Showing posts with label school shooting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school shooting. Show all posts

Sunday, April 9, 2023

Why is Congress willing to sacrifice kids for the NRA?

Can someone please inform Congress that when kids fill school bags in the morning, they shouldn't leave school in a body bag?



You would think they'd already understand this, but they don't. 

They focus on books they do not want kids to read, but not on the bullets that end their lives.

They focus on drag shows because they think it is morally wrong, but not the weapons of mass murder.

They focus on the unborn because they are pro-life, but do not want to protect the lives of kids already here.

This is Easter Sunday and we are supposed to appreciate the life of Jesus willing to sacrifice His life for the sake of everyone. Why are members of Congress willing to sacrifice the lives of kids for the sake of the NRA?

They keep offering "thoughts and prayers" and some say taking God and prayer out of school is the problem. What is their excuse when a Christian school was the latest place where three adults and three children didn't make it home?


Tuesday, April 4, 2023

“Thoughts and prayers are useless to dead children"

Nashville police: School shooter planned attack for months

AP
By TRAVIS LOLLER, JONATHAN MATTISE and KIMBERLEE KRUESI
April 3, 2023

The crowd outside the Capitol echoed chants such as “thoughts and prayers are not enough” and sang along to songs like “All You Need is Love” – adding to it, “and action!” At one point, they sat for a moment of silence, raising posters above their heads that read, “Thoughts and prayers are useless to dead children,” “Book bags not body bags,” and “2nd graders over 2nd amendment.” Some students wore orange shooting-target stickers on their shirts.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — As students across Nashville walked out of class on Monday to protest gun violence at the Tennessee Capitol following a school shooting last week, police said the person who killed six people, including three 9-year-old children, had been planning the massacre for months.

Police have not established a motive for the shootings at The Covenant School, a small Christian elementary school where the 28-year-old shooter was once a student, according to a Monday news release from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Both Nashville police and FBI agents continue to review writings left behind by Audrey Hale, both in Hale’s vehicle and home, police said.

“It is known that Hale considered the actions of other mass murderers,” police said.

The three children who were killed in the shooting were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. The three adults were Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school, custodian Mike Hill, 61, and 61-year-old substitute teacher Cynthia Peak.
read more here

When will it ever be enough? When will people understand that doing nothing to prevent children from being killed in school is part of the cause?

We are raising multi-generational survivors of mass murderers who were given the guns to do it. There is absolutely nothing any politician can say, no one else to blame, no other finger to point toward anyone else but themselves. Tennessee just made it easier for them to get more guns!

Thoughts and prayers change nothing when they are not followed by action. The next time you hear one of the lawmakers say thoughts and prayers, try chanting that our thoughts will be known with our votes and we pray you never hold office again! When all those kids walked out of classes to stand up for themselves, they showed more courage than the cowards too afraid of the NRA to take a stand for the sake of the children they claim to care so much about. Remember these are the same freaks screaming about books to fear, drag shows to be horrified by, births they want to force, and words they don't want to hear. Parents have words they don't want to hear too. Like their child will not need to worry about their grades anymore because they didn't make it home from school alive!




Wednesday, March 29, 2023

GOP Rep. Burchett said, "You can't legislate evil," with serious face?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 29, 2023

Tennessee congressman says Washington is ‘not going to fix’ school shootings NBC News 

A politician said, "You can't legislate evil." Apparently, he does not understand that is exactly what people are elected to do. If it was not their job, then they wouldn't have a job.
"As per the Constitution, the U.S. House of Representatives makes and passes federal laws. The House is one of Congress’s two chambers (the other is the U.S. Senate), and part of the federal government’s legislative branch. The number of voting representatives in the House is fixed by law at no more than 435, proportionally representing the population of the 50 states."

The fact that there are courts to hold people accountable under the laws they have legislated and punishment under the laws they legislated, seems to have evaporated when they are asked to do something to stop schools from being turned into slaughterhouses. Parents shouldn't have to worry about their kids coming home alive at the end of their classes. Their classes shouldn't have to include active shooter training because legislators refuse to do a damn thing to protect children!

They want to claim that evil people do the shootings. That mentally ill people are the ones using the weapons created to slaughter as many as they can as fast as they can. Why is no one asking them why they feel the need to legislate the ability of the evil and mentally ill to get more guns then? Why would it make sense to them to arm those they point their fingers at?

There would be no prisons if they couldn't legislate evil. There would be no need for law enforcement if the legislators did not legislate and fund them. There would be no lawyers holding the accused people accountable and defending those charged with the crimes that were legislated.

These same people claim to be religious, however, their actions cause them to fail the bite test.
Unraveling the Forbidden Fruit Apple Motif In the next chapter of Genesis in the Old Testament, this stanza describes the temptation of Adam and Eve: "When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate.” These two sentences have been used since they were first written down as a metaphorical reference to any indulgence or pleasure that the dogmas of religion deem illegal or immoral. The Hebrew word used for fruit here is “peri,” a generic term referring to the fruit hanging from the Tree of Knowledge. And they are still heavily referenced today in conversations, novels, and films. Modern scholars and historians believe that a bastardization and possible misinterpretation of Latin might answer the question, “Why the Apple?” The Latin word mălum signifies “ evil,” while the Latin word mālum, from the Greek μῆλον, means “apple.”
Watch the video for yourself and hear what Rep. Burchett said about not being able to legislate guns. He said, "You can't legislate evil." They seem to act that way when it comes to guns but not when it comes to everything else, like the personal freedom of parents to raise their kids as they see fit. The personal freedom to decide the moral code they want to live by. They seek to legislate every day on what matters to them, what will give them the most support/donations from their supporters, but not when it comes to doing anything for the sake of what this country was supposed to stand for.

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

We hear them say the empty words "thoughts and prayers"

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 28, 2023

Yesterday another school shooting and yet again, politicians offered empty thoughts and prayers. 

Thoughts and prayers without action are as worthless as thinking and praying you'll win the lottery but never buy a ticket!

That's all they did. What is more appalling is that they are the ones passing laws to remove all restrictions. We need to ask ourselves what it will take for them to actually care enough to save the kids. Will it take it happening to one of their children or grandchildren before they decide to value their lives enough to do something?

This is a poll from The Hill taken in February.
Among political party lines, 54 percent of Republican or Republican-leaning Independent respondents said they are satisfied with the nation’s laws and policies on handguns, while 44 percent of those surveyed expressed their dissatisfaction with current law.

On the other side, 84 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents expressed their dissatisfaction with the nation’s laws and policies, while 14 percent of those surveyed said they are satisfied with the nation’s current policies.

Around 60 percent of Independent respondents express their dissatisfaction with the nation’s laws and firearm policies, while 36 percent of those surveyed said they are satisfied.
As you just read the majority of people in this country want the laws changed, but Republicans, on the other hand, are satisfied. Seriously? Satisfied with what? Of the results?

Over and over again, we hear them say the empty words "thoughts and prayers" from Republicans but have no desire to do something about proving they care. Why should they when the majority of their party is happy with the results?

Aren't they the same people screaming about moral values? Moral values when it comes to wanting to control what you do in your own private life? Moral values when they want to control what your kids read in schools and in the local library but not the number of bullets that can be shot into their bodies while in those schools? Moral values when they want to prevent your right to free speech when you say things they don't want to hear? Moral values when they want to control what you believe because you don't have the same "faith" they do? Moral values when they want to control who gets to be able to vote and if that vote gets counted should it go against them?

These same politicians seem to have no problem blaming mental illness to explain why mass murders happen but never seem to be able to explain why on earth would they want to expand their ability to purchase weapons created to kill as many as possible as fast as possible. Not that that is an acceptable excuse since mental illness is a human illness and is across the globe but we are the only country that allows our kids to be slaughtered to the point where parents cry dropping them off at school because they don't know if their kid will go home again.

So what do we do? Do we turn our thoughts and prayers into action? Do we flood their offices, emails, and social media accounts with demands they do something about this or do we just toss our hands in the air and say it isn't time to talk about it? Guess they're too busy offering thoughts and prayers while loading their own guns!

The Daily Mail covered this guy's Christmas card and added what he said about the Covenant School shooting. Stunning!
The Covenant School was already full of thoughts and prayers since it is a private Christian School.

This is from NPR
Mayor John Cooper said Nashville was joining the "dreaded, long list" of cities and towns that have suffered school shootings.

"My heart goes out to the families of the victims," Cooper said. "Our entire city stands with you."

Tennessee state Rep. Bob Freeman, whose district includes the school, said it was "an unimaginable tragedy for the victims, all the children, families, teachers, staff and my entire community. I live around the corner from Covenant and pass by it often. I have friends who attend both church and school there. I have also visited the church in the past. It tears my heart apart to see this," WPLN reported.

State Sen. Jeff Yarbro, who represents Nashville, said on Twitter: "My heart breaks for the families at Covenant. As a parent, I both ache for them and rage with them that fear of this kind of tragedy is just accepted as just part of what it means to raise kids these days."

Monday, March 27, 2023

Tennessee more afraid of books than bullets in schools?


Feel free to use this!

Consider this!
Pulitzer Prize-winning novel banned:'Maus' sales soar after book is banned by Tennessee school board

On April 28, the Tennessee House and Senate passed legislation that gives Tennessee control over what books are offered in schools. This gives school boards the power to veto and alter curriculum decisions.
That was from USA Today about when libraries were fighting back against the school board banning books they didn't like.

Think about how much time they took to review the books they didn't want anyone else to read. Now think about how much time they didn't use to protect kids in schools from being shot to death!

It happened again today in Nashville Tennessee. This time it was an elementary school. Not just a school for little kids, but a private Christian school. The same people use their "moral values" to attack personal choices and then say the problem in schools today is God was kicked out of public schools can no longer use that as something to hide behind.

The fact that we are supposed to be free from any politician pushing their own faith over everyone else has no longer dawned on them they not only have no right to control the faith of anyone else, but God also gave all of us the free will to decide for ourselves.

When they are so afraid of words in books but not bullets in guns, they have no moral values!


Now consider this, Gun bill that allows for long gun carrying, lowers permit age to 18 passes House committee was reported on March 16, 2023 by WKRN News!
This week House Bill 1005 by Rep. Rusty Grills (R—Newbern) would allow Tennesseans with an enhanced or a concealed carry permit to carry long guns, including AR-15 rifles or shotguns. Currently, state law prohibits people with those permits from carrying anything more than handguns. The proposed bill would replace all instances of “handguns” in the code to “firearms.”

6 killed in Nashville Christian grade school shooting; police believe suspect was former student

WCBV
NASHVILLE, Tenn. —
A female shooter wielding two “assault-style” rifles and a pistol killed three students and three adults at a private Christian school in Nashville on Monday in the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country growing increasingly unnerved by bloodshed in schools.

Police said they believe the 28-year-old female shooter was a former student at The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school founded in 2001. Police shot and killed her. Investigators were searching her Nashville-area home.

The attack at The Covenant School — which has about 200 students from preschool through sixth grade, as well as roughly 50 staff members — comes as communities around the nation are reeling from a spate of school violence, including the massacre at elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year; a first grader who shot his teacher in Virginia; and a shooting last week in Denver that wounded two administrators.
read more here

Sunday, July 24, 2022

PTSD: children have been living in the shadows of gun violence

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 24, 2022

Before you read this, I have to ask a question. Why is it that when people have any type of illness, they have no problem seeking help to recover, but when they have a mental illness, they do? What will it take for you, or anyone else to figure that one out?
John Woodrow Cox author of Children Under Fire was interviewed by NPR after the Uvalde school massacre. The title of the article was about as powerful as it can be.

The trauma of gun violence affects all children, not just the ones who were there

Tuesday was a hard day. You know, it - I felt nauseated. I really did in those early minutes. I think for me, the weight of everything that I've written about, all the stories that I've done, the kids I've interviewed through all these years comes back. And time after time after time, you realize that the scope of this epidemic is so much broader than we think because we do only think of the children who die, the children who are maimed. But the reality is that there are hundreds of thousands, even millions of children who are directly impacted by gun violence in this country. And their lives are fundamentally changed because of it.
He also talked about Columbine.
And, you know, I know survivors from Columbine who are still - in their 40s - and they're still dealing with enormous amounts of trauma and PTSD. And again, none of these people were physically harmed. So we just have not grasped how far this extends in this country.

It is highly recommended that you read the rest of this article, along with the book if you want to understand exactly what it is we need to be paying more attention to.

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer has done a lot of interviews and that is what makes what she said all the more powerful because most people are not aware of this.
Well, you're making me realize, I mean, it's certainly devastating for adults even to read or hear about it. But when you're a child and this happens, you're at a more formative stage of life.

The other thing is, that Cox is no stranger to reporting on events that we know cause PTSD. He is a reporter with the Washington Post. Cox has received numerous awards including, "He was also part of the team of Post journalists awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for public service for coverage of the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol."

And back to the NPR interview, another thing too many people are not aware of.

PFEIFFER: John, at the Washington Post, where you work, there's a database you've created that tracks gun violence. And I believe the current tally is that since the shooting at Columbine in 1999, more than 300,000 students have experienced school shootings at school during the school day. That gives us a sense of how exponential the impact is because those 300,000 may have siblings, family, parents, and all of those people are affected.
and then there is this,
PFEIFFER: We often hear people say children are resilient; they will ultimately be OK. Is that your experience?

COX: You know, that is a phrase that I've come to despise, that children are resilient, because I think it's a way for adults to be dismissive of what children have gone through. And it's also because children have a hard time articulating their struggle. If a kid is suddenly having outbursts, they can't link that to the fact that they just survived a school shooting. They struggle to say, here's why I'm feeling what I'm feeling. "" What I like to say is that children can be resilient, but it is incumbent on the adults in their lives to make that possible - to provide therapy, to provide help, to provide support, to be patient. Because it can take children years to work through events like these.
Now you have a better idea of how children have been living in the shadows of gun violence. Thanks to reporters like John Woodrow Cox, people will begin to look where trauma lives on long after reporters walk away from the story.

I came across this story doing research for part three of The Lost Son Alive Again Series part three because Chris decided to focus on gun violence in his new book. It was the one cause of trauma he didn't spend time on because no one he knew had it caused by that. 

None of them talked about gun violence. Bill, David, and all the other veterans in his life didn't talk about it, even though all of them faced gun battles in wars. After Chris was shot, that began to haunt Grace because while she thought she had put the Pulse Nightclub shooting behind her, there was something else she didn't confront about her past.

Trauma hits survivors of every age and the thing is if we fail to help kids heal early on they carry it on their backs for the rest of their lives.

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Heroic teen at Colorado school had already joined Marine Corps

Colorado STEM school student Brendan Bialy helped disarm gunman


NBC News
By Patrick Smith and Hayley Walker
May 8, 2019

A high school senior who plans to become a Marine after graduation was among the students who tackled a gunman in a Colorado school on Tuesday.

Brendan Bialy attends the STEM School Highlands Ranch, which is not far from the site of the Columbine High School shooting 20 years ago.


Brendan Bialy, who is enrolled in the Marine Corps Delayed Entry Program, helped subdue a shooter at the STEM School in Colorado.
Bialy's father, Brad, confirmed to NBC News that the teenager and other classmates tackled and disarmed one of the two shooters.
read more here

UPDATE: And the hero who did not survive

"This wasn't your average kid. He was extraordinary": Dad of school shooting hero remembers his son 
CBS News
MAY 9, 2019 

John and Maria Castillo are still trying to process the fact that their son, Kendrick, is gone.
"I'm sad, I'm mad. I have all these emotions. I feel like my life is blank as of yesterday," said John, speaking with reporters from the family home in Denver. CBS Denver was there
read more of his story here

Monday, October 21, 2013

Sparks Middle School heroic teacher killed was veteran and Dad

UPDATE From NBC
Teacher killed in Nevada middle school shooting ID'd; shooter dead
NBC News
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer

A student apparently opened fire at a Nevada middle school Monday, killing a teacher and wounding two boys, authorities said. The shooter was left dead.

A hospital said that the two boys arrived in critical condition. One was later upgraded to fair. The slain teacher was identified as Michael Landsberry, a former Marine and a member of the Nevada Air National Guard.

Landsberry’s brother, Reggie, told NBC News that the 8th-grade math teacher is survived by his wife, Sharon, and two of her children from a previous relationship.

Authorities suggested that Landsberry tried to shield students from the gunman, but stressed they were still investigating.
read more here
2 dead, 2 boys hurt in Nevada school shooting
By Scott Sonner of Associated Press

Michael Landsberry, a military veteran, has been identified as the staff member who was killed while trying to stop a shooter at Sparks Middle School.

SPARKS, Nev. — A student at a Nevada middle school opened fire on campus just before the starting bell Monday, wounding two boys and killing a teacher who was trying to protect other children, Sparks police and the victim's family said.

Twenty to thirty students witnessed the tragedy at Sparks Middle School that also left the lone suspected gunman dead, police said.

It's unclear whether the student committed suicide, but authorities say no shots were fired by law enforcement. Police said between 150 and 200 officers, including some from as far as 60 miles away, responded to the shooting.

"In my estimation, he is a hero. ... We do know he was trying to intervene," Reno Deputy Police Chief Tom Robinson said of the teacher who was killed.
read more here

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Price Middle School Shooting

It will be interesting to read about what type of weapon he used. If it was not a high capacity assault weapon, then it will prove the point that people do stand a chance to stop a gunman with equal weapon.

UPDATE February 1, 2013
Price Middle School Shooting: Wounded Student Recovering After Fellow Teen Opened Fire
By KATE BRUMBACK
01/31/13

ATLANTA — A student opened fire at his middle school Thursday afternoon, wounding a 14-year-old in the neck before an armed officer working at the school was able to get the gun away, police said.

Multiple shots were fired in the courtyard of Price Middle School just south of downtown about 1:50 p.m. and the one boy was hit, Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said. In the aftermath, a teacher received minor cuts, he said.

The wounded boy was taken "alert, conscious and breathing" to Grady Memorial Hospital, said police spokesman Carlos Campos. Grady Heath System Spokeswoman Denise Simpson said the teen had been discharged from the hospital Thursday night. Campos said charges against the shooter were pending.

Police swarmed the school of about 400 students after reports of the shooting while a crowd of anxious parents gathered in the streets, awaiting word on their children. Students were kept at the locked-down school for more than two hours before being dismissed.

"The obvious question is how did this get past a metal detector?" Davis asked about the gun. "That's something we do not know yet."

The armed resource officer who took the gun away was off-duty and at the school, but police didn't release details on him or whether he is regularly at Price. Since 20 children and six adults were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December, calls for armed officers in every school have resonated across the country.
click links for the rest
Original report

Price Middle School Shooting: Multiple Injuries In Attack At Southeast Atlanta School
Huffington Post
Posted: 01/31/2013

Police responded to a shooting at Price Middle School in Atlanta early Thursday afternoon, WSBTV reports.

Authorities say that multiple people, including a 14-year-old boy, were wounded, according to Fox News.

Police said the teen was shot in the back of the neck and immediately transported to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment, 11Alive reports. The boy was reportedly awake and responsive while being transported to the hospital, and the injuries are non-life threatening.
read more here

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Newtown's Police Officers Are Already Showing Signs of PTSD

Newtown's Police Officers Are Already Showing Signs of PTSD
Slate.com
By Josh Voorhees
Jan. 29, 2013

The New York Times has a rather haunting piece in today's paper based on interviews with seven Newtown police officers who were among the first responders to last month's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. The account they provide, as the Times rightly puts it, is "filled with ghastly moments and details, and a few faint instances of hope."

The report also highlights a secondary issue at play, one that is easy to lose sight of during the heated debate over gun control and safety that is now going on across the nation: Namely, the absolute hell that Newtown's police officers, many of them parents themselves, went through, and very well may continue to go through for the rest of their lives after seeing what they did on Dec. 14.

"One look, and your life was absolutely changed," Michael McGowan, one of the first officers to arrive at the school, told the paper. Another recounted how, two weeks later, he began to sob uncontrollably after driving by a roadside memorial. "I just lost it right there, I couldn't even drive," Jason Frank said. "Words can’t describe how horrible it was," said a third officer, Joe Joudy, one of the detectives who was tasked with the unenviable job of spending nearly a week collecting and inventorying every piece of evidence from the crime scene.
read more here

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Father of slain 6 year old Sandy Hook student heckled by gun activists

Neil Heslin, Father Of Newtown Victim, Heckled By Pro-Gun Activists
(VIDEO, PHOTOS)
Huffington Post
Posted: 01/29/2013

Neil Heslin, the father of a 6-year-old boy who was slain in the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, stoically faced down pro-gun activists last night.

More than 1,000 people attended a hearing before the Gun Violence Prevention Working Group at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Monday to share their views on gun control, USA Today reported. Among them was Heslin, who held a large framed picture of himself and his son Jesse as he urged officials to consider strengthening gun laws in Connecticut.

But as he gave his emotional testimony, pleading with lawmakers to improve mental health options and to ban assault weapons like the one Adam Lanza used to murder his child and 25 other people, his speech was interrupted by dozens of audience members, The Connecticut Post reported.

“I still can't see why any civilian, anybody in this room in fact, needs weapons of that sort. You're not going to use them for hunting, even for home protection," Heslin said.

Pro-gun activists responded by calling out: "Second Amendment!"
read more here

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Texas college on lockdown after several people shot

Update January 23, 2013
Suspect In Lone Star College Shooting, Charged With Aggravated Assault

UPDATE from CNN
3 wounded in Houston college shooting; two people detained
Lone Star College System campus near Houston, has gone into a lockdown
By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press
HOUSTON January 22, 2013 (AP)
Authorities in Texas say three people have been wounded in a shooting at a Houston-area community college.

Harris County Sheriff's Maj. Armando Tello says three people had been wounded and a person of interest has been detained.
read more here

Friday, January 11, 2013

Newtown's police officers may get PTSD coverage

Workers' Comp, Paid Leave on the Table for Newtown's Officers
Newtown's board of police commissioners and union representatives have asked for changes in state laws to allow benefits and much-need time off.
By Davis Dunavin

Newtown's police officers are seeking compromises and legislation that would provide them with the support they need due to their service during and after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.

This includes leaves of absence that would allow at least six months off with at least two-thirds of their pay, according to the Hartford Courant, which reports that the town and the police union are in negotiations to make the change. In the existing system in place in the town of Newtown, police would only get ten days of sick leave before having to use vacation days to continue receiving pay.

Then there's the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

"Currently town insurance does not recognize PTSD as a reason to go out on disability," said union president and Newtown police officer Scott Ruszczyk at a Tuesday Board of Police Commissioners meeting. "I want to thank the people working to get that changed."

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a condition stemming from exposure to traumatic events; symptoms can include intrusive memories or feeling "numb." 13 police officers have been affected, and at least six were among the responders at Sandy Hook Elementary School, according to the Courant.
read more here

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Shooting at Taft California high school

UPDATE from CNN
04:46 PM ET
Police: Teen shot 1 student, missed another in California high school
One student, 16, fired at two students with 12-gauge shotgun, critically wounding one and missing the other at Taft (California) Union High School on Thursday morning, police say
Police: Suspect put gun down after teacher and someone else talked to him; wounded student airlifted to hospital
Below are the latest updates as they come to us. Also, you can read our full story.

Report: 2 shot at Calif. high school; shooter detained
USA Today
1p.m. EST January 10, 2013

KERO-TV says a shooter has been taken into custody as deputies go room-by-room

At least two people have been shot Thursday at a high school in Taft, CAlif., KERO-TV reports.

The condition of the victims was not immediately clear.

The shooter was taken into custody at Taft High School around 9 am. local time, says KERO, which reports that it got a tip on the shooting from people hiding in closets inside the school.
read more here

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Newtown asks for donations to be made to needy in victims' names

This town has shown so much compassion for each other and for others that the rest of this country has learned by their example. Good does triumph over evil.

Newtown overwhelmed by gifts, asks for temporary halt of donations
CNN
December 27th, 2012

An outpouring of support and gifts for Newtown, Connecticut, in the wake of a mass shooting has forced the town to ask for a temporary halt in donations.

"Our hearts are warmed by the outpouring of love and support from all corners of our country and world," Newtown First Selectman Patricia Llodra said. "We are struggling now to manage the overwhelming volume of gifts and ask that sympathy and kindness to our community be expressed by donating such items to needy children and families in other communities in the name of those killed in Sandy Hook Elementary on December 14.
read more here


So how much did the NRA donate?

Fox Reporter: NRA New Membership And Donations Have ‘Surged’ Since Newtown Massacre

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Newtown first responders may not get enough time to heal

After Newtown Shootings, Push On To Expand Workers' Compensation For First-Responders December 21, 2012
By DAVE ALTIMARI and JON LENDER
The Hartford Courant

In light of the Newtown school massacre, a state lawmaker said Friday that he will propose legislation to expand the circumstances in which emergency responders can receive workers' compensation.

"This is something that I've already discussed," said Rep. Stephen D. Dargan, D-West Haven, the co-chairman of the legislature's public safety committee. "I'm sure right after the holiday that this is going to be one of the bills that I am going to issue" for consideration in the session that starts Jan. 9.

The idea of expanding the workers' compensation law has been discussed before, with a big concern being the potential cost, Dargan said. "But if you limit the scope of it" to the sort of dire circumstances encountered by police at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Dargan said it might be possible.

For several years, state law has provided workers' compensation benefits to pay for counseling for police officers who are mentally or emotionally impaired by "use of deadly force or subjection to deadly force in the line of duty." Earlier this year, legislators added a similar provision for firefighters who witness the death of another firefighter on duty.
read more here

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas is a lesson in forgiving too

Christmas is a lesson in forgiving too
by Chaplain Kathie
Pointman of Winter Park
December 25, 2012

"Tragedy the tragic element of drama, of literature generally, or of life." Greeks know a few things about tragedy as well as trauma. They use "trauma" to explain wounds. There is trauma a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury, but there are also two more that should be discussed when trying to explain what PTSD is.

an emotional upset "not living up to his own expectations"

an agent, force, or mechanism that causes trauma


In churches around the world the story of Christ's birth was retold but there was a part that is usually left out of the sermons.

Matthew 2:16-18
New International Version (NIV)
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”


Is it because there has been no proof that what Matthew wrote actually happened? No, because if that had been the case then much of what is preached would be left out as well. The reason it is left out is hope always triumphs over the evil that men do.

In October of 2007 when news came out a year following the children murdered in a tiny school house that Amish Forgive School Shooter, Struggle with Grief it was very hard to understand how that was possible after 10 girls were shot and 5 of them died but the families forgave the shooter and tried to comfort the family he left behind.

11 days ago more children were killed by a gunman in school called Sandy Hook. 20 of them died along with 6 of their teachers. The day after the shooting one of the girl's parents forgave the shooter.
Father of "Emilie Parker", Sandy Hook massacre victim, offers forgiveness to shooter's family

Love has more strength than hate. One man decided to kill but families decided to think of others while grieving. One man decided that others must suffer for his own pain but people around the world decided they would show love to people they would never meet and grieve with them for the loss they felt.

Newtown faces its first Christmas since Sandy Hook school shooting
Hundreds attend Christmas Eve services in Newtown, Conn. as visitors and volunteers arrived from out-of-town to support a community in mourning.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2012,

NEWTOWN, Conn. — Newtown observed Christmas amid snow-covered teddy bears, stockings, flowers and candles left in memorial to the 20 children and six educators gunned down at an elementary school just 11 days before the holiday.

The outpouring of support for this community continued through Christmas Eve, with visitors arriving at town hall with offerings of cards, handmade snowflakes and sympathy.

"We know that they'll feel loved. They'll feel that somebody actually cares," said Treyvon Smalls, a 15-year-old from a few towns away who arrived bearing hundreds of cards and paper snowflakes collected from around the state. And on Christmas Day, out-of-town police officers were on duty to give police here a break.


JULIO CORTEZ/AP
Christmas stockings with the names of shooting victims hang from railing near a makeshift memorial near the town Christmas tree in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn.
Out of the traumatic tragedies love will prevail as it always has and we learned much from those willing to forgive. Christ asked for God to forgive the hands that nailed Him to the cross as much as He asked for those who abandoned Him to be forgiven. Most of us wonder how people are able to do that. How do you forgive someone that did so much evil on the earth especially to innocent victims? To look at those who do forgive is a lesson we can all learn from. With so much grace within them, maybe, just maybe, we can find grace within ourselves to forgive others for what they did to us and forgive ourselves in the process.

Trauma is not something we are born with. It is something that happens to us that we had no control over. We are wounded but we can heal. We feel pain but we can overcome it.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Ammunition easier to get than guns

Everyone seems to be focusing on assault weapons but no one seems interested in the fact the weapon isn't doing the killing by itself. They all need bullets. There are guns owned legally and some are illegal but the bullets are a lot easier for everyone to get their hands on. How about we start to include bullets in the debate?

Why not require a license to buy bullets and that way illegal gun owners can't get bullets as easy as they do now. If they are involved in some kind of sport where they use an assault weapon, give them a special license to buy the bullets for them.

To Purchase Ammunition Online
Federal law requires that you must be at least 18 years old to purchase shotgun ammunition and 21 years or older to purchase handgun and rifle ammunition.

You do not need an FFL to purchase ammunition online.
All ammunition will be shipped UPS ground.
We can ship ammunition to your door via UPS.
When you are checking out, you must select UPS Ground if you are purchasing ammunition.
Ammunition cannot be shipped air freight, due to shipping regulations.
Ammunition and firearms must be purchased separately.
For safety reasons, we do not accept returns on ammunition.
Always make sure you use the correct ammunition for your specific firearm.
Check your local laws for any other regulations before ordering.


NRA Press Conference: Wayne LaPierre Calls For Armed Police Officers At Every School
Posted: 12/21/2012
By PHILIP ELLIOTT
The ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- The nation's largest gun-rights lobby is calling for armed police officers to be posted in every American school to stop the next killer "waiting in the wings."

The National Rifle Association broke its silence Friday on last week's shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school that left 26 children and staff dead.

The group's top lobbyist, Wayne LaPierre, said at a Washington news conference that "the next Adam Lanza," the man responsible for last week's mayhem, is planning an attack on another school.

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," LaPierre said.

He blamed video games, movies and music videos for exposing children to a violent culture day in and day out.

"In a race to the bottom, many conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate, and offend every standard of civilized society, by bringing an even more toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty right into our homes," LaPierre said.
read more here

Week after Sandy Hook mass murder, NRA says "more guns" is answer

NRA to talk about Sandy Hook as mourning continues
By CNN Staff
updated 10:45 AM EST, Fri December 21, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre will speak at a news conference at 10:45 a.m.
NEW: Across the nation Friday morning, church bells rang in remembrance of the victims
The Obama administration has started debate on gun control
More funerals of the victims will take place Friday

(CNN) -- The National Rifle Association, the powerful gun rights group that has kept largely quiet since last week's deadly school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, will break its silence Friday.

NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre will speak at a news conference at 10:45 a.m. After the shooting, a debate over gun control has surged from the public and in Washington. The NRA, an important voice that has been missing thus far, will join the conversation.

On Tuesday, the group released its only statement on the shooting, saying in part that "the NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."
read more here

He blamed the media, video games, the President and then called for more people to be armed. This is why regular, responsible gun owners need to protest the NRA. They are making all gun owners look like unfeeling jerks. This is just a week after the Sandy Hook mass murder with children still being buried!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Accused Marine Faker "deeply sorry"

Accused Marine faker ‘deeply sorry’
Army Times
By Dan Lamothe
Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Dec 20, 2012

A Marine veteran who made national news for standing guard outside a California school in uniform was accused Thursday of faking his military service, but denied he did so.

Craig Pusley appeared outside Hughson Elementary School in Modesto, Calif., on Wednesday in a desert camouflage uniform to help children feel safe following the massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., he said. He added that he was inspired in part by another Marine veteran, Staff Sgt. Jordan Pritchard, who made headlines for similar actions at Gower Elementary School in Nashville, Tenn.

Media coverage of Pusley’s actions reported that he is 28 years old and got out of the Corps as a sergeant after deploying twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. In reality, Pusley graduated from boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, but was in the service less than a year and never made it past private first class, Marine officials said. He never deployed or made it through military occupational specialty school, leaving the Corps designated a “basic Marine,” MOS 8000.
read more here

Marine Dad stands watch over Nashville Elementary School