost criminal. We need religious morals taught again.
Paul: Amen to that. In all this kayos try to have a Merry Christmas, and a Blessed Happy New Year.
You have to wonder why a kindergarten teacher in a little school in a small town felt she needed two guns. With a 15 round capacity each that's only 30 rounds, far fewer than the amount fired at the school according to reports. So did she also buy the additional clips also? Something doesn't compute here.
Why doesn't it compute? Some guns come with 1 or 2 extra magazines when you buy them.
LOL<right,the gun was at fault,not the shooter
I blame the mother on this one - granted she is also a victim BUT if she had practiced good gun safety rules, knowing this son of hers was a nutball, then this could not have happened in this way. Now, if the guys a nutball, and wanted to take revenge on his mother then he would have found weapons someplace else so it ISNT the gun that did this - it is the nutball that used his mothers guns because SHE wasn't careful in how she handled them. How can you have a kid in the house, 20 years of age, that is full of hate and discontent that you KNOW is a mental case, is a nutball, yet you provide easy access to firearms? The nutball shouldn't even have known where the guns were! Well, she learned the hard way, she's dead and unfortunately 27 other people are too, and they were not ready to die! If he was that mentally ill he should have been put away in some instituion and not out roaming the streets, much less having access to 9mm weapons! Unforgivable.
My heart goes out to the families that are suffering these tremendous losses today. Why a person thinks that by killing children will solve whatever problems they have is beyond comprehension. May the little ones rest in God's embrace!
We don't know where the killer lived. We also don't seem to institutionalize people unless they are a proven threat.
He lived with his mother in CT. Read!
Look at all the jobs gun manufacturers provide, well paying jobs at that. Lets eliminate those jobs too and put those people on government assistance.
But even if that wee to happen, it wouldn't stop the sale of guns in this country. Just too much money to be made in the illegal sale of guns even when we have legal sales.
I never learned to love guns and have never owned one. So far, it has worked for 61 years.
To each his own.
So you have depended on men better than yourself to protect you?
many people are foolishly blaming the NRA.The NRA is and has always been,for enforcing gun laws yet keeping individuals 2nd Amendment Rights protected.One of their stands is no people with a history of mental illness should be allowed to purchase or own a gun,PERIOD.How about blaming video game manufacturers for all the violent games kids play every day brainwashing today's young adults into thinking a violent existence is COOL.
The school bus driver stated that Nancy Lanza was a sweet friendly woman and that the children were quiet children.
Adam Lanza has been portrayed as mentally unstable.
Nancy Lanza supposedly bought all of the guns used in the assault or at least they were registered in her name.
Can you truly believe that this woman purchased these weapons knowing that her son was mentally unstable?
@ baldman... How dare you blame single mothers! I am a single mother by choice. My son's father, my husband, passed away when our son was 6 weeks old. I was 22 at the time. I placed all of my attention on completing my college education and raising my son. Nine years later, I'm raising a wonderful young man ON MY OWN! With your logic, I should have remarried any male that came along so my son wouldn't be raised by a single mother.