CONNECTICUT MASSACRE

[karl]

Another deeply upsetting incident that seems to happen with alarming regularity.

I always wonder if the person concerned is downright evil, on drugs or mentally unstable.
How can anyone shoot a little child? It's beyond my comprehension. If they must shoot someone why don't them shoot themselves first instead of last and leave the innocents alone?

They are now calling for stricter gun laws in America but a very similar thing happened in Dunblane, Scotland seveal years ago when a gunman ran amok in a school killing teachers and pupils. Guns are not common in the UK. At that time I remember Brother Joe in our church telling me a resident in Dunblane had told himit was a nice little place, nothing much ever happens and a similar thing was said about this town.

May they all rest in peace.

[Marian]

A sensible take on the tragedy of yesterday by Morgan Freeman.
Our media is also to blame.



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."



RIP :'(

Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hochsprung, 47
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto,27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6

[karl]

But if we turn off the news Mr. Freeman how do we know what's going on in the world?

Everybody has their opinions and that is his.

I don't care to remember the shootists name and I don't begin to say I know the victims names but I mourn for the loss of all the victims of this monster.

Will Morgan Freeman remember all their names in the months to come?. It isn't that we don't care but we can't be expected to remember all the details when we also have things happening in our own lives.

To put another angle on it, will people remember him as the actor who criticised the media over this event?

[Eman]

I was at work when I heard the news and was rather sickened by this senseless tragedy. I felt a knot in my stomache and shed a tear when I thought about all those scared kids and those who passed.

[karl]

I just emailed the friend who was with me in Orlando as she lives at that end of Connecticut, her work is very close to the school area. She told me all the staff were watching it on the tv screens and shedding tears, also the atmosphere in the malls for Christmas shopping is very subdued as it's knocked the heart out of everyone.

To happen at anytime would be tragic but days before Christmas is even worse. How can you be such a wicked B*****d at 20 years of age?

I also read President Obama shed tears, I'm not surprised at least the man is human and shows compassion.

[john]

Terrible. It makes you sick to the stomach. All those poor little children, and the adults. May they all rest in peace.

[karl]

Yes it does John, I totally agree with you. The parents will never be the same again, makes you glad you never had any children for them to end up that way.

[keithgood838]

ESCALATION

One Larry Pratt (appropriately) executive director
of Gun Owners of America declared that if the teachers
had been armed it would have ameliorated the situation.
Sometimes I despair for that maddeningly marvellous
but misguided American nation.

[ROBERT M.]

[hpooch]

The Gun Control Laws in the U.S. are lacking in enforcement.....How are the Gun Laws in the U.K.?

[mariana44]

I would imagine that it is more difficult to get guns in uk, although I do not know---and we have had a few instances of similar occurrences--at Dunblane school, and another couple at least involving adults being killed--just cannot remember where at the moment-was one of the places Huntingdon, and last year somewhere in Cumbria ?

Farmers need them, so they are available.

[cyp21]

Yes its tragic!

Why dont the gun clubs keep guns instead of the members? Apparently my dad informs me that the guman was autistic and his mother had a few guns and was crackpot this sounds like it was waiting to happen.

This will now be a big thing after the recent Batman shootings so what happens now with Americas gun laws?

[keithgood838]

MACHINE GUN MADNESS

So long as mentally disturbed persons
are allowed to buy assault weapons
over the counter (they fire 100 rounds
per minute for pity's sake) Newtown-type
tragedies will continue to occur.

[Angela51]

R.I.P

TO ALL THOSE INNOCENT VICTIMS