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Subscribe to RSSInvestigators and former classmates of Connecticut school shooter Adam Lanza say he was bright, but extremely shy and remote. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
Updated at 8 p.m. ET: A picture of Adam Lanza slowly emerged Saturday, as acquaintances said his behavior included pressing up against walls to avoid others and clutching his briefcase. Investigators, meanwhile, said they hoped that "very good evidence" found at his home would shed light on what pushed him to kill 26 children and teachers as well as his mother.
Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said Saturday that investigators had found "very good evidence ... that our investigators will be able to use in painting the complete picture, the 'how' and, more importantly, the 'why this occurred.'"
Adam Lanza
But he would not elaborate and the mystery deepened as education officials in Newtown, Conn., 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 Lanza, 20, attended Sandy Hook Elementary many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there on Friday.
Lanza shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at the home they shared, then drove to the school in her car, forced his way inside and opened fire in two classrooms, authorities said. Within minutes, he killed 20 children, six adults and himself.
Authorities said Lanza had no criminal history; it was not clear whether he had a job.
His father, who learned about the shooting from a reporter at the Stamford Advocate, said in a statement that he was in a "state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can." Lanza said he has cooperated with law enforcement and will continue to do so.
Meanwhile, acquaintances described the former honor student as smart but odd and remote.
"We would hang out, and he was a good kid," Joshua Milas told The Associated Press. He said he had not seen Lanza in a few years. "He was probably one of the smartest kids I know. He was probably a genius."
"(His mother) pushed him really hard to be smarter and work harder in school," Tim Arnone told Reuters. He first met Lanza at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
"He was very different and very shy and didn't make an effort to interact with anybody" in his 10th-grade English class at Newtown High School, Olivia DeVivo told the AP. DeVivo, now a student at the University of Connecticut, said Lanza always came to school toting a briefcase and wearing his shirt buttoned all the way up.
"Now looking back, it's kind of like 'OK, he had all these signs,' but you can't say every shy person would do something like this," she said.
Richard Novia — who until 2008 was the school district's head of security and adviser to the school's technology club, of which Lanza was a member — described Lanza to the AP as "a loner."
"You had yourself a very scared young boy, who was very nervous around people," he added.
Novia said Lanza had extreme difficulties relating to fellow students and teachers, as well as a strange bodily condition: "If that boy would've burned himself, he would not have known it or felt it physically."
Lanza would also go through crises that would require his mother to come to school to deal with them. Such episodes might involve "total withdrawal from whatever he was supposed to be doing, be it a class, be it sitting and reading a book," Novia told the AP.
When people approached Lanza in the hallways, he would press himself against the wall or walk in a different direction, clutching his black briefcase "like an 8-year-old who refuses to give up his teddy bear," said Novia, who now lives in Tennessee.
Even so, Novia said his primary concern about Lanza was that he might become a target for teasing or abuse by his fellow students, not that he might become a threat himself.
"Somewhere along in the last four years there were significant changes that led to what has happened Friday morning," Novia said. "I could never have foreseen him doing that."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Authorities say the man behind one of the worst mass shootings in US history was a 20-year-old whose mother worked at the school and whose brother has told them he had a history of mental problems. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
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This is something that happens unfortunately in all communities some more than others. The only sigh of relief is that the gunman is dead. The courts would not have made Lanza pay a justifiable price for his actions. To all that have made excuses for Lanza's behavior, when terror comes to greet you, I wonder how quick you will excuse the actions of the offender??
Some of us blame something like this on original sin. If this is true, the cure is available, too.
It is typical and disgracful of the Schumers, the McCarthys, the Baldwins, etc. to co-opt this nightmare into an excuse to push the same agenda they had a week ago as if the slaughter made any of the so-called facts about their issue different. But their issue is not this issue. The issue here is howt to stop these slaughters in the future. And I think the answer lies in putting the folks that display overt multiple symptoms of madness under medical and legal supervision sooner rather than later.
Are we as taxpayers willing to pay for the above? It means having people and facilities to do it. It means changing the law so that if someone raises a flag about another peron, if proven if the flag-raiser is wrong, hrsuffers no liablility if acting in good faith. It means creating better science so that doctors can really be sure.
People should realize that if all guns were outlawed in America tomorrow, there would be plenty of guns and ammunition available to madmen in 2112; there are just so many of them and most owners will never give them up. The problem is behavioral. And moral.
What was the mother thinking? Taking her son to a shooting range to show him how the guns work? You don't have to be a shootist if you have 50 rounds of ammunition for each gun. Iscolating her son at home is not helping his illness. Obviously the mother was clueless about his condition. He had anger issues and was turning into a man with no guidance, no interaction with other adults his age, and he was seeing his adult life as a deadend. The father and other son moved away from home so they didn't have to deal with his problems. What a horrible nightmare for each child and their families. You have my condolences. We need new gun laws regarding ammunition and sport shooting. Centralized computer gun monitoring law?
Redondo98-3116122 - Those were my 1st thoughts also, regarding how the mother bonded with her son with guns. Why weren't these guns locked up, especially if she knew her son wasn't right mentally. Great job to the father who was never there for his son; just because there are conflicts with the ex doesn't mean you give up on your child and boys especially need their fathers.
redondo--Prehaps the mother was trying to find SOMETHING that he would be interested in? And if he had ANGER issues, HOW much of that was because of the way others treated him his whole life?
Hillary Clinton wrote a book years ago called "it takes a village''--meaning that a whole town is needed to properly raise children, and the kicker is, this town FAILED this boy, somewhere. And unless you have some quote I haven't seen about the father and older brother "moving away so they didn't have to deal with his problems" I think it is just as likely that mom and dad SPLIT, and the older son went to live where he could find work or where he wanted to go to school.
And sorry, but my dad taught ME sport shooting and how to care for guns, and it was a very fond memory for me from my younger years.
And we already HAVE a plethora of "centralized computer gun monitoring laws," which our government does not seem to manage to 'keep up with'.
Enforce the laws on the books, and THEN come talk to me about passing MORE laws.
That is just 'knee jerk' reactions.
Timothy McVeigh killed more young children with ONE van full of explosives than this guy did, so were you in favor of banning fertilizer?
We know that the guns were his mothers. They were in her name and therefore they belong to her. She obviously did not secure or restrict her sons access to them, since he used one of them to murder her. My room mate says outlaw guns but guns did not kill the people a person had to pull that trigger. So ppl say lets get rid of the guns. Well then ppl who are bent on hurting others will find another venue which may be even more damaging. We want to blame in animate objects but the truth is we as a ppl refuse to look at the real issue. This person was allowed to drift through his life unchecked even though there were signs to tell ppl that there was a problem. A serious problem. No one had time to do anything and the most telling thing is that the parents had no objectiveness about there sons condition. I grieve for the parents and siblings. WAKE UP PEOPLE! You had the children now start taking care of them! Your fat pocketbook will not produce a good child. Your absence from them will not produce a good child. Your self centered- ness will not produce a good child. Your computer, television, nor anything else you substitute for your child rearing are not baby sitters. These items will not produce a good child. The ppl of the world are to blame. The childrens minds are filled with garbage every day on the internet, television and radio and any other mediums. How do I know this? The other night I was watching a show on TNT. Very popular show which I do not normally watch but I do on occasion just to see whats being fed to the masses. The show presented me with a visual of a woman kneeling before a man bobbing her head back and forth. Although I could not see the physical connection I Wonder what was going on there? I have to say I agree with Americanpsycho. You ppl do not deserve the children you have. You do not care about them. If you did you would throw out that box in your living room that everyone sits around pretending. You would smash that box on your desk that all your family sits in front of believing everything it says. You would stop piercing and tattooing your body. TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILDREN YOU DUMBED DOWN IRRESPONSIBLE AMERICANS!!!!! That GOES for the whole world!!!!!
BC--sorry, but there was a kid in my highschool who thought it was PERFECTLY ok to (when no teacher was looking) RACK (smack them in the chestnuts with his fist, as they walked by)younger guys, or weaker guys, whom he considered 'inferior' to himself, AMONG his other 'lovely' personality traits.
The BULLY was a 'star' football player, on the student council, the much vaunted (in our town) show choir, and his father was the president of the school board, and his mom taught.
And guess what,Mr. Macho is NOW a cop. And it will never occur to anyone, if one of his former 'victims' were to go "postal'' that HIS behavior, when he and the vic were kids, CONTRIBUTED to the desperation that kid felt.
My hometown newspaper runs MYRIADS of articles weekly about "jock heroes'' with even a weekly '
Athlete of the week', and I just want to SMACK them for glorifying bullies.
So your 'take care of your children' ALSO applies to how you raise your kid to behave towards those they consider weaker or inferior.
MOmaid, quite a few police officers were bullies in school. This is something that probably can't be checked on, when they apply. What kids do as a kid is likely protected from some investigations. I also know a bully who went on to become a town cop.
clutching his black briefcase "like an 8-year-old who refuses to give up his teddy bear," said Novia, who now lives in Tennessee.
Novia left the school in 2008 so this makes it a statement if a boy 4 or more years ago say 16 or younger right? WHAT 16yo boy goes to school with a BRIEFCASE? was this a young man that had little or no male support in a female dominated life? did the school have that unconstitional equal blame policy? People talk of his look and his fear but what about disbelief, abandonment. an honor student that enjoyed what mom? hunting, cars, girls, sports or what was his fun and release of energy? JUST how are we raising our kids in America?
School Administrators don't change things they only PR the problems even if they are themself the problem.
Banning hand guns is not enough, all weapons need to be banned and bought back by the feds, and then only used by the police and military. Ranchers with vermin only need rifles. Thats it. Look at the stats of Australia, where only farmers with vermin and some sports clubs members can have weapons, but not at home. No weapons = no crazies can get them easily when they get angry and kill their mothers at home, and then decide what the hell, lets just go get everyone.
Weapons are unnecessary in the US, we are not at war. Stupid people that buy into the NRA bs are jus that, stupid, making billionairs richer. Yes a few criminals will still get guns, but no where near as many and besides, how many career "criminals" have done mass killings? none. Countries that do not allow guns have a murder rate of less than .05% from guns, in the US Its more than 50%. stop the madness, get rid of the guns, get rid of the most destructive weapon.
stupid comment "No weapons = no crazies" take your butcher knives into the police station then
a butcher's knife could've never done this much damage to so many people in the amount of time it took for this guy to take out 26 people. Stop comparing the lethal power of a knife, rocks, fists to guns. There's no comparison.
And then what? You can't wipe "guns" from the knowledge base. Do you think criminals will turn in their guns? Do you think that guns won't be manufactured in the black market? The price would go so high there would be more gun makers than there are today! I'm not a gun nut. I'm not a member of the NRA and don't care if it even exists. Personally, I don't care if guns exist or not; however, they do. If every gun was taken away from every person in the US, there would still be mass murders like this. Look at China, look at Islamic hell holes for proof. Let's do the best we can to get guns out of the hands of criminals, nutjobs and potential nutjobs like Islamists. I'm afraid we live in an extremely dangerous world and there's not much we can do about it except learn to protect ourselves. To be left defenseless would be the worst crime of all.
Leave Afghan--two WORDS for you--Timothy McVeigh.
He did not kill with a gun.
And sorry, there is NO way to eliminate ALL the guns, but you sure can make sure that the only ones who DO have guns are the ones who will use them nefariously.
As horrible as this shooting was, HOW many kids in Chicago have died from 'gang related' gunshots in the past, say, five years? And do you really believe that stricter laws (and Chicago has THE strictest laws in the country against gun ownership) would have prevented those thugs from having those guns?
And right next to Illinois are some states with the least restrictive gun laws. How hard is it drive over state lines to pick up a gun.
As for McVeigh, he was the exception, not the rule. If you haven't noticed, these kind of attacks with guns and rifles which occur in malls, schools, theatres are becoming all too common, and to throw up our hands and say there's nothing we can do about it isn't going to help prevent another massacre.
No we can't get rid of all guns, but we need to start taking a hard look at the problem instead of making it taboo to even talk about the problem.
You think an inanimate object is the problem? Don't ignore the real problem, it is people, to what standard they hold themselves to, their maturity, their sense of societal responsibility and so on.
These firearms that were used didn't pull their own triggers, a human did that. Look at the common denominator, human.
No amount of trying to control objects will solve the real problem and that problem is in the people who do these crimes.
Another way to say guns don't kill people, people kill people. Yes, an inanimate object, such as a gun, is a problem since they can be easily abused with deadly results. Liquor is an inanimate object, however, due to strict regulations drunk driving has gone down considerably and lives have been saved because of it. For that matter, nuclear weapons are inanimate objects, do we stop trying to control them as well? Yes, guns alone don't kill people, people with guns can and do kill people. So should we get rid of people?
He even looks weird. That's often a tip-off.
Our own self delusion and denial are killing us. Every time you hear an "official" or anyone else say "There's no way to prevent such a thing", you are listening to the big lie. It is a statement about their own unwillingness, lack of resolve and cowardice do prevent such a thing. It is not a statement about reality.
Lie to your children and they will resent you forever. The revealing is happening. Things are being put into the light.
I assume you want to live in a state where you need permission to slip a fart! (Methane, BAD) With the freedoms we have, there are risks. To place everyone under the authoritarian boot is unacceptable to me. I'm a few weeks from being seventy-five. I have always had firearms. Rifles, Colt ACPs, shotguns and the occasional revolver. My family, parents, my grandparents, all demonstrated a moral code to me that didn't involve religion. They did this by being hard working caring people. They fed worse off neighbors and even helped with the loan of a mule. There is so much I do not know about this sad deranged kid, I'll wait until his life is fully dissected in the press. When I see the deceased the little kids, I almost cry. BUT to impose suppressive, oppressive laws on everyone who lives in the US is more than Draconian, it is insanity. Going after firearms will NOT prevent the senseless killings.
From all accounts to date of his childhood and then adulthood, it seems to lean more toward he was mentally ill even at a young age. What kind of mental illness? Only his family and medical professionals will be able to tell.
They are saying he was antisocial even when he attended Sandy Hook Grade School. So does that mean that this kind of behavior is nature?
That has always made more sense to me than nurture. I am sure that it plays some part in making the person, but I believe it is already there, born in a person. It just takes the right set of circumstances to bring it out.
The one thing all these shootings have in common is the large amount of bullets purchased before hand. If we can't stop guns, how about TAXING THE BULLETS THAT ACTUALLY DO THE KILLING? A dollar a bullet tax on all handgun and assault rifle bullets would make it exceedingly difficult to purchase the thousand rounds of ammo the Aurora CO shooter bought before his murder rampage. You can have tax free bullets at a certified gun range...put a blue band around the casing to signify that it was a tax free bullet. Get caught with a tax free bullet outside of a registered gun range...thousand dollar fine. This does not infringe on a sport hunter or home protection use for guns. If you can spend 500 for a Glock, you can afford 10 for a clip of .9mm ammo.
Controlling objects will not solve the human component in crimes like this.
The human component is the most crucial.
this man is a coward and a murderer. not a single child he killed was over the age of seven. if he hadnt of committed suicide, we could punish him now. death row without even a trial. whether or not he was mentally ill, he knew what he was doing. Rest in peace little children, God has excepted you into his realm and you are happier now.
Whenever I read these comments, it usually turns into a racist rant. Is it me or is it that these mass shootings are always White males..between the ages of 18-30? Whenever I'm at the video store, I see the White kids buying the shoot 'em up games while the minority kids are buying Madden or something equivalent. Call me a racist (I'm White) but this is where our kids are getting a lot of this madness from. You never used to see this 20 years ago. These kids today are mixed up and out of touch. They'll be talking about this for years, but I promise you that someday we'll be revisiting this tragedy because someone else will do it again. I say we really need to make it harder for people to access guns and start charging gun owners with manslaughter if someone uses their guns during a crime. God Bless all of those who were involoved in this senseless tragedy!
why would you even bring race into this..? no one has even mentioned anything about race...all you people who are so ate up with the race issue need to go sit in a corner with a dunce cap on your head...give it up...people kil people..makes no difference what race or color they are...evil knows nothing from race or color...get the hell over the race issue...!!! oh yeah...I"M WHITE TOO...
The root causes of evil are greed, envy, hatred, pride, self-righteousness and hypocrisy: The only solution is a people who are committed to overcoming evil with acts of good; not man-made laws. If you don't have the courage to defend yourself or others don't get in the way of those that do. The anti gun people exercise their rights to speak, that were won at the point of a gun; and maintained at gun point, are out of touch with the reality of the world we live in and how we got to where we are.
Any future conversation at this early date about the subject of weapons laws and legislation is futile. Responsibility for prevention of tragedies such as this sits squarely on reestablishment of the family structure, teaching of moral values and the development in this nations children with the ability to love. Weapons have always been around in one form or another and people will posses and own them weather or not some of you desire that they don't. The real question is do you want to know who has them or do you just want to hide the fact that they have them? Not to mention the creation of a black market for the criminal element to exploit. So called Gun Control in whatever legislative form it might take would not have kept this event from happening. This individual was hell bent on killing; with guns or without guns he would of done so. Look around you in the world and at current events, mankind is very efficient at killing with or without guns and without dedicated manufactured equipment. IDEs are a good example.
Just 40 years ago a person could walk into a sporting goods store - or hardware store - and purchase a gun without showing ID, FOID, or gun license. The only question asked was are you 18 years old, and if so, which gun do you want to purchase?
At that time I had a .22 rifle which I took to the local police gun range - no questions asked - no permit required.
Back then there were no mass murders - no shootings on the street, with rare exceptions - it was alomost unheard of.
So what happened?
It seems that those who argue that this is a societal problem have identified the source of this horror.
Hooks.... great post...but I am sure there were still incidents like this.. The key word you use is "unheard of". There was no 24 hrs of coverage spewing BS all all over the world and feeding terrorism with massive noteriety. I agree that in the past 40 yrs there as been a major societal decline in morals, responsiblity, and common sense. I believe that bad parenting and the media is one of the biggest contributors to this. Terrorism feeds off of the media so you could say that the media is one of the biggest terrorists there is.
Controlling objects will not solve the most crucial element in crimes like this, the human component.
The object merely obeys the will of its' wielder.
You can't control either one ... but if a person decides to end his or her life, you can stop glorifying their actions and encouraging others to do the same.
It is obviously the goal of the media to make this as painful as possible for the families involved. I hope these families get the help they need to cope with the situation. The relentless, irresponsible, and unaccountable reporting of the media is in no way a benefit to ANYONE. It is not the media's job to try to analyze the situation with unqualified idiots reporting false information to the entire world. I am not a big proponent of legal action but I think a huge lawsuit against several media outlets is long overdue and the only way to curb their behavior.
very well said...I couldn't agree more...!!!
I'm so sad for the victim's families as well as the survivor's families...my heart goes out to all of them
the problem here is not the gun...the problen stems from several different reasons..first I can put some of the blame if not most on the legal system for taking away our right to punish our children as we see fit...they are our children to raise..not the government's...secondly I believe that the more you spoil your child the more likely he/she will grow up to be a selfish self centered person and careless of others...as for gun control...lets face it people..when you take away the right of the law abiding citizen you only make him/her a target...you can never stop a criminal from obtaining a gun...as for assault weapons I agree they should be completely banned and everyone who owns one now should be stripped of it..the military should have its own gun building facility and that would stop the availability of those weapons to be in the hands of the public...schools should all be locked during the daytime like mine was growing up in new york city and an armed member of the national guard should be posted at every school..there are so many ways to put an end to all of these school mass shootings but the morons in government are all too busy fighting each other rather than getting together to reach a logical solution...it amazed me to no end to see so damn many law enforcement people standing around that school after the fact..there was absolutely nothing for any of them to do there...what a waste of taxpayer money to have that many officers standing around doing absolutely nothing...the news media was like a bunch of sharks in a feeding frenzy reporting on things they didn't even have the details of...the fact is there is evil lurking among us at every turn and we all need to be vigil and keep a watchful eye for it...the doctor/patient confidentiality should not be allowed in the case of mentally challenged people...when a phsyco doctor knows that a person is a danger he should be required to report that to the law and that information should be included in the background data check for the purchase of a handgun...it all goes back to the old saying...guns don't kill..people kill...it seems like the further society goes forward the more dangerous it becomes..when you pull up to a traffic light you have to keep your eyes open and your doors locked because you never know if you'll get carjacked...you walk into a convenience store and you have to watch everyone around you because you never know when some social reject is going to rob the store and kill someone...however..if you have a weapon of your own you might just be able to save someone's life including your own...I have 2 guns in my home...a semi auto pistol and a high powered rifle...someone breaks into my home or my neighbors home he may walk in on his own power but I guarantee he will go out in a body bag...when the genral public has the free right to carry a weapon and use it then and only then will the crime rate go down and these sick sons of b****es will finally be stopped...the only reason we are intimidated and abused by criminals is because they know we are not armed and able to deend agains them...I believe that the states should not have the right to govern gun control...there should be one gun permit that is good in any and all states..it should be auniversal carry permit...if you pass the requirements in one state then you should be able to carry that weapon on vacation or anywhere else in the united states legally..so much more to be said but I'll save it for later
Has anyone made the connection with these shootings lately? Movie theater, shopping mall and now a school. All done by 20 something nutjobs. This is what happens with poor parental care and allowing them to withdraw from society and play violent video games all day. After a while they just think it's the way to make a statement to act out what they spend hours doing to the point that it is just like the game to do it for real. They are all cowards and Mama's boys who can't deal with reality. Guns aren't the problem , it's how people are raising their children that is the issue. No moral or values. Just Playstations and computers for babysitters instead of real parenting. This latest idiot was "home schooled" because his Mom didn't like the school's plan. Maybe if he was forced to grow up and function in the real world his Mom and 20 kids would still be alive.
Guns, Mental Illness, and Violent Video games don't mix.
Americans have always had a tradition of denying the impact of violence and violent tendencies on individuals and on our society as a whole, and the last 20 years or so have seen an dramatic upsurge in this ideology. And the religious communities, with a few notable exceptions, have refused to teach their specific religion's version of the "Golden Rule," and compassion for others and have either refused to deal with issues of violence or actually encouraged violence. Now the chickens are coming home to roost.
For example: how many instances have we read about in the past few years that school systems that have instituted programs to instruct their students that bullying their fellow students and directing violence, threats, and derision toward other people is unacceptable behavior and is, in moral terms, "wrong," only to be met with screaming parents and even "religious leaders" (what does this tell ya!) ranting that nobody is allowed to tell their little tykes that this conduct is wrong? This sends a clear message that violence is acceptable to get what one wishes and that one is entitled to do anything one wants without considering the effect of one's actions on others.
Add to the large amounts of adults who never want to hear that their behavior is unacceptable because it endangers others (because they are "free," of course, and "freedom" means never having to hear the word "no" and never having to say you're sorry!) we have the absolute absence of any sensible discussion about violence, graphically violent video games, "cage" fighting," animal fighting, groups that rant about "other" people as the cause of all our problems, and people who think they have some sort of devine authorization to police us all. Just what do people think the logical result will be of this stinking, anti-social soup?
Could it be that these people are possesed by Demons or maybe there is something in their physical make-up that allows Demons to invade their minds at will ?
No.
ummm .... yea probably not.
God Bless all involved in this tragedy including the gunman. Nobody is perfect. Yes what he did was wrong but so is the society that he grew up in. His (Lanza) parents aren't the only ones to blame for this. The courts that play favorites and allow known criminals to get away with theirs crimes with minimal to no punishment-is to blame. People who raise their children to hate others for being different- is to blame. Police that are corrupt- is to blame.
Politicians who keep hell goin- is to blame. The babies that died are the only blameless in this!!! Stop Hate it does KILL!!!
Disagree. This person has no God and God should not bless him. He is the product of pure, 100% evil and needs to burn in the fire pits of Hell.
You ever wonder how someone who was once an innocent baby can devolve to something like this. It really makes me wonder if some people aren't just born evil.
It is time to pass a law that makes it illegal to post the name or photograph of violent offenders/suspects. This issue is not about gun control, or about someone watching too many movies but rather a looser who wants to be notorious. I do not always agree with the views or Morgan Freeman but he brought this up yesterday and the more I think about it, he is right on mark. To paraphrase him, he said that these people who would normally quietly shoot themselves in a basement have some sick desire to become infamous by one upping the last guy. Fox, MSN, CNN showing their photos 24/7 and running their names adds to the excitement.
If you think about this, these types of shootings have only happened frequently in the past 20 years. If you think about what has changed in our society in the past 20 years it is not the availability of guns, it is not violence in movies but it is the constant coverage of what we call "news".
This new form of "news" media is entertainment, not informative. They run the same clip over and over, looping it to burn it into our minds. The bring on "experts" who are anything but to fill air time. This time they have sunk as low as to interview 3rd graders (and younger) who have just lived through the worse experience ever possible. These "news" outlets are doing more harm than good, in fact I can't see where they provide any good unless you are a stock holder.
Congress needs to pass a federal law making it illegal to release the name of a violent offender who has been arrested (perhaps just make it where it can't be released for a year or two) and those who have been charged but not convicted. Before I hear about the first amendment, the US Supreme court has ruled congress may pass laws for the common good that trump individual rights.
I for one am more concerned with the rights of a six year old child than I am with the rights of a billion dollar "news" company. Before you argue with me, without the help of Google, name a victim in just one other shooting.... I bet you can't, I know I could'nt, however like me, I bet you can name the shooter. That is the point, if we reverse that, the shooters will become no names who just shoot themselves.
Exactly...good post oatis...this is what I have been saying for a long time now. Terrorism feeds off of the media so you can say that the media is indirectly the single largest terrist organization and needs to be held accountable. War on terror? Maybe eliminate the source? How much sense does it make to continue to glorify the killers? I heard dip@!$%# Anderson Cooper make this proud statement this morning that he was going to stop mentioning the killers name..... How about just shut your mouth completely Anderson?
The guy looks like a kook. Why didn't the parents do something and get him help?? It wasn't the guns fault, it was his. I love it when the press, all the press, tries to make the news instead of report it and they do to much of that too. They ride a horse to death and milk everything from a story instead of just reporting the news. Reporting something over and over and over in the news just gives to many crazies the idea that they too can get their 10 minutes of fame. Some law needs to be passed to protect the public from the endless news reporting on this kind of tragedy. Just report it and move on instead of inciting uprisings. That applies to news worldwide. We all grieve for the families who lost loved ones and the press needs to move on.
Years ago, you could mail order machine guns out of a Sears catalog, and stuff like this didn't happen.
Lib-tards have worked very hard (20,000 gun laws and counting), to provide large groups of defenseless victims to criminals, and stuff like this happens all the time.
You remember hearing about that guy.... Alvin York, you know, the fella who killed off 28 armed German soldiers who were shooting back at him. Well he accomplished that in just a few minutes with a ten shot bolt action rifle and seven shot .45 ACP. You don't have to be kicking out two hundred rounds a minute to knock of a lot of people, especially defenseless ones.