The death toll? 26 Dead
Out of those 26 deaths are 20 children as young as 5 years old and as old as 10.
The shooter? 20 year old Adam Lanza
He killed 20 children and 6 adults including the Principal and himself. He was said to have a personality disorder and was possibly Autistic.
In his vehicle they found 2 Pistols and a rifle, and that's not including the weapons he had inside the school with him.
To me this is an unbelievably tragic event. According to CNN:
"Police say Lanza killed his mother, Nancy, at her Newtown home before going to the school, where he primarily targeted two classrooms."
"With the death toll at 26, the massacre in Newtown is the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, behind the 2007 Virginia Tech mass shooting that left 32 dead"
"Three weapons were recovered from the school on Friday: a semi-automatic .223 caliber rifle made by Bushmaster was found in a car in the school parking lot, and two pistols made by Glock and Sig Sauer were found with suspected gunman Lanza's body, a law enforcement source said previously."
"The weapons were legally purchased by Lanza's mother, said the official, who was not authorized to release details of the case to the media."
CNN also reported that its believed that Lanza killed his mother in her home before he went to the school.
In my mind I cant believe there are people out there who would target children. What kind of person are you to point your gun at an innocent child and pull the trigger? But he didnt kill just one child, he killed 20!! This event is sending the discussion of gun laws through the roof. "we need stricter gun laws". So that what? the people who are mentally unstable put a little more effort into getting one? making it harder to trace the guns they illegally possess?
Others are going ape shit on mental health care. "maybe if he had the access to proper treatment" or "if it was as easy for mental health care patients to receive care as it is to get a gun.."..Fox News questioned whether or not his parents knew how much of a danger he was, when they asked people who knew him they described him as a "nerd" or "goth" and that "he didn't interact with others". So we have here a mentally unstable man who didnt socialize well with others and prefered to keep to himself, he gets ahold of his mothers guns, kills her and then goes and kills 20 children and 6 adults leaving one survivor(One survivor according to CNN).
Guns dont magically aim at people by themselves. Guns don't miraculously decide to shoot women and children. The psychotic Mentally unstable people who get a hold of them do. Maybe instead of pointing the finger at the mental disease or the guns themselves that we point fingers at the man who pulled the trigger.
If the shooter has lived and gone to court whats to say he wouldnt have been executed anyway? The wouldnt determine it based on his actions, or te types of weapons he used. it would be determined based on his mental state, or whether or not he was mentally competent.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center:
Insanity or mental incompetency is a severe form of mental illness and is addressed separately by the legal system. Inmates who are insane, that is, so out of touch with reality that they do not know right from wrong and cannot understand their punishment or the purpose of it, are exempt from execution. The Supreme Court held in Ford v. Wainwright (477 U.S. 399 (1986)) that executing the insane is unconstitutional. However, if an inmate's mental competency has been restored, he or she can then be executed. Inmates who are intellectually disabled (mentally retarded) also cannot be executed. Inmates who are mentally ill, but not insane, have no such exemption
My heart goes out to all of the families, friends and anyone who was close to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. I am not a parent but this absolutely tragic event is unbelievable. I couldn't imagine getting the news that my little brother was killed in a shooting while at school. I cant imagine what it would be like to lose a child, especially after all of the different ways my parents made sure i realized that they loved me more than i could even know or understand.
There has been a Facebook made if you want more information, or if you would like to levae your heart felt note to the victims and survivorrs of this tragedy:
https://www.facebook.com/SandyHookChildren
Posted today by the site above :
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