The Stock Market and Investing

cyclone4

Sounds like the mother was a big part of the problem.

This is just another of the numerous examples of a despicable crime committed because there were easily accessible guns in the house. Yes, it sure sounds like the mother was not all there as well.

I would not have a gun in my house (or a gun period) even if I was paid a big monthly fee to have one. I know that most here will not agree, but in my opinion guns should only be available to the police department, the secret service, and the military.

gagrice

I know that most here will not agree, but in my opinion guns should only be available to the police department, the secret service, and the military.

I hope they do not agree with you. Mexico is such a place and they have had a horrendous time with murder. Of course our ATF did not help with letting guns go across the border. Norway has extremely strict gun control. So strict the cops were unable to get guns from lockup to try and stop a mass murderer. Chicago and DC have some of the strictest gun laws and some of the worst murder rates. All stricter gun regulations will do is make more money for illegal gun dealers and smugglers.

How about making violent TV shows and Video games illegal. The mass murderers have all been more influenced by these easy killing programs than by loose gun control.

ljflx

Charlie,

I understand your point. The problem I have with it is that the bad guys will still get guns and the good guys will not be able to and will then become open to attack. Just watch Boardwalk Empire to see how freely booze still circulated, with the lawmakers who brought us prohibition having it whenever they wanted. That show and Homeland are phenomenal BTW.

imidazol97

>guns should only be available to the police department, the secret service, and the military.

And of course the criminals!!!

I heard a police officer on some show yesterday. He had taken away approximately 200 guns during arrests. Only 1 was returned because it had been registered and was legal.

So take away the guns and only the criminals and this administration will have guns. Hmmmmm.

ljflx

Here's a story about the family. The father was blindsided by what happened yesterday. He didn't know until he drove up to his home in Stamford Ct and was told what happened by a reporter. He was also vey generous with alimony payments.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/adam-lanza-20-deeply-disturbed-kid-article-1- .1220752

houdini1

in my opinion guns should only be available to the police department, the secret service, and the military.

If you add "honest law abiding citizens" to your list, you would have the laws as they currently exist....but somehow criminals still seem to have guns.

Here is a serious question for you. If you had a gun available, would you use it to protect your family if they were being attacked by some man or beast?

imidazol97

It's always cute to watch the movie type/media type against guns. They themselves have guns but it's not okay for the "little people" to have access to guns. E.g., there was just recently someone in the sports news big mouthing about guns but he himself has armed security guards. Then there's the worn out talk show host Rosie O'Donnell from about 10 years ago who adopted a kid by herself and was against guns, but her security guards for herself and her child had guns, of course.

Hypocrits.

How will this affect the stock market.

gagrice

So take away the guns and only the criminals and this administration will have guns. Hmmmmm.

Heroin, opium, cocaine etc etc etc are all illegal in the USA. Looks like the laws are working on that front. Even Canada is finally seeing the light and opening up their strict gun laws. I would hate to have my home unprotected. You cannot count on the cops to get there in any reasonable length of time. We are living in a progressively worse society. I wandered all over my neighborhood in Los Angeles as a 5 year old. Think that is possible today? We have to let 40,000 criminals out of our prisons in CA due to over crowding. How long after they get out do you think it will be until they have committed another crime?

dieselone

How about making violent TV shows and Video games illegal.

I don't buy that anymore than Tipper Gore's asinine crusade against heavy metal music back in the 80's. Where would it end? Burning books?

circlew

Huyydai Genesis.



Regards,
OW

dieselone

I agree. I have a few firearms in my house. But they were given to me by my grandfather. I do have ammo for them, but every thing is separate and locked up, so they likely wouldn't be an option if I were to "need" them in an emergency.

Also, I don't feel the need personally for concealed carry, but I don't have a problem with those who wish to carry. Personally, I believe being armed is a huge responsibility that I don't want or would feel comfortable with. But that's simply my personal belief, I don't have a problem at all with law abiding citizens who feel otherwise.

gagrice

I don't buy that anymore than Tipper Gore's asinine crusade against heavy metal music back in the 80's. Where would it end? Burning books?

Cars, guns, bombs, knives all can kill if used to do so. Mine was more of a retort to those that wrongly believe gun control will equal mind control. McVey did not need a gun to kill 200+ people in Oklahoma. The Muslims killed 3000 using box openers to take control of 4 jet liners. I do believe some violent movies and games can distort the minds of people.

circlew

No way gun control "Laws" will ever prevent these tragedies. Fortification of all schools and armed guards, unfortunately, is the best preventive measure, afaic. Like the airlines did after 911. We already know your a sitting duck at every mall in the USA.

Not a great fix but at least it could save some lives. College campuses are going to be difficult to defend but K-11 buildings need to add these defenses....immediately.

Regards,
OW

houdini1

I don't care for those video games, however, every generation has their "war games".

When I was a child it was cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians. A little older and we were having shootouts with BB guns, etc. All fantasy, of course, but I never seemed to get fantasy and reality confused.

I also would not be too quick to blame the parents for this tragedy. Certainly it happens, but I have just seen too many great parents end up with rotten kids. Some type of mental illness and/or drug abuse are the only things I can come up with for the cause of things like this.

gagrice

A little older and we were having shootouts with BB guns, etc. All fantasy, of course, but I never seemed to get fantasy and reality confused.

My dad walked out the back door just as I was taking aim at my buddies butt. He had warned me about pointing my BB gun at anyone. He calmly took it and twisted it into a pretzel, then handed it back to me. I was about 10 and have never pointed a gun at anyone since. I could, if mine or my families life was threatened. I just think it is best to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.

Did Adam Lanza's involvement in the Goth subculture play a part??

On Columbine:

The mass killings were variously blamed on bullying and school cliques, the “Goth” subculture, violent video games, the two students’ fascination with Hitler (the event took place on the German fascist leader’s birthday)

dieselone

I don't care for those video games, however, every generation has their "war games".

When I was a child it was cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians. A little older and we were having shootouts with BB guns, etc. All fantasy, of course, but I never seemed to get fantasy and reality confused.

That's a good point. I grew up during the 70's and 80's. My friends and played cops and robbers with play guns and cap guns etc. We never shot each other with BB guns, but my brother shot me with his damn sling shot a few times.

I've played my share of video games, violent and otherwise. The idea of acting out in real life has never come to mind. You either respect the lives of others or you don't. I don't know how you fix that.

It's always been my opinion, that if a game, movie, song, bad day, or whatever can cause or influence someone to flip out and kill others, then something was already wrong with that particular individual. But I stress that's simply my opinion.

ljflx

I just blame the mother for having guns like that in the house with a son that was a ticking time bomb (that's how family members described him) and one whom the community feared. There had to be something illogical about her to do that. He also was a deadly accurate shooter so he had access to these guns for practice and there are reports he was a hunter, which may explain the rifle. Obviously this kid had medical issues that may have been uncontrollable. But I haven't read anything that indicates the mother had him in counseling either. The father and older brother looked like they were trying to escape the mothers clutches. The brother Ryan hadn't talked to his younger brother in two years and since Adam lived in the house that meant he hadn't called or visited.

Adam hit every child with a bullet 2 or more times. Actually 3-11X according to the coroner. He killed with a rage and wanted to make sure none of these helpless children would live. He had a grave intent to kill and an unsatisfiable urge.

Also they are now saying the mother never worked for the school. Whatever the case was - he went to that school because killing his mother and himself was not sufficient to satisfy his rage. I'd bet if a shopping mall was more convenient he'd have gone there to kill. It would be absolutely sickening if he calculated that closed in classrooms gave him a softer and higher kill target. But we'll never know that.

houdini1

I agree about the mother keeping guns available around someone who was obviously troubled. It is impossible to understand that. I assume she had no idea how far gone he was and never in her wildest dreams anticipated something like this happening. Who would?

kyfdx

I assume she had no idea how far gone he was and never in her wildest dreams anticipated something like this happening. Who would?


Agreed... most of all, a mother.. They are blinded by a mother's love for their child..

ljflx

Some of this is very difficult and heart wrenching:

Live blog updates. Some of the you tube videos will make you cry as will the victim list especially when you look at the birthdates. Even the adults killed were all young. Most of the children were female (13 of the 20 I believe) and all adults were female:

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/live-updates-on-school-shooting/

The explanation of why the mother had guns in the house is now explained. She was a gun enthusiast and took both of her children practicing. She bragged about her gun collection. IMO - she was not blind to her sons problems. She was simply crazy to be a gun enthusiast in a dangerous household. Who knows how many additional guns she had.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/nyregion/friends-of-gunmans-mother-his-first-v- - ictim-recall-her-as-generous.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0

The gunman shot the children multiple times and he shot them with the rifle. He took four guns with him including two rifles and left one rifle in the car. Using the rifle to kill children makes this even harder to fathom:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/nyregion/gunman-kills-20-children-at-school-in- - -connecticut-28-dead-in-all.html?hp

The principal died trying to stop the gunman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/nyregion/sandy-hook-principal-and-school-psych- - ologist-went-the-extra-mile.html

Victoria Soto was a hero as were others I'm sure. She made her students hide in cabinets and closets and when Lanza approached her room she told him her class was in the gym. She saved them. Lanza immediately turned the gun on her and killed her.

cyclone4

Obviously, some have misunderstood what I meant by saying that only the police, the secret service, and the military should be allowed to have guns. That is the ideal in my opinion, but how do you get to that point? Yes, criminals will have guns in the beginning if such a plan is implemented and guns are banned. But little by little, there will be fewer and fewer guns even at the hands of criminals. Eventually, there would come a point when my ideal scenario would come to pass. Obviously, we also need to make sure that guns are not smuggled into the country.

Look, I know this will never happen in my lifetime, but I can dream, right?

gagrice

Look, I know this will never happen in my lifetime, but I can dream, right?

That is part of the freedom of living in this country. You can dream all you like. The reason we have the second amendment is so we the people can protect ourselves from the tyrannical leaders that may take control of this Republic. And protect our families from the evil people in our society. Evil is on the rise at an astounding rate.

fintail

I guess I will have to see it to believe it. IMO they don't have the substance or stability to actually pull off a stunt like that, not to mention the means. It always seems like fearful stuff to turn people into silver hoarders or something. China and Russia both still seem just a step away from a social upheaval - and that would knock them out cold, quick.

You are bang on about one thing though, it is not them who wants to drag us down - it is people here. Not just politicos on both sides, but corporate leaders too. It's why we opened the Pandora's Box, and why we embrace our suicidal "free trade" policies.

gagrice

Jury Finds Apple Guilty Of Infringing Three Patents For Handheld Devices, Damages To Be Determined

Apple has suffered a loss in court today at the hands of a federal jury, over three patents held by MobileMedia Ideas, a patent-licensing firm owned by MPEG-LA and holding patents acquired from Sony and Nokia. The jury found that Apple had indeed violated the three patents, which were not determined to be invalid, after deliberating for four hours according to Bloomberg news. Damages for the infringement will be awarded in a later trial, which MobileMedia CEO Larry Horn said he believes could be “substantial” in a Bloomberg interview.

The patents in question were part of an original claim that included 14 total, filed in 2010. That pool was narrowed to three before the case went to trial this year. The three involved include one covering a mobile device with a camera capable of transmitting images to another; one for handling how a phone rejects calls, and another for managing hold status and other call states on a mobile communication device.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/13/jury-finds-apple-guilty-of-infringing-three-pat- ents-for-handheld-devices-damages-to-be-determined/

cyclone4

Oh Len! Tears were running down my by cheeks reading these articles. The one that most affected me was what Mr. Parker had to say about his little daughter and the rest of the victims. His remarks about "free will" reminds of the book I am about to finish reading. It is "Proof of Heaven" by Dr, Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon who had probably the most amazing near death experience ever documented. I highly recommend it. You can probably read it in a couple days.

circlew

Answer is: Hire Police for every school. Protection for all day/every day. We start there.

There is your immediate start ot REAL gun control and higher employment.

Next: All Malls in America to get Police presence during business hours.

Man fires some 50 shots in mall parking lot; no injuries

Regards,
OW

gagrice

Answer is: Hire Police for every school.

Obama administration, Congress quietly let school security funds lapse

Before Connecticut tragedy, administration eliminated emergency preparedness program,let school violence prevention programs lapse

Government officials told the Washington Guardian on Friday night that two Justice Department programs that had provided more than $200 million to schools for training, security equipment and police resources over the last decade weren't renewed in 2011 and 2012, and that a separate program that provided $800 million to put police officers inside the schools was ended a few years earlier.

Meanwhile, the administration eliminated funding in 2011-12 for a separate Education Department program that gave money to schools to prepare for mass tragedies, the officials said.

http://www.washingtonguardian.com/washingtons-school-security-failure

imidazol97

>criminals will have guns in the beginning if such a plan is implemented and guns are banned. But little by little, there will be fewer and fewer guns even at the hands of criminals.

That's the flaw in the thinking about "gun control." The criminals will always have guns and will always be able to get them.

There's a pollyanna attitude that if only we just take away guns from the lawful folks, the unlawful folks will give up using them and quit. Of course, their next best would be cleavers and knives as in China this week, or large rocks, and on and on.

Notice that right to carry is a good deterrent. The Colorado theater shooter went past theaters closer to his home and larger because they allowed people with PTC to have their guns on them in the theater. He went to the one where guns were prohibited even on those with permit to carry. (The shooter probably didn't think about police and certain other agents who are required to have their guns on them at all times and aren't subject to the PTC exclusion by the theater).

We're going to be treat in this United States to the media dragging numbers of antigun folks from the left across the screen with their teary pleas to ban all guns (except those for their bodyguards, the movie company lots where they make their films, etc.). These movie stars with knowledge and mental capacity much greater than anyone else in the county should be telling us about their violent movies they've made for decades showed murder and mayhem. Just list the names of those who've benefitted from the blood and guts movies.

The reality is they should be looking at the MEDIA who has run TV shows of violence and mayhem through the decades with the sterile dying scenes void of the screams and the pain of death. As the mainstream media types stand in front of the cameras reading their scripts, how many will admit their complicity because of the constant stream of violent programs with hour-long scripts based on the murders at the beginning such as the crime sceen TV shows. And then there's the stuff on the cable channels. OMG!

So all of this will be a horse-and -pony show on the media trying to make hay out of this, purportedly based on the sad and awful deaths of the children, the people in Seattle mall, the movie theater in Colorado. The media who couldn't delve into the background of a presidential candidate 5 years back, Benghazi a few months back, now will take every little spider thread apart in these shootings. If I were one of the parents, I would be really upset by the media's role in this for their own pretentions of purity in the environment of the shooter's mind.

houdini1

If there was some way all guns could disappear I would be all for it. In the meantime these psychos, like all cowards and bullies, always pick on the weakest,most vulnerable people they can find...they never seem to attack police stations, etc.

Maybe we should train and arm selected school employees and make sure it became public knowledge that schools were no longer sitting ducks.

gagrice

Maybe we should train and arm selected school employees

If that principal was trained and carrying when she confronted Lanza, she may have survived and saved those children. This should be a wake-up call for all school districts. If it can happen in Newton an upscale secured community, it can happen anywhere. Extreme gun control made it worse in the Norway massacre. People in the US are arming themselves because they do not trust the cops to protect them.

gagrice

There's a pollyanna attitude that if only we just take away guns from the lawful folks, the unlawful folks will give up using them and quit.

You are absolutely spot on. This Newton tragedy should show that to be the case. He went where he had the upper hand. He was not likely to go into a cop shop, pawn shop or gun store and open fire. He would have been mowed down after his first round was fired. And not even made front page in the local newspaper. Schools, buses, trains, theaters and malls are all targets and need protection in this sick society.

imidazol97

>she may have survived

He had the advantage of surprise on his side.

I still like concealed carry. I recall long ago when the idea first started..., in Northern Kentucky there's a beautiful park high on the hillside of the Ohio River overlooking downtown Cincinnati. There are many living in the area to take advantage of it. A jogger was accosted by a perp. The jogger had his gun in his running shorts. One dead criminal. Surprise for the bad guy. Darwin at work.

Here, as in the many similar crimes in schools in other countries, people are looking for "answers." ThThat's just code words for "we need gun control." But gun control will only take guns from the good folks, not from the criminals. ere aren't any answers. It's the bad guys fed by the media's glorification of violence--the Hollywood donors to campaigns, the MSM, et al. Gotta fix the violence conditioning to fix some of the crazy folks problem. And we'll never get them all. because some mental conditions dont seem as obviously dangerous to doting parents as they should be taken.

Of course we could ban cars, knives, cleavers, sticks, motorcycles, e.g., because of the deaths. With the porous borders that noone wants to fix guns will always be moving across (even without Fast and Furious' help ).
:sick: :confuse: :mad:

cyclone4

I proposed this very idea on an earlier post. I would love to see this implemented.

There is one other thing: Tell the NRA to go to burn in hell. I watched a terrific interview on Meet the Press with Mayor Bloomberg a few minutes ago. It was awesome. Did you know that NYC has the lowest crime rate of any big city in the U.S.? Not only does NYC have the strictest gun laws, but they are very pro active in searching for criminals or potential criminals.

fintail

"Maybe we should train and arm selected school employees and make sure it became public knowledge that schools were no longer sitting ducks"

Best and most efficient idea I have heard. Wouldn't really cost an insane fortune, and the benefits would far outweigh those costs. I might be off, but I'd have more faith in this than in hiring security forces who might have unstable members themselves.

Guns indeed aren't going away. A bloodbath would erupt if some kind of confiscation scheme was enacted. Weapons proliferation is only an ingredient of the problem, that being a completely invisible mental health system.

gagrice

Yes NYC and Chicago have the strictest gun laws in the USA. Chicago is hardly a safe city as a result. NYC cops are incompetent. They shot nine innocent bystanders going after the Empire state building killer. CT has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. It did not save those 20 innocent little children. There is NO correlation between tough gun laws and murder. Mexico has much tougher gun laws than we do and they have had 47,000 murders over the last 5 years. Sadly many of the extreme assault weapons used came from our lame Federal Government.

houdini1

This is hardly a time to be pushing a political agenda.

cyclone4

This is pure BS! Apple could buy out this little company in a split second without even thinking about it. This report is from Thursday and it had nothing to do with the big sell-off on Friday. Here is a much more important reason for the huge sell-off on Friday and this was also BS as it turns out. Several analysts reported that traffic at the Apple store on Friday during the launch of the iPhone 5 in China was very negligible. You would think that these analysts would do a little investigation before they spout off. Only Gene Munster got it right. Anyway, here is the real story:

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/12/16/apple-iphone-5-china-sales/?source=yahoo_- - quote

cyclone4

There is NO correlation between tough gun laws and murder.

Oh really? Then please explain to me why these sort of mass murders are almost unheard of in countries like Japan, England, etc. As far as Mexico is concerned, that is almost a lawless nation. Obviously, there is no nation that will be 100% free of these sort of murders, but we can do a hell of a lot better.

Houdini, in response to your statement that this is no time to have a political agenda, I'm sorry but both Parties (Republicans more so than Democrats) are scared stiff of the NRA. I think it's about time someone stood up to them and told this organization to go to hell. I hope Obama takes the lead in this. As Bloomberg stated this morning, there is no reason that politicians today should be afraid of the NRA. They have lost a lot of their power.

gagrice

Oh really? Then please explain to me why these sort of mass murders are almost unheard of in countries like Japan, England, etc.

You are obviously going to have your distorted view no matter the facts or figures. Just for the record to refute your statement.

The Osaka School Massacre took place on June 8, 2001, at Ikeda Elementary School, an elite primary school affiliated with Osaka Kyoiku University in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. At 10:15 that morning, 37-year-old former janitor Mamoru Takuma entered the school armed with a kitchen knife and began stabbing numerous school children and teachers. He killed eight children, mostly between the ages of seven and eight, and seriously wounded thirteen other children and two teachers. Takuma was diagnosed with Borderline personality disorder, Antisocial personality disorder, and Paranoid personality disorder. He was later convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out on September 14, 2004. The Osaka School Massacre was the second largest mass murder, along with the Matsumoto incident, in recent Japanese history, exceeded both of the crimes only by the fatalities caused in the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. This incident, however, was set apart by the young age of the victims, by its occurrence at a school, and by the murderer's history of mental illness.

You mentioned the UK as well.

At least 12 killed in U.K. shootings

WHITEHAVEN, England, June 2 (UPI) -- A taxi driver suspected in a rampage that left at least 12 people dead and 25 others wounded in West Cumbria, England, killed himself Wednesday, police said.

The Times of London reported police said three of the 25 wounded were in critical condition.

The newspaper said it was Britain's worst mass killing since the Dunblane Primary School massacre in Scotland in 1996 left 13 dead.

YOU CANNOT LEGISLATE EVIL OUT OF PEOPLE.

gagrice

Liza Long

Three days before 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners, my 13-year-old son Michael (name changed) missed his bus because he was wearing the wrong color pants.

"I can wear these pants," he said, his tone increasingly belligerent, the black-hole pupils of his eyes swallowing the blue irises.

"They are navy blue," I told him. "Your school's dress code says black or khaki pants only."

"They told me I could wear these," he insisted. "You're a stupid [non-permissible content removed]. I can wear whatever pants I want to. This is America. I have rights!"

"You can't wear whatever pants you want to," I said, my tone affable, reasonable. "And you definitely cannot call me a stupid [non-permissible content removed]. You're grounded from electronics for the rest of the day. Now get in the car, and I will take you to school."

I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.

A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books. Read on:

http://gawker.com/5968818/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother

fintail

Not to mention incidents in Germany, Finland, Norway, et al. Yes, they have less such horrors, but also drastically smaller populations, and likely better mental health systems. The latter is key. It's going to happen no matter what. Implementing gun control such as exists in those other locations is both impossible (because of proliferation), and probably quickly hits a point of diminishing returns.

Also fun to study the strict gun control in Britain, and how it has existed for generations. It's not for safety, it's because the crooked vile leadership there feared revolt. Also amusing to see how Britain has declined since - if you think things have fallen here in the past few decades, Britain has lot a lot more, relatively, in the past 75.

gagrice

For me the heart wrenching story of a woman trying to deal with a son that has some sort of mental disorder that leads to violence, brings out the real issue we face. I don't know if it can be resolved. What do they do with children in Germany or Switzerland that exhibit rage as related in the above story?

Hitler also took away guns. I don't trust a regime that is afraid to allow the people the right to defend themselves. Sadly every time we have another tragedy like this one, every gun control nut comes out of the woodwork. Where is Bloomberg with the 1000s of mentally ill homeless in his city? Time to outlaw subways, the real killers. :sick:

Naeem Davis, 30, confessed yesterday while being grilled in the grisly death of Ki Suk Han, 58, who was struck in front of horrified onlookers Monday after trying desperately to scramble back to the platform.

Davis told police that he “stayed and watched” as the train hit Han, a law-enforcement source said.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/police_track_down_killer_C7VPhgEN9g9wqdUtanTG- xJ

circlew

Again, Police need to be assigned to every school NOW. Period, The End. Let's put all politics aside and protect the children first, IMMEDIATELY.

I am going to contact my State Senator and Governor Christie this week and log my demand. My daughter is in a High School where this could happen more easily than in that Connecticut Elementary School. No armed protection whatsoever. How about your kids?

Regards,
OW

cyclone4

You are obviously going to have your distorted view no matter the facts or figures. Just for the record to refute your statement.

No, my view is not distorted at all but in fact it is yours that is out of whack. Facts are facts. I said that obviously no nation will be 100% free of these massacres. However, statistically speaking and taking population size into consideration, nations like Japan and England have much fewer of these incidents as well as smaller type killings by family members or relatives. It's been proven time and time again that having a gun in the house will make it more likely that it will be used against you or one of your family members as opposed to using it against an intruder or someone off the streets who is trying to do harm to you or your family members. That is a fact.

cyclone4

Again, Police need to be assigned to every school NOW. Period, The End. Let's put all politics aside and protect the children first, IMMEDIATELY.

I'm on your side 100% here.

gagrice

I have to agree. I took a bicycle to our local grade school last month that was being donated. All I did was announce I had a bike for the drawing and the buzzer let me in. She then directed me to the auditorium that was unlocked just before the kids all went to the assembly. It would have been too easy for a madman to go in and be hidden waiting for the right moment.

ljflx

Conneticut has one of the strictest gum control laws in the US and in this case he didn't buy the guns, his mother did. You want a society of responsible people and we really have that. You can't protect against everything. I think what is more important is controlling the very liberal nature of our society. That's more threatening to us than guns. Kids today are exposed to things that my generation never was and it is desensitizing them. Anyone creative is all for doing anything they want without any thought to the dangers it brings to society. What's more dangerous - guns or films and video games that show random killing to grade school kids. We never really saw this level of suicidal killings. Look how many there have been this year alone. Other than Charles Whitman and Charles Manson, I don't remember anything like this happening in the 60's and 70's. And Charles Manson was a sick killing trying to start a race war so it may not even fit.

cyclone4

Here is a very important and surprising news update on sales in China on the first weekend of the iPhone 5 availability.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/12/16/apple-iphone-5-sales-chin/?source=yahoo_q- uote

fintail

No kids, not that I am complaining. Not atypical of my generation, who seem to be having less for economic or social reasons. But I know of no armed protection in local schools either - I bet one could gain entrance to many via a simple ruse.

Maybe pull cops from speedtrap duty and put them to work protecting schools.

fintail

Drug em up probably, just as they probably once did here. I don't know what the mental health system is like in the somewhat more developed world. I wonder if/when shootings are broken down between drug/gang connections and lunatics, if Europe really fares much better than here.

The Hitler/gun control thing is a little exaggerated - those controls weren't necessary at that time and place, the regime worked a little more slickly. I don't trust a regime that denies the option of self-defense either. That's exactly what you get in Orwellian Britain (which also has areas with staggering rates of knife crime). No thanks.