Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre - Why we need to know the victims?

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My personal bias is focused on the civil, the victims, and the heroes at Sandy Hook Elementary. I want to know about the victims, promote the victims, and keep the victims getting all the attention.

By James Kraemer - (Updated)

 Reports are now beginning to contradict earlier reports concerning a mass murderer that attacked children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Adam Lanza has been a weird kid since we were five years old," said Tim Dalton, a neighbor and former classmate, on Twitter. "As horrible as this was, I can't say I am surprised."

A family insider said, "This was a deeply disturbed kid. He certainly had major issues. He was subject to outbursts from what I recall." ~ World News: The Telegraph - uk

Although my focus is on the innocent children and staff that were harmed by a 20-year-old sick mass murderer, I’m aware some are looking for answers, want to know why this man did what he did?

He was originally reported as the quiet sort, nice, smart, genius, a loaner, extremely shy, not a problem really. While holding tight his briefcase he would bring it with him to school, avoiding students, shying away from staff and others. 

Opinions now are beginning to present him as a "weird" kid, a "traumatized" kid, opinions presenting a divorce in his family hurt him, a shattered family dynamic, a "disturbed" young man that "battled" with school staff, and a man with easy access to his mother's guns.

Law enforcement says they have all sorts of evidence leading to a possible motive, but have not released that evidence at this point. Much about a possible motive remains missing, too much detail is missing to trust the initial reports. 

All this focus on the mass murderer sensationalizes what he did and temps copycats to want the same attention and notoriety that a dead man is getting. Soon after the Oregon Mall incident, a new incident at a Fred Meyer store happened in the same part of the state.

In November, a Cleveland, Ohio woman put children at risk every day that she drove on a sidewalk past the front doors of a day care center to avoid stopping for a school bus. The woman was ordered by a Cleveland Municipal Court judge to stand near the bus stop with a sign that read: "Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus."

The press sensationalized that woman nationwide. It concerned me that sensationalizing that woman's malbehavior might trigger others to do the same thing. Within a short time a second Cleveland area motorist was cited for driving on a sidewalk to go around a stopped school bus. ~ FOX 8 Report

A first event may be a fluke, but when sensationalized by the press a first event can become a trigger for a copycat event, and an escalation from there to other attention getting events.

Already police have arrested a Cedar Lake, (Ind.) man with 47 guns in his home allegedly threatened to set his wife on fire before saying he would 'kill as many people as he could' at a nearby elementary school.

Most of us would like a little positive attention in the press, leave our mark, that sort of thing. We all have stories to tell, struggles that we have had to deal with and prevailed. We did not grab a gun, go on a rampage killing others, and for that reason often receive less acknowledgment than that of a minor car crash.

Years ago when I drove school bus it caught fire. I evacuated the kids, went around the bus and shut off the electrical  master switch, ending the fire and saving the bus. Did the public hear about this event until now? The reality is that the event is not newsworthy unless the bus burns to the ground.

We are presumed the normal, and that hardly ever is newsworthy.

The mainstream press is again presenting a mass murderer as a victim, presenting 27 victims at the school, when 26 are the victims - and one, a sick, dead 20-year-old mass murderer is the assailant, presented by some in the mainstream press as a boy. That so-called boy first killed his mother at home before escalating.

The focus on the deceased innocent and on the heroes would just as effectively make the media some money, as well as keep the focus where it belongs – on the victims, the heroes, and their life works.

I think the less attention to these mass murderers, omitting their name, except perhaps a brief mention when dead, or brief unflattering mention wherever the name is used, might help provide an effective deterrent to other sick people attempting to grab some attention in such a horrific manner.

My best guess is that most of us would not agree that dead or alive mass murderers ought to be fed to dogs, or hung in the public square. I can agree that a somber and quiet cremation by fire is a fitting end for the corpse of a mass murderer. And mentioning the name of that mass murderer at that time might help present a deterrent to potential copycats.

My personal bias is focused on the victims. I want to know about the victims, promote the victims, keep the victims getting all the attention. Regardless, the search for a remedy to help stop these acts does need some attention.

Nowhere is a reflection of failure toward children greater than in our public schools and on our nation's school buses.

Remember Columbine? Police standing around outside the building, disorganized, confused, and not able to decide what to do next without an authorization from an administrator to direct them.

Unlike Columbine, police arrived quickly on the scene at Sandy Hook, and proceeded immediately in to the building pursuing the assailant - not with education brochures, but with guns. That action may have saved an uncountable number of lives. Apparently the mass murderer had plenty of ammo and other devices to keep right on killing had something not interrupted his sick rampage.

Reactions designed to sensationalize and aggravate emotion from the public to support some special interest agenda also go on the rampage after events like at Sandy Hook Elementary. These promotions present two special interest extremes, useful because they often provide the needed boundaries when considering a practical remedy that might fit the needs of our society. What we do not want to do is establish a remedy by use of either one of these extremes.

Shooting out our mouth at an assailant is not very effective when the assailant is shooting at us with a gun. In a water cooler article, the author wrote, [Certain] "Drugs are completely illegal and yet they are everywhere. Laws only affect law abiding citizens and people in their right mind."  

Regardless, I do not care much for turning our schools in to military like compounds, and see no point to changing our environment toward less freedom because of some freaks of nature that was not intervened in when young and when red flags were too often abundant.

Sensationalized stories and extreme remedies will continue to flood us from the media, all sorts of experts with their take on what happened, how it happened, and how to prevent it in the future.  Keep in mind that what you read or hear from the press and special interests may not be reliable, especially early after an event like the one presented here.

Beware of politicians that offer a 'one-size-fits-all' remedy, and keep close rains on school board mentalities that look for the same sort of policy to cover this issue. Too often 'one-size-fits all' can do more harm than good.

I would go for a small secure armory in schools and where trained staff could have quick access if needed. And perhaps a single weapon in a lock box at other areas where decided might be useful. 

These remedies may not stop every assailant immediately, but can certainly help interrupt the mass carnage these sick individuals can cause.

Where response weaponry is available to the civil when needed, the civil can quickly stop an assailant.

There is no easy answer here, no simple 'one-size-fits all' remedy. Extreme shyness is a not a typical shooter’s style, odd his condition if presented accurately would allowed him to act out a mass murder anywhere. Something is missing.

So rare this event from a person with Autism it would appear uncertain a remedy is available that our society could tolerate.

It seems ridiculous to blame the NRA, any other organization, or the civil gun owners for the failure of lawmakers to enact controls on advanced weaponry. There seems no dispute concerning laws prohibiting private ownership of huge fireworks, military missiles and nukes, so what happened with advanced assault weapons?

Assault weapons were banned in this country but for ten years. Rather than correct some serious loopholes that protection was allowed to expire.  Look to the lawmakers to blame for that, not the civil that behave responsibly with ownership of conventional guns and hunting rifles.

When sick in any country the mentally dysfunctional, especially those on drugs will use whatever is available - bombs, guns, knives, teeth, their bare hands, whatever can meet their skill set.

In 2010, China was hit by a spate of knife and cleaver attacks that targeted school children. A number of measures were introduced at the time, including increased security at schools across the country and a regulation requiring people to register with their national ID cards when buying large knives. ~ CNN

Assault weapons might be used to protect and defend, a few seem to be a collector's item, and they are used illegally on the streets to commit murder. Advanced assault weapons are nearly as readily available for purchase on the street to illegal owners as are illegal drugs.

I can agree with those that do not trust politicians, lobbyists, or special self-interests on either side of this issue. Regardless, I think the best argument to support gun control is when compared to another dangerous weapon, the automobile. An automobile can be stolen or otherwise driven illegally, yet we somehow accept that registration helps in a lot of ways, and if you want to drive some unusual vehicle, you would first have to get a permit for that.

Since we do not hunt squirrels and deer with an advanced high-power assault weapon, it may make sense that some sort of control for these sorts of weapons is a practical remedy. Problem is, politicians screw up a good idea, where not intentionally than unintentionally. Would want the residents of each state to vote on their assault weapons controls, in order to minimize the effect lobbyists and special self-interests can have on politicians at the federal level.

The feds sidestepping the states, and short cut law making routines in the courts by special interests is a dangerous path. Let the states enact assault weapons legislation, and let the people answer 'yes' or 'no' at the polls, then eventually a federal law promoted by the states.

The assault weapons issue is not connected to a 2nd Amendment Right. We do not allow private ownership of nukes in our country. Huge fireworks, military rocket launchers, and the like are all banned.

I can agree that one of the most effective remedies in most cases are kids networking any threat potential to adults they can trust. Then the adults involved to follow-through. Getting violence under control when it is small, and the perpetrators are young is a much better deterrent than tampering with the constitution.

Denial rules in all too many cases. Would suspect at some point that adults in denial played a role in that shooter’s success. Intervening in denial, developing a standard of some sort for actual red flags, targeting and containing minor violence before escalating to bigger violence, these things may help do more good than harm.



Washington Post

•  Remembering The Victims -The Washington Post will continue to add the names and stories of the victims as they gather more information.
• Who Are They? - Stories About The Victims Of Friday's Shootings.
• In Loving Memory Of Sandy Hook Elementary Victims - In loving memory of those who lost their lives in this senseless shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, 14.December 2012.
• The Gun Lobby and the Killing of Children - Yesterday Colorado, today Connecticut, tomorrow where? The National Rifle Association (NRA) and its horde of gun nuts continually crow that it's not guns that kill people but people who kill people.
• Sandy Hook shooting to bring meaningful change? - Do you think the Sandy Hook school shooting will result in any meaningful change, either in gun control laws or mental health care policy?
• Celebrate the heroes, not the shooter - There is compelling evidence that the way we cover mass shootings, especially in America, gives too much attention to the shooter, in effect turning him into a celebrity and creating a perverse incentive for other social outcasts to seek the spotlight through carnage.
• “I am Adam Lanza’s Mother” - Although not actually Adam Lanza’s Mother the blog post galvanizes public discussion of mental health issues. 
•  Where was God? - Mike Huckabee is the former Governor of Arkansas, 2008 presidential candidate, a NY Times best-selling author, radio and television show host.
• Texas school district encourages armed teachers for protection - "These people that go in and do these horrible acts, they're evil. But they're not that crazy -- they always know where they are going to get resistance," Thweatt said.
• America's deadliest school violence? - In 1927, a single man's outbreak of violence in a small Michigan town took the lives of 45 people, including 38 children. The Bath School Disaster became the nation's deadliest killing spree at a school, and it still holds that distinction today.
• Why Cities Will Unavoidably Become Lawless Within a Week or Two of a Level 2/3 Event - Do you think what is happening in our nation's schools recently is horrific? This odd article details what could happen after a national disaster and when ethics/morals are replaced with a need to eat.
• U.S. Postal Service dedicates post office box - so people can send condolence letters to Newtown, Conn.  You can send condolences to Newtown using P-O Box 3700, Newtown, Connecticut 06470.
• Some area schools plan to continue police presence in wake of Sandy Hook - “We got an extreme (amount) of positive feedback from everybody,” Milardo said. But it was the actions of one small child that had the greatest impact on the veteran officer.
• More Guns = More Killing - Despite the ubiquitous presence of “good guys” with guns, countries like Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia and Venezuela have some of the highest homicide rates in the world. Note: Before getting too excited from the story, More Guns = More Killing, please keep in mind the mentioned countries are involved in drug and political wars with well armed drug leaders cartels. Colombia is the world's leading cocaine exporter. Venezuela does not produce drug crops, but is accused of not adequately fighting the flow of Colombian cocaine through its territory. The White House said El Salvador's geographic location makes it vulnerable to drug trafficking — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras form the so-called "northern triangle" where "national gangs are forming alliances with international criminal syndicates." Not much of a comparison to U.S. issues except somewhat in Chicago and perhaps in Miami - the same issue: Illegal Drugs and Illegal Guns.