an elementary school in Connecticut has had a mass shooting by a man named Ryan lanza. want you to read this news TT-TT http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/14/us-usa-shooting-connecticut-incidents-ti-idUSBRE8BD13220121214

20 kids where killed 18 at the school 2 in the hospital
6 adults killed at the school not inclueding he shooter how they sespect killed him self
Another adult with relasion to the shooter was found dead in another location
Of the 6 adults one was the princable and another was a consaler
it was 2 kindergarden classes

They said 20 k-4th grade children died and 7 adult staff died one of which was the shooters mother. The killler is reported died, but this guy is crazy he killed little kids that are just innocent kids they don't know anything and never did anything wrong yet they died. He even killed his mother. Who does things like this. I think this might be even worse then what happened in Columbine, Colorado which was a shooting in a high school.
But this was in an elementary school me and most others wouldn't even imagine that let alone think it would even happen.

Also the 2 kids in the hospital later were reported died at the hospital.

I wonder what led this man to do such a thing. It's cowardly as hell to kill KIDS. Apparently Obama wants to do something about the legalization of guns on the US, due to all the shootings lately.
Ryan killed not only himself, but his mother and father as well as one of his brothers. It's suspected that another brother of his was involved in the shooting somehow as well.
There was a girl who had her mom teach her class, and she watched her mom die.
Even the kids who weren't shot, had to watch that terrifying scene in which he killed others and himself. Imagine how many were left traumatized, or how many people lost friends and family. How many children died along with their friends, not standing seeing them go alone... It just sickens me.

>Someone gets shot "GUN CONTROL!!!!!11!ONE!!"
>Someone gets killed in a drunk driving accident,and nothing.

>>6 I'm pretty sure they are both just as important topics, and that drinking is treated like a serious problem. It's illegal to drink and drive and there are punishments to the wrong sides of any drinking accidents. The thing is, seldom will someone buy a gun and not use it on wrong circumstances, while drinking may be harmless if it's controlled (Although I DESPISE IT when someone drinks).
The fact is, over 30 people aren't getting out alive out of this incident and that's what we're here to discuss.

Fuck. Got home enjoying my Friday and I get online to see this.

This will inevitably turn into a "gun control hurr durr" argument soon enough, so just let me so now "rights" for a material possession isn't worth the lives of 20 innocent children and the adults who were teaching them. Incidents like this are why we can't have nice things.

As a native New Englander, someone with friends and family in Connecticut, and the son of a teacher myself, this has me really shaken up. I genuinely cried for a good 10 minutes at least. I don't remember being this jarred and emotional from a public catastrophe in an extremely long time.

Most importantly though, my heart goes out to all those affected by this. I can't even imagine how the families of those who lost children (and just before the winter holidays at that) are coping with this. Stay strong, Connecticut.

whoop. *let me say now

My Dad just came down stairs and told me, so I rushed on here to see if any one had more information then just "some guy somewhere shot his mom and some kindergarteners" O_O I don't understand how people can just go nuts on such little kids. Those families much be seriously heart broken..... Guys..... I think we need to go to the mission board and figure out a mission to do something nice for those families......

As for the gun thing. Making guns illegal WONT make crime go down. Almost all crimes committed with guns, the guns were already illegally bought, so the "no guns" law just did no good. People who will use guns for wrong will still use guns regardless of the law, and the rest of us will be defenseless. I'm sure I'm gonna feel safe, walking alone on the beach like I do, with out my baby(my revolver)because it got taken away, and someone with their illegally obtained gun, that they were going to get regardless of any law, and find myself shot with out the chance to defend myself. Yup. That law did sooooooooooooooo much good. So no arguing about it. it's pointless.

we don't need gun control we mental screening for gun owners maybe every couple months to a year

2nd part this way we can have guns and we can feel safe.

why does shit like this keep happening to people who havent even done anything to deserve it.

I was horrified reading about this, and I spent a good part of my workday holding back tears. It's heartbreaking, and awful how someone could be both hateful and cowardly enough to do something like this. My heart also goes out to the families and victims :( .

>>11
"Making guns illegal WONT make crime go down."

Allow me to offer a statistical rebuttal;
http://ivn.us/2012/07/25/gun-control-an-international-comparison/

This is so tragic, I mean really children ages 5-10, now that is EVIL ! I am glad the shootwr killed himself he deserves it. My heart goes out to the families and to those dollars who have connections to them :(

My condolences to the families.I have two younger siblings and I worry about them everyday. You never know what people are going to do. Luckily, nothing like that has happened here yet.

I was wondering when another school shooting was happening. It was bound to happen again.

I'm, not too worried, though. Ahmma just wait 'til guns in church and "disgruntled worshipers" start to become a problem.

>>17 Doth death chastise death? Will more bloodshed beget more bloodshed?

>>17 Also, just because children are involved doesn't make it any worse. They are kids; so what? They are like any other group of people. It's horrible their deaths happened but emphasis on their age is completely otiose.

>>7 Are you fucking stupid? "Seldom will someone buy a gun and not use it on wrong circumstances". There are around 300 million firearms owned by civilians (non-military) in the US (http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp#ownership). In 2008, about 10,000 murders were committed with a gun. That's about 0.0036% (http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp#crime).(Those charts also show that a rise in gun-control typically also saw a raise in gun-crime.

If you want to talk about accidents, motor vehicles kill more people than guns. (http://www.justfacts.com/images/guncontrol/accidents_fatal-full.png)

Crimes committed: " Based on survey data from the U.S. Department of Justice, roughly 5,340,000 violent crimes were committed in the United States during 2008. These include simple/aggravated assaults, robberies, sexual assaults, rapes, and murders.[13] [14] [15] Of these, about 436,000 or 8% were committed by offenders visibly armed with a gun.[16]"

Self defense: " Based on survey data from a 2000 study published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology,[17] U.S. civilians use guns to defend themselves and others from crime at least 989,883 times per year".
" 1994 survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Americans use guns to frighten away intruders who are breaking into their homes about 498,000 times per year."
Out of all these, various studies have found that less than 1% of the time was a gun ever fired. The presence of a gun is usually all that's needed to scare off an assailant.

Looking at the shooting, I realize, Gun control isn't the way. Gun's don't kill people, people kill people. Seriously. A person with a knife stab someone, is the knife stabbing someone? No.

Example? Look at the Belgium Army, when they are released, they get to keep their guns. Where have you heard about Belgium burglars or serial killers?

We had a lock down drill at the exact sane time that this happened today. On the other side of the states, my math class is goofing off throwing spitballs and playing a game of mini tag. Good luck to all those families who lost someone, I would hate for that to happen.

The way people think anymore is sick. no one needs to loose a kid before Christmas. I can't help but feel totally oblivious considering that I sat in a classroom laughing with my frinds and then find out a few minutes later that a shooting happened close to where I have friends. I can't even think of what would happen if kids in my school district got shot. I would have a nervous break down thinking of everyone I know that I treat like my own siblings eventhough I'm an only child. This bring tears to my eyes.

Also i know people from the Columbine shooting, so that makes it worse for me.

What would you all say is the worst shooting this year? I think this might top it. I mean elementary school kids...that's just bad. And twenty of them..

What sets me off in addition to the actual tragedy that took place is the public response that follows. Call me cynical, or even paranoid, but I find it roots out the worst in certain people.

As some have brought up, people took it as an opportunity to complain about gun control. I've even seen people criticizing Obama for his public speech immediately following, for varying reasons. These types of people wait for tragedies to happen to have leverage for their political ideals - they're opportunists leeching off of the attention they'd get for being topical.

On top of that, there are also those without these controversial opinions who are just as bad. People who see fit to make a show of their compassion as if anyone gives a shit. Social media posts bordering on fanart of the event - "like/comment/subscribe/reblog this post if you were sad about it too :( *shitty drawing of a heart accompanied by badly written prose*"
It's very transparent when people have to pretend they give a shit, and show people that they do.

This is not the time to focus attention on anything else but the victims. What happened was a really fucking shitty thing, and that's all. It's not something you have to write shitty poetry about, and it's not anyone's fault but the gunman. In fact, I'd rather everyone be silent about it than give public condolences, unless it's directly to the families of the victims.

>>29 I must agree with you, my good sir.

>>29 I must agree with you, my good sir.

>>23 Alright, you got me. I should have done my research before jumping to conclusions. I'm not even a US citizen, anyway, so it's not my place to be talking about gun control there.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of the victims. What a horrible thing. They will be in my prayers.

neh planned attack by the government&fbi as usual

http://www.prisonplanet.com/newtown-school-shooting-story-already-being-changed-by-the-media-to-eliminate-eyewitness-reports-of-a-second-shooter.html

Don't know whether to call BS, or take it for real.

I mean, the US government is definitely not an honest one, so I wouldn't be surprised.

Then again, one does not simply order an attack on young children.

I really cried when I heard about this. I can't imagine dropping your kid off and not having to pick them up because of this.

>>34
You are aware prisonplanet.com is a conspiracy site and often extremely inaccurate in even the most trivial of news articles, right?

Saki, you are literally the exact type of person I was talking about in my previous post

you absolute pile of shit

@38 The government has did stuff like this before.....I dont see obama crying for the middle east and the kids dying over there,and a government that will kill it president(JFK)will do anything.

TURN OFF THE NEWS.......

Morgan Freeman's brilliant take on what happened yesterday :

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

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

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

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

NEW HIGH SCORE! God im going to hell for saying that...

Aside from the fact that many innocent people died, im also upset about this being used as another point for gun control. Honestly all this crap about gun control is just horse shit; I never want to see an America that takes away some of the most important freedoms like the right to own a weapon.

>>39
Please stop talking.
The last thing this thread needs is misinformed sensationalist bullshitters like you.

>>38 and >>29 these
and most of this >>40 too.

I just can not see some one doing this
It makes me sick

Oh dear, I cried enough reading about how these kids were killed, but when Yata brought up "before the holidays" I lost it. In fact, I'm still crying as of now. I myself am a 6th grader, and, well, it's really heartbreaking to hear this.

This just comes to show that the world is a messed up hell, pfft, worse than that, and even worse than THAT!

ADAM* Lanza

Surprised none of you corrected that. They thought it was Ryan at first, but, supposedly, that was a mistake made because Adam was carrying his brother's ID (or something to that affect). Ryan Lanza is still alive, but Adam killed himself.

I was watching the information unfold from shortly after I got home on Friday to the end of the night. I just can't believe it.

On top of it all, Westboro has, "announced on Twitter Sunday that they would be 'singing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment' at the funerals of the Sandy Hook shooting victims."

WBC should just go fuck itself already.

I mean, I can believe it, but it's just so fucked up that you wish it wasn't true. Adam obviously wasn't right in the head (and neither was his mother according to some neighbors); that's the only thing that makes it realistic. Just, who would shoot up little kids? Seriously?

I can't bring myself to cry because thousands of other kids and babies die every year under different circumstances, and I don't cry for them, so it just doesn't seem right to me. But this was a horrible situation that shouldn't have even been thought of in the first place.

And Anonymous is goin' after WBC now?

Way to go Anonymous.

The WBC dipshits need to be crucified....and burned....by witches....in Mekke......

The children that died

This makes me highly upset. All of these wonderful cute faces...dead. :'(

>>48 And we care why?

Not any of our buisness~

>>24 While it's true that gun's don't kill people, people kill people, I'm pretty sure that the gun helps.

I think that in order for this to be a clear and reasonable debate, Americans first have to figure out what it is about us that separates us from the rest of the world. Other countries have just as loose of gun laws, if not looser, and America is still close to (if not at) the top spot in violent crime annually. Until we figure out what it is that separates us from everyone else, this debate is pointless.
So, find out what we're doing wrong, get on that, and then we can hopefully decrease violent crime, which is really a win-win for everybody.

>>52 I don't think America is doing anything wrong, but I think the reason that America has such a high crime rate is because of the huge population. The more people there are, the more crime is likely to happen.

>>53 I'm not sure if it's the population. I mean look at China, the world's largest population.
http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/China/United-States/Crime
It also doesn't appear to be population density, as evidenced by Japan, which has one of the densest populations there is.
http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/Japan/United-States/Crime

It's gotta be something else, right?

>>54>>52
See post >>23. It's not guns. Most violent crimes occur without the use of guns.

>>55 I agree that most violent crimes occur without the use of guns but guns make it easier to kill more people in a faster way. I think gun control holds one part of the answer to all this but i don't think it is the answer. I think another piece of it all is the treatment of the mentally ill. Many of these people who commit murder at this intensity usually have some kind of mental illness. In this case, the shooter could not feel emotional pain. He had no sense of empathy for human life(yes that is possible). If no one had guns, there would be no shootings. What are the chances this person could have killed 20 kids and 6 adults with a knife? I'm not saying take guns away from everyone, because they are used for many completely legal things, but I don't think the mentally ill should have access to a weapon that has that kind of lethal power. More back-round checks maybe? annual mental exams? I'm not sure.

Not to be that guy, but..

..had Lanza's mother been a responsible gun owner, she'd have kept her guns locked up nice and tight, especially if she was aware that her son wasn't right in the head.

Think of it this way. Alcohol-related car accidents kill tens of thousands of people every year in the United States. Those deaths are even more preventable than this massacre was, yet where are all the calls to outlaw alcohol or cars?

http://newtown.patch.com/articles/westboro-baptist-church-member-says-group-will-picket-sandy-hook-elementary

Well, I had enough with the human race. At least Anonymous are calling a war against these bastards.

>>56 The problem isn't gun control. Finland has much looser gun control than the US, but less gun crime, while Japan has incredibly strict gun control, and still less gun crime. The problem here is the people.

And he could try with a knife, or he could do what others have done and make bombs, or just set the place on fire (which would have resulted in even more casualties).

Also, this >>57

>>58 ... :I >>45

In regards to the above conversation, I have to agree with this article in that we have more problems with mental health facilitating than we do with gun control.

However, I do have a certain problem with that mental health topic. It seems like people who shouldn't be diagnosed are and people who should be aren't. We're so backwards. We diagnose things like "Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder" and "Authority Defiance Disorder," but there are too many kids who aren't right in the head who aren't diagnosed. I had a "friend" in elementary school who threatened to stab me to death with a pencil when I said I didn't want to play some stupid game when sleeping over at her house. She proceeded to start throwing pencils at me like I was a damn dart board and then started throwing heavier, more dangerous things at me. Scared me half to death; I ran down to her mom crying. (Needless to say, I didn't stay the whole night.) It wasn't just that, either. She would say that things were out to get her and wouldn't go anywhere without her dog.

Did she ever get the help she needed? No, because nobody would take her mom seriously when she tried to get her help. A lot of parents are in that situation. While perfectly fine kids are taking ridiculous medications for "ADHD," kids like these aren't getting the help they really need because either nobody believes or nobody gives a fuck.

America's lack of mental health regulation isn't helping kids like those nor their families. I think that needs to be looked into more than gun control does. (I admit, though - I agree that there is no reason for automatic and semi-automatic assault rifles to be on the streets.)

Adam Lanza's mother was supposedly an over-protective bitch who coddled him so much that he wasn't even allowed to play with other kids (according to their neighbors), and she was probably also at fault, but it doesn't change that there wasn't any clear help available to them anyway.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder*

Oppositional Defiance Disorder* (Means the same thing.)

You know, I should probably check exactly how these things are written/spelled before I post /o\

And now, their church had received a bomb threat, over the phone, somebody thought it would be funny to tell them that "They're going to finish what the other guy couldn't"...... I hope they find that asshole.

>>62 ADHD is not the same ting as ADD >>61 Not ADHD.
Also the Gunman had Aspergers synonym. a Mild ASD(Autism) that affects social interactions, among many other things.
There is a BIG difference between all of these.

What the hell is this world coming to!?

>>65
Actually there isn't any ADD anymore as they classify ADD and ADHD as the same thing due to both normally show the same symptoms, thus they claim ADHD now, and ADD as non existent in the medical field.

NRA's statement as to why they have been silent after the shooting: "Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting."

...The NRA seems to be the most respectful group out of everybody at this point. Most people began pushing agenda's, but the NRA was silent for the families of the victims.

>>68 I hope that this is sarcasm. As I sees it, and I do believe these glasses on my face allow me to see quite a bit, they can't really say anything.

People are already proposing that things would have been better if the people at the school had a gun to stop him, but the NRA already said this before about different "tragedies."

If they say anything, then they'll look more like pricks. >_> They are staying silent 'cuz anything else would be stupid. The, "Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting," is bullshit; a cover to make them look sweet.

They did a search of his house, and they found out why he did it... They found a "Call of Duty" Game in his house... OF COURSE! This incredibly violent video game MUST be the only reason he did this! Cause EVERYBODY knows the only people in the world who play this game are people who are training themselves to do this kind of thing!

>>71 Violent video games do show spikes in agression and a decrease in prosocial behavior (caring about the welfare and rights of others). Though, I doubt a video game did the whole entire thing.

Maybe the guy just wanted to pop a nigga. =w= Jeez, why does everyone wanna blame everything and say this and that to make excuses to pardon someone? Do we really want monsters to exsist?

>>70
Maybe because they actually feel fucking sad over the situation, is why they said it. Maybe you didn't think of that little fucking bit of information? People feel saddened when a child loses a life more so than when adults do (in most given situations), so it's not unheard of for even the most stuck up pricks to actually come around.

You should take that twig out of your fucking ass now, and don't be such a douche.

>>70 Things would have been better if someone at the school had a gun to stop him. In case you didn't notice, the laws sure as hell didn't slow him down.

>>74 u got that rite!

I cried when this happened. I know that I am probably the Hundreth person to say this,but civilians dont need an assult rifle.

We talked about this in gym and history on monday. All 5 of us were talking about how sad and absurd it was that these little innocent had their young lives taken away by one angry person.I mean,all these little six year olds had their whole lives ahead of them. Dating,graduating,college,marriage,their own six year olds. It's really quite depressing. It's all anyone talked about on monday in every class everywhere. I just pray for the kids who witessed their best friends die. Like that one little girl... my heart just breaks when I think about it...

>>74 Sure... give the teachers guns... What happens when that little bad-ass kid steals the gun and shoots someone? What if he/she thinks it's a toy? What if the teachers flip out and shoot a kid? What then? Say "oh, we're sorry. We where trying to protect them."? I'm sorry, but that's a horrible idea...
>>59 There's obviously a problem with gun control if someone so messed up in the head could get his hands on a gun and that much ammunition... He could have killed everyone in that school and then some with the amount of ammunition he had... And drunk drivers is a problem, i agree, but what if shootings happened as often as drunk drivers crashed and killed a few people? Drunks don't intend to kill someone, but insane people with guns do and when they attempt murder, there are usually many more casualties and injuries.

Here's the freaking solution:

Crack down on:
-Mental Illness and insanity
-Gun shows, they need to stop. Now.
-And in all: the News Media's bullshit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uwAo8lcAC4

Why? They seriously blame gamers, movies, etc. for every fucking bad thing going on. Why? For competition, to bring in brainless blokes to raise up and make a lynch mob or a witch hunt. It needs to stop. Now. What's the point of making blame towards other media? Will it help the parents when their life is hell while they have to pay not only for the funeral, but be pitied by a whole nation? I don't pity them, I respect them for being sane and not breaking down in front of media like a douchebag wanting attention (Unlike Media interviewing TRAUMATIZED kids). What do they get for their calmness? No help, no compensation, and sadly, no attention.

>>78 Did I ever say teachers with guns? No. I said someone. The most suitable person would be an unemployed veteran. A punk ass 13 year old kid isn't going to beat combat-trained ex-military. This would not only create jobs, but create a safer environment for schools (and I'd put hard money on the fact that it would also reduce bullying).

And you're wrong. Did you not look at the link? Fatalities due to drunk driving are exponentially higher than fatalities due to guns. And the fact remains that he got a gun by killing. He murdered before he ever obtained a gun. Laws won't stop people like that, as has been shown.

>>79 Not gun shows. Guns shows actually show guns for sport, and to find contracts for law enforcement. There are loopholes, however that need to be fixed.

If someone is going to break the law, being able to obtain a gun or not isn't going to solve shit. We need a better system when it comes to handling these types of fucking nut cases rather than wasting time, respect and tax payers money on trying to limit who can get a gun, or banning guns from public use as a whole. Which in my eyes won't even happen because too many people are against it. Even after this situation, people aren't going to give up their guns so easily and I don't blame them.

We need a better system in handling society as a whole. To pay closer attention to how people act inside and outside of the public's eye, and determine better treatment on people like the guy who killed those kids.

First thing is first. Better fucking security at public schools. You get better security at private schools than public, and less problems from private schools. We need to set up trained men and women to handle every hour of the school day for the entire year. Give them a gun. Give them vests. Keep them watching each room, the hallways and outside.

There was an article on Mail.com about this, about how the kid who did this wouldn't do anything unless his mother told him to. That right there, coupled with being quiet, looking at the floor, and just not moving unless told, is a clear sign that something might not be right. We need a system in which singles these people out so they can at-least screen them.

Just heard this on the radio this morning, an 11 year old brought a gun to school. He even pointed it at another student,(though it wasn't loaded).
What's more messed up? THE PARENTS TOLD HIM TO BRING IT! They wanted him to be able to protect himself if it happened again, but then again, how can that help if the gun isn't loaded?!?
STUPID PEOPLE!

>>83 that the parents told him to take it to school....theres sum stupid people in this world i swear-

My god, yesterday my teacher showed us a book that was titled "Troubles of life" or something like that, and on one of the pages there was this letter that was titled something scary. Urgh, I can't remember. But, at the bottom it said "Sandy Hook
Connecticut
1986"

God, I swear I'm going to hve nightmares about that.

I've read through this thread, and I ave to say that I can't believe you guys. Sure, the reasons behind all this happening could be interesting, and it's not like the media's helping at all, but the fact is: parents lost their kids, families lost their family members, and here you all are arguing whether or not gun's should be legal, or what type of disorder the shooter had, or what kills more, guns or vehicle? Who cares what kills more? The sole fact is that they KILL. While all of you sit here, arguing about this stuff that--seriously, your opinions don't seem to matter too much to the lawmakers, or anyone that could actually make a difference.
These kids are DEAD, now. And that's what we should be focusing on.

*Angriest Hell's Fury* GRAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

>>87
Well the fact is we'll focus on what we damn well please.
Don't you dare get all high and mighty on us, looking down on us and on the fact that we're discussing everything in it's entire aspect, rather than just solely focusing on the kids that died. We care, but we'll not just stop and change the subject to JUST those kids.

We'll discuss what we want to discuss and you'll just have to deal with it.

>>87 Or you could try to not be such an arrogant little prick. Yeah, kids are dead, but crying over it isn't going to do shit about it. So instead, we're talking about issues that might prevent more deaths. If you had read the thread, you'd also know that quite a few of us also want to focus on mental healthcare reform, not guns. I suggest not saying anything else and looking like even more of a prick.

>>89 to be honest >>87 has a point. You both do. People are going to focus on whatever they want to, and everyone had something to gain or lose from major tragedies like this one, so they are going to focus on those aspects.

>>87 maybe the focus shouldn't be gun control immediately after something like thus happens, but once the topic has been brought up even once, ignoring the topic totally doesn't do anything to stop it, and perhaps if someone were to do so, valuable informed opinions can be lost. On a site like this, there is nothing that we can really do for the families except maybe donate for funerals and such, so the only thing we can really do as a community in relation to this story is to try to determine the effects of this event and whether the changes made in society because of it are positive or negative, and of course because it is a controversial topic, there will be heated arguments and such about it.

>>91 Good point. Gun control probably won't help. The more things we make illegal or hard to get the more people will want it. It's basic human nature that if you say "you can't do this" the more people want to do it. And we're going to focus on what we want to. You might say we need gun control or that we need to focus on everything vs. we need to focus on the kids, but we can't change that it happened. All we can do is help in our own way: praying or sending something...whatever we want. But there will always be two sides or more of every argument. And all sides will say that the others are wrong and there will be bad feelings.
I personally think we need to help somehow, but I also know that the entire nation seems like it wants to help. I'm going to do what I think is right, and everyone needs to do what they think is right. That's all we really can do.

>>92 that's a valid point, I suppose. It's not just that, though. If someone is planning to murder dozen of people or to commit some other major crime, than they are obviously willing to ignore gun laws. All that gun control does is keep guns from people who might need them. There are certain restrictions that could be made and that have already been made that are useful, such as there being no automatic weapons available for sale to civilians that have piteously kept bloodshed down, but even then, those laws have their fair share of people who break them. In the end, it's really just a game of odds. You can take steps to male them more favorable to you, but you can never make the chances of disaster striking go away completely.

In light of that, there probably SHOULD be more focus on the victims of the crime, but with the society we live in where everyone likes to both point fingers and think that we're smart enough to prevent everything from happening to everyone, it just isn't going to happen anytime soon. Do, as an individual, you can make it your own priority to focus on the victims, be they the dead and injured or their close friends and family, but do it not to be able to get up on your high horse, but as an act if kindness from one person to another. There's probably something different and more profound that I could have said there, but I just woke up and can't think very well right now, do fuck it.

Aw whenever this sort of thing happens gun control must be a thing to discuss.
I'm with >>92 and them on this; gun control laws won't really help. People will kill no matter what, no matter how we might try to stop them with laws and rules and stuff. And the focus should definitely be on the victims; those kids didn't deserve to die and neither did anyone else who has been a victim of these sort of shootings and terrible events of violence. They should be the main point in these sorts of conversations, them and the people they end up leaving behind heartbroken and in so much pain emotionally.

just because we say its aginst the law to have/sell automatic wepons doesnt mean crimes like this will stop happening but it may make it happen less. this story makes me sad just thinking about it when it was on the news i cried every time i saw it

I agree that no matter if we outlaw guns people will still kill and will illegally buy guns. Drugs are illegal yet you can find those on any street corner. Outlawing guns will do nothing. What needs to be done for anonymous citizens to take a step and help protect their fellow citizens.

To point something out, I hate when things like this happen and people say, It WAS bad gun control, or it WAS violent media. I think gun control should be more, but people are just looking for a scapegoat. Sometimes people go wrong, not because of any one thing. Also anyone interested in criminal psychology should read "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostevesky