Quote by Raine:
The students at my niece' school today we greeted with a State Troopers, A statie an airforce marshall and Town Police officer.

I am assuming that this is there way to provide support to the students?

Quote by TriSec:

Quote by Raine:
The students at my niece' school today we greeted with a State Troopers, A statie an airforce marshall and Town Police officer.

I am assuming that this is there way to provide support to the students?

That seems more intimidating to me - BE AFRAID, KIDS!

The news surrounding the tragic shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut earlier today is shocking. Please join me in keeping the victims and their families in our thoughts and prayers. These violent acts are becoming way too common in our society and we must find a way to stop them from happening.

Children are very sensitive to adult reactions when these types of incidents occur. My experience is that adults should approach discussing school violence in an age-appropriate way with their children. It is important that children are encouraged (not compelled) to express concerns they may have. It is also important for children to be reminded that we spend significant time and energy keeping our schools among the safest of places to be.

The (ommitted) School District has a variety of resources available to support our students and their families in difficult times. Please contact my office if you need any assistance.

Magazines that fed bullets into the primary firearm used to kill 26 children and adults at a Connecticut school would have been banned under state legislation that the National Rifle Association and gunmakers successfully fought.

The shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Adam Lanza, 20, used a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle with magazines containing 30 rounds as his main weapon, said Connecticut State Police Lieutenant Paul Vance at a news conference yesterday.

A proposal in March 2011 would have made it a felony to possess magazines with more than 10 bullets and required owners to surrender them to law enforcement or remove them from the state. Opponents sent more than 30,000 e-mails and letters to state lawmakers as part of a campaign organized by the NRA and other gun advocates, said Robert Crook, head of the Hartford- based Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen, which opposed the legislation.

“The legislators got swamped by NRA emails,” said Betty Gallo, who lobbied on behalf of the legislation for Southport- based Connecticut Against Gun Violence. “They were scared of the NRA and the political backlash.”

Quote by TriSec:
Ya know, I"m starting to think the only way things might change are if a gunman gets into the Capitol or a state legislature with a high-capacity magazine and has his way.

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

St. Vincent's Hospital operational after early morning shooting (gallery and video)
By Mia Watkins | mwatkins@al.com
on December 15, 2012

St. Vincent's Hospital is operational following an early morning shooting leaving one person dead and three more, including a Birmingham Police officer, injured.

"The situation is under control and the hospital is secure and stable," said Liz Moore, Vice President of Marketing and Communications. "There are no interruptions to any patient care services at this time."

According to Sgt. Johnny Williams, public information officer for the Birmingham Police Department, officers received a call from within the hospital at approximately 4 a.m. Two officers who patrol the South precinct responded to a gunman on the fifth floor. The officers arrived through two different corridors.

The suspect used a handgun and motive for the shooting is unclear at this time, said Williams.

"They engaged the suspect as they exited the elevator," he said. "The suspect opened fire on the officer. He wounded that officer and two other employees here at the hospital. The second responding officers returned gunfire, fatally wounding the suspect."

Man with assault rifle shot dead by police after Alabama triple murder

(Reuters) - A man armed with an assault-style rifle and suspected of killing three men in a domestic dispute was shot dead by police after a car chase and shootout that left an officer wounded, marking a second incident of deadly gun violence in Alabama in two days, officials said on Sunday.

The two shootings on Saturday in Alabama came a day after 20 children and six adults were shot to death by a gunman who went on a rampage with a military-style rifle at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and then killed himself.

In Alabama, a gunman identified as Romero Roberto Moya, 33, was shot multiple times by police in the town of Oxford, east of Birmingham, as he stepped from a hijacked car that struck another vehicle on Saturday, police said.

A short distance away before he was killed, Moya had exchanged gunfire with other police after crashing his initial getaway car, leaving one officer critically injured, Oxford police Lieutenant L.G. Owens said.

The pursuit was triggered by a triple slaying Moya was suspected of committing at a trailer home earlier in the morning in Cleburne County, Alabama, near the Georgia state line, Owens said.

Police: Cedar Lake man wanted to kill 'as many people as he could' at elementary school

Diane Poulton Times Correspondent

CEDAR LAKE | While the tragic slaughter of children was unfolding at a Connecticut school Friday, Cedar Lake police and the Lake County Sheriff’s Department were busy dealing with reports a man threatening to kill "as many people as he could" at Jane Ball Elementary School.

Interim Cedar Lake Police Chief Gerald A. Smith said his officers were called to the home of Von I. Meyer, 60, in the 9300 block of West 133rd Avenue on Friday morning.

Smith said Meyer allegedly threatened to set his wife on fire after she fell asleep.

A police statement says Meyer also said he would enter Jane Ball Elementary School and "kill as many people as he could" before police could possible stop him.

Meyer’s home is located within 1,000 feet of the school and connected through a set of trails and walking paths, Smith said. Inside his home, authorities said they found 47 guns and ammunition worth more than $100,000.

Quote by wickedpam:
ugh - the comment's in Channel 9's FB post about the NRA taking down their FB page is just sickening. People are now saying is someone didn't have a gun they would have a bomb like McViegh.


what the fuck is wrong with people

Quote by Will in Chicago:
I posted the following on my Facebook page yesterday. Here is something Ezra Klein of the Washington Post learned:

Mythbusting: Israel and Switzerland are not gun-toting utopias

Posted by Ezra Klein on December 14, 2012

My post “12 facts about guns and mass shootings” included a mention of Israel and Switzerland, societies where guns are reputed to be widely available, but where gun violence is rare. Janet Rosenbaum, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center School, has actually researched this question, and she wrote to tell me I had it wrong. We spoke shortly thereafter on the phone. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.

Ricky Carioti — The Washington Post

Ezra Klein: Israel and Switzerland are often mentioned as countries that prove that high rates of gun ownership don’t necessarily lead to high rates of gun crime. In fact, I wrote that on Friday. But you say your research shows that’s not true.

Janet Rosenbaum: First of all, because they don’t have high levels of gun ownership. The gun ownership in Israel and Switzerland has decreased.

For instance, in Israel, they’re very limited in who is able to own a gun. There are only a few tens of thousands of legal guns in Israel, and the only people allowed to own them legally live in the settlements, do business in the settlements, or are in professions at risk of violence.

Both countries require you to have a reason to have a gun. There isn’t this idea that you have a right to a gun. You need a reason. And then you need to go back to the permitting authority every six months or so to assure them the reason is still valid.

The second thing is that there’s this widespread misunderstanding that Israel and Switzerland promote gun ownership. They don’t. Ten years ago, when Israel had the outbreak of violence, there was an expansion of gun ownership, but only to people above a certain rank in the military. There was no sense that having ordinary citizens [carry guns] would make anything safer.

Switzerland has also been moving away from having widespread guns. The laws are done canton by canton, which is like a province. Everyone in Switzerland serves in the army, and the cantons used to let you have the guns at home. They’ve been moving to keeping the guns in depots. That means they’re not in the household, which makes sense because the literature shows us that if the gun is in the household, the risk goes up for everyone in the household.

Quote by Raine:
Caller, take you military service and your love of guns and pound sand. Rwanda is a BAD example to advocate for the use of semi automatic assault weapons.

Quote by Mondobubba:
Mewhile, in Bizzaro World: Huckabee blames gays for the Newtown massacre

Quote by Raine:

Quote by Mondobubba:

Quote by Raine:
Caller, take you military service and your love of guns and pound sand. Rwanda is a BAD example to advocate for the use of semi automatic assault weapons.

Huh? Is he saying if the Hutus (or Tutsis, I get them confused) had assault rifles they wouldn't have had their limbs or heads hacked off with machetes?

He was trying to go there. Miller was able to walk him back.

Quote by Mondobubba:

Quote by Will in Chicago:
I posted the following on my Facebook page yesterday. Here is something Ezra Klein of the Washington Post learned:

Mythbusting: Israel and Switzerland are not gun-toting utopias

Posted by Ezra Klein on December 14, 2012

My post “12 facts about guns and mass shootings” included a mention of Israel and Switzerland, societies where guns are reputed to be widely available, but where gun violence is rare. Janet Rosenbaum, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center School, has actually researched this question, and she wrote to tell me I had it wrong. We spoke shortly thereafter on the phone. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.

Ricky Carioti — The Washington Post

Ezra Klein: Israel and Switzerland are often mentioned as countries that prove that high rates of gun ownership don’t necessarily lead to high rates of gun crime. In fact, I wrote that on Friday. But you say your research shows that’s not true.

Janet Rosenbaum: First of all, because they don’t have high levels of gun ownership. The gun ownership in Israel and Switzerland has decreased.

For instance, in Israel, they’re very limited in who is able to own a gun. There are only a few tens of thousands of legal guns in Israel, and the only people allowed to own them legally live in the settlements, do business in the settlements, or are in professions at risk of violence.

Both countries require you to have a reason to have a gun. There isn’t this idea that you have a right to a gun. You need a reason. And then you need to go back to the permitting authority every six months or so to assure them the reason is still valid.

The second thing is that there’s this widespread misunderstanding that Israel and Switzerland promote gun ownership. They don’t. Ten years ago, when Israel had the outbreak of violence, there was an expansion of gun ownership, but only to people above a certain rank in the military. There was no sense that having ordinary citizens [carry guns] would make anything safer.

Switzerland has also been moving away from having widespread guns. The laws are done canton by canton, which is like a province. Everyone in Switzerland serves in the army, and the cantons used to let you have the guns at home. They’ve been moving to keeping the guns in depots. That means they’re not in the household, which makes sense because the literature shows us that if the gun is in the household, the risk goes up for everyone in the household.

Despite evidence to the contrary, the gun lovers aren't going to believe this. Just like they think there are hordes of Canadians taking buses to the Mayo Clinic because Canada's health care system is such a mess.

Quote by Raine:

Quote by Mondobubba:

Quote by Raine:

Quote by Mondobubba:

Quote by Raine:
Caller, take you military service and your love of guns and pound sand. Rwanda is a BAD example to advocate for the use of semi automatic assault weapons.

Huh? Is he saying if the Hutus (or Tutsis, I get them confused) had assault rifles they wouldn't have had their limbs or heads hacked off with machetes?

He was trying to go there. Miller was able to walk him back.

Troll. Did he say he was a Marine?

He just said he served-- in south America and stuff.

Quote by Raine:

Quote by Mondobubba:
So, who with me in calling Gohmert's office and asking if he's nuts or just stump stupid? Or both? It'll be fun!

I've not the time. I've already written a letter to my congress critter for another reason that has me perturbed. This is why.

I am saddened by his response, especially after seeing Jovan Belcher kill the mother of his child with a gun.