It’s impossible to imagine the shock, horror, sadness and revulsion that enveloped the city of Newtown Connecticut after spree killer Adam Lanza massacred 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Newtown is a white upper middle class suburb, a 45-minute commute to New Haven. “This sort of thing doesn’t happen here.” Statistically speaking, that’s true. But it did happen there. And just like survivors of atrocity throughout history and around the globe, the people left in the wake of the Sandy Hook slaughter have had to cope with the aftermath of unthinkable violence. Their initial reaction was the same as the NRA’s . . .
Assign armed police to the town’s elementary schools.
Newtown had already placed school resource officers (SROs) in its middle and upper schools. Never mind barn doors and bolted horses. Given the scope and scale of what had befallen the murdered innocents, why not extend this armed “shield” of vigilance over Newtown’s youngest students?
It was, of course, an entirely logical course of action: protect what remains. What if a copycat killer came to “finish the job”? The unthinkable was now thinkable. No one in the town—or elsewhere—questioned the cops’ new responsibilities.
The move was as much psychological as it was strategic. The police presence reassured children that they would not suffer the same cataclysmic attack that decimated their peers. It also provided a buffer from the media circus that had descended on their town. It was a signal to both townspeople and the outside world that Newtown would, as the NRA puts it, refuse to be a victim.
As the days went by, Newtown’s gestalt began to change. The search for “answers” shifted focus. Residents couldn’t blame the school for its lack of security. They couldn’t blame the doctors, educators, administrators, classmates, neighbors, associates and acquaintances who let a psychotic killer slip through the net. That would be tantamount to blaming themselves.
Equally, they couldn’t blame Adam Lanza. His father was a successful tax executive at GE Energy Financial Service. Adam attended Sandy Hook Elementary, just five miles from the family home. He was an honors student at Newtown High. He was odd, sure, but he was one of them. A local.
And so those closest to the tragedy chose to blame the gun: the Bushmaster AR-15 Lanza used to commit his heinous crime. And the laws that “allowed” Lanza access to the firearm—despite the fact that such laws were already in place and that he’d murdered his mother to violate them.
The post-traumatic enthusiasm for civilian disarmament amongst those closest to the killings didn’t raise any uncomfortable questions about the town’s residents, schools or its safety systems. There wasn’t any pushback. Not from fellow residents. Or the media. Or the nation. How could it? What right do YOU have to tell ME what I should do about MY loss? Not “even” the NRA would dare question their possession of [what they perceive to be] the moral high ground.
The effort to “prevent” another Newtown put gun control-minded residents into a positive feedback loop. The more they agitated for gun control the less they had to face the truth about their vulnerability and failure. And the more attention and approval they received—to the point where the President of the United States flew Newtown’s worst-afflicted on Air Force One to continue their anti-gun lobbying campaign.
And then the town suffered their second “loss.” The U.S. Senate rejected the bills that would have vindicated—if that’s the right word—their unfathomable loss. As draconian as they are, Connecticut’s post-Newtown disarmament laws must have seemed like cold comfort.
And here’s the thing: the town has completely lost track of the reality of what happened. And the necessity of armed self-defense. To wit this [via wtnh.com]:
Just four months after the Sandy Hook tragedy, Newtown voters have rejected a new budget plan that would have put more security officers in local schools.
It would have cost taxpayers an additional $770,000, but local residents said no.
Less than the price of one trip to Washington on the President’s 747. And then this [via courant.com]:
A new Sandy Hook Elementary School building will be built at the site of the existing school, a task force of town leaders decided Friday night.
The school, at a cost of almost $60 million, will take the place of the old building, where a mass shooting Dec. 14 took the lives of 26 children and educators . . .
Rob Sibley, the town’s deputy planning director, rubbed his eyes after the meeting. He was a first responder to the school with Sandy Hook’s fire company. He has twins in kindergarten and a third-grader at the school. His wife happened to be visiting the school as gunfire echoed through the halls.
“It certainly opens the door to a path toward healing that was not there before,” Sibley said about the task force decision. “It doesn’t detract from the grief we feel on a daily basis.”
The story doesn’t include any mention of the security set-up for the new school. None. Nor does it say if the budget for the new school includes funding for an armed security guard. But it does repeatedly touch upon the emotional fallout from the killing that will forever be associated with the name Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The last time the committee met, many members emerged from a private session visibly shaken by the harrowing stories they heard from Sandy Hook teachers about their experiences on Dec. 14 and afterward.
At that point, members questioned whether Sandy Hook employees — or anyone — could be expected to return to the site where 26 people were murdered.
This is what you call victim mentality. It’s vastly different from the mindset of the New Yorkers who vowed to rebuild the World Trade Center site almost immediately after 9/11. Who have done so.
As TTAG commentator Dr. Vino pointed out, mentally damaged people develop strange symbolic associations and need irrational symbolic gestures. Even so, Newtown’s failure to grasp the nettle, to fully address practical and tactical issues surrounding the attack, shows a collective failure of nerve. An abject surrender of logic for emotional.
The real answer here is simple enough: eliminate “gun-free zones.” Encourage armed self-defense. We, the People, should be ready, willing and able to defend ourselves and our loved ones against evil when and wherever it appears. For it is always there. No matter what.
Sad to say, the shell-shocked members of Newtown’s newly formed civilian disarmament community will never come to the same conclusion. But the rest of us can. And should.
Convinced me. Anthony is also the perfect spokesman, as a hunter he gets cred. It’s also not that big a deal for me, as a handloader the cost difference isn’t gonna be that much more expensive. OR doesn’t have the lead-free laws most places, but if we can create peer-pressure it will be more effective than legislation.
IMO Farago is using that numbering system that the neighborhood watch guy (Zimmerman?) and his wife used to trick the Florida courts, to keep his bail lower. They reduced everything by a factor of 10! LOL
Either that or RF is a beginner… just like he thinks he is a Playah… lmao
That video sounds like a complete propaganda piece. Who paid for it to be made? It seems way to professionally recorded and edited for a single hunter to make.
I don’t know much about the effects of lead ammunition on animals, since I’m not a hunter, but I see deceptively edited footage already. Have you noticed the fast-forwarded and looped video of the eagle at 7:33, making it seem like it is twitching its eyes due to lead exposure?
All of a sudden, /r/guns starts spilling over into the rest of the internet.
So should we start having registration, background checks and licensing on paper printers as well because a handful of people MIGHT print up some child porn on it?
1) The first budget was rejected, the whole idea has not been rejected. They are trying to review a way to make the resource officers cheaper because the initial budget would have cost each home owner on average $800 to $1200/year and you know those prices only go up over time. There is a second vote in the works. A few towns in CT still have town level votes for town budgets.
2) The parents prodded by those who will benefit, continue to make sure that “emotional conversations” are held. Wait until this December, they will sound the emotional drums again lead by the usual suspects.
3) The school was old, very old. The renovations and repair and mandated state security enhancements to schools would have been more costly that tearing it down and building new. Given some of the other suggestions, including creating an “international yoga center” that some suggested, this was the best move. The funniest suggestion, that has been played in the local media, was some state official suggested the school be built it what would have been the exact site of the former state mental hospital.
What is one child life worth? What if it’s your child?
It’s hard to put a number on the life of anyone let alone a child. Let’s give it a try shall we.
When Eagle Scout Scott Mason got lost on Mount Washington up in New Hampshire back in 2009 it cost the state $25,734.65 (they sent him the bill) I personally think my kids are worth a whole lot more than $25,000 but for our purposes we shall go with that amount.
The U.S. Department of Education estimates the current average class size is around 25 students. So 25 x $25,000 = $625,000.00
The average school bus transports 54 student so 54 x $25,000= $1,350,000.00
The average primary school on average has approximately 450 students so 450 x $25,000.00 = $11,250,000.00
Now can you think of any other institution group or organization that would leave that kind of money laying around without extensive precautions and security let alone unarmed guards?
And this is yet another reason I homeschool.
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-5451330.html
http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/class-size/
http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/sites/default/files/pdf/school_bus_cuts_national_stats_FINAL.pdf
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/overview/table05.asp
I don’t hunt yet I would switch to all copper or other material rounds if available. I’m mostly a rimfire shooter and even the “copper rounds” only have a thin layer of copper on them (not that I’ve ever opened up a 22LR bullet with a pen knife). I don’t know if anyone makes an all copper 22LR bullet.
Hunters are perfectly capable of making an intelligent decision on whether or not to use lead bullets. The state, the tree-huggers, gungrabbers, PETAphiles and assorted wingnuts are incapable of making an intelligent decision about anything.
I note also that copper has the potential for being toxic, just as lead is toxic. So, there is no doubt in my mind that if lead bullets are banned, copper bullets will be banned just as soon as symptoms of copper toxicity are discovered in some rare species of flying gerbil or tree-dwelling minnow. Or unicorn.
Between the point where the officer shoots the gunman and the gunman shoots him, you can see that he lowered his pistol. His thought was probably “Ok, I got him good.” Unfortunately, he was still in grave danger.
My grandpappy back to his grandpappy used lead balls for hunting. Don’t see a huge reason to change.
Here’s a lesson for you. Don’t start a gunfight with cops – they’re wearing bullet proof vests and you’re not.
It’s disrespectful to wear the flag as a bathing suit, she needs to remove it right now and go to my room.
They keep chasing after the constituent parts of guns, each in turn.
Eventually, and as absurd as it sounds, we will arrive at the molecular level of control. Nano-control, licensing, yada-yada-yada.
At the end of the day, it’s about control. Maybe because Yee was bottle fed, or whatever. Who knows?
Yee is an anti-Freedom tyrant, and should be regarded and treated as such. Plus, he’s just not very bright.
Thanks for sending in this piece.
A friend of mine observed that everyone who was taught how to use an AR in the military has thus passed the USGs criteria for using an AR therefore there should not be an issue with them having access to a fully auto AR. He meant of course that if you can be considered capable of being armed and sent into to combat to fight and maybe get killed then you are good enough to own one. BTW, his sarcastic observation was not one of in real life endorsing every ex-service member to own a fully auto AR.
Gots to get those guns, gots to get those illegal background checks. I’m sure they are sad, here they sit broken hearted..tried to s… grab those guns but didn’t get started. Life is full of dissapointments, if they remove their head from their ass they could eliminate one of them, Randy
“… that puts communities’ interests ahead of the gun lobby’s.”
What communities? Chicago, NYC, Kalifornia? They dont speak for the country. If they were the 90% then there would be more than a handful of antigun states. Oh and how about thoes gun lobbyists? They would be powerless without the money of the real 90%
I have hunted with lead since about the age of 10. I use lead bullets for range practice. I use hollow point lead/copper bullets for hunting animals, 2 and 4 legged. I reload with copper clad lead. I see no reason not to use them So, no, I will not switch voluntarily. As for Russ Bixby’s comments; I call BS on them. I have no use for the PC granola munchers. Their ultimate goal is to ban all hunting, period. I once worked with on young fellow of that persuasion. He told me in all seriousness that the group he belonged to wanted to kill of most of the world’s population until there were no more than 10 million hunter/gatherers. So I asked him why ban hunting now and allow your small population to hunt then? He had no answer.
The sociopaths in charge and their pathological minions are Driven to destroy their sheeple’s rights as a path towards slavery. Their greatest obstacle is slaves are not slaves until they are Totally disarmed without hope of fighting to regain their liberty
The namesake is a gigantic clue to what the gun is about as well. Even in unimproved form, it’s a weapon that would allow someone living in an oppressive regime to acquire a better weapon by ambushing a lone soldier or something like that.
Well, at least the ad is correct about one thing. Baucus DOESN’T work for ANYONE in California. Perhaps the ad should have had DiFi’s name and picture, it would have been accurate on all fronts then.
Um, that accidental shooting by a six (I thought he was five) year old? It was his gun. It would’ve fired.
Loser.
On another tack: Retrofit? A Mosin? A Tokarev? A Nagant pistol? A sodding Brown Bess…? Good luck with that.
I’ll use such stuff when they force it into my cold, dead hands.
Everyone has the right to protect themselves. Many of my gay friends however don’t feel welcome amongst the larger gun community, mostly due to the political association with far right politics that seeks to take away their rights.
The real enemy here is hate. Hatred led to the shooting in this incident, not the gun. Bloomberg and the gun grabbers’ hatred of guns leads them to infringe on our natural rights and Constitutional rights.