CT School shooting

[emmiedahl]

I can't seem to stop crying. Those kindergartners, they're just babies. Their parents sent them to school this morning wearing a warm coat with mittens attached in a string. And a matching hat. And snow boots and a change of socks. They were strapped in car seats, not given grapes or hot dogs or nuts, taken to the doctor when they were sick. Their parents and grandparents had their Christmas present stashed in the hallway closet. And now they're gone because a psychopath went over the edge.

Saddest. Day. Ever. indeed.

My mind keeps jumping to those details also. I keep looking at my 5 year old and thinking about all the things those children will never do. All the memories their parents will never have. About dorky blue hair flowers and Spiderman backpacks and what happened in that room after that horrible man entered it. I wish I could take a pill or something, but school.

I will be hugging my children extra tight today. And trying to think of ways to turn my rage and grief into meaningful action.

[formergothardite]

I just keep thinking of all those little kids who were being tucked in for the night last night. All the presents that were bought and will never be opened. I don't know how a parent would be able to get over something like this.

[Aisling]

Has the kindergarten class been accounted for yet??

This is horrendous. I can't get it out of my head. These children are babies. They shouldn't know how fucked up life can be.

it is school. For fuck sake. School. Fucking school.

How the fuck do you even begin?

I saw an interview where the kids/parents were saying a teacher basically saved their lives. Teachers are meant to teach the ABC not protect innocent kids from a fucking bullet.

[Minerva]

Thinking about this is freaking me out when thinking about my daughter's school. It is an older one and the office which was built in the 90's isn't connected to the classrooms. It is basically a bunch of buildings and each classroom just has a door to the outside. So someone could just skip going to the office and walk right into a classroom.

If it helps, I can almost guarantee that American schools will double up on security measures after this. Idk about other places, but in Ontario, classroom doors must legally be built so that they automatically lock from the inside every time they close. It was a pain in the ass having to knock on the door when coming back from the bathroom, but it was worth the added safety.

[OkToBeTakei]

I just keep thinking of all those little kids who were being tucked in for the night last night. All the presents that were bought and will never be opened. I don't know how a parent would be able to get over something like this.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/200 ... schools.uk

This makes for very upsetting reading. But this man is qualified to answer that question.

[Austin]

If it helps, I can almost guarantee that American schools will double up on security measures after this. Idk about other places, but in Ontario, classroom doors must legally be built so that they automatically lock from the inside every time they close. It was a pain in the ass having to knock on the door when coming back from the bathroom, but it was worth the added safety.

You would think, but I wouldn't count on it. Even after all the school shootings in the USA, my husband's classroom door can only be locked from the outside of the door and only with a key. At least he has a lock, though, which he didn't have before the late 1990s, so I guess that's something.

[mockingbird]

This is so terrible. I really need to study, but I am having trouble concentrating. I can't imagine how those kids felt and how their parents feel now. I also can't stop thinking of my friend who is a teacher. We had a shooting near my hometown earlier this year, and at a meeting to discuss it they were told they had to do absolute lock-down and could not leave under any circumstances. My friend was so upset because she thought what if a kid was injured in the hallway near her room, she couldn't abandon them. Everyone at that school is going to be affected.

My school district had buzz-ins at all the schools, and my high school now has it so you physically HAVE to walk through the office to get in (before you just pushed a button, they would see you on the video camera and let you in the main door and you were supposed to go to the office but it was off to the side). However, none of the security starts until after classes start so the kids are able to get into the building. If he came in right before school started, it's possible nobody even noticed.

I think our high school doors lock easily from the inside, but it's not automatic (although I think they are the type where you can set it that way... like you can turn the lock before you close it). I'm not sure about the other buildings. We used to have windows on the classroom doors, but at the end of my 10th grade year they had the teachers cover them from the inside so an intruder couldn't see in.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

This had me crying all morning, and then I went to pick up my Kindergartener. I just cannot imagine her school going through this, her beautiful little friends, their parents, our principal and teachers. I cannot imagine what the scene looks like. Its just BEYOND sad. Its sickening. Watching the news now, a friend of one of the teachers who died said she had 5 children of her own.

[OkToBeTakei]

On guns, and gun control from Dunblane 1996

'There is no point trying to get inside Hamilton's head,' Mick says. 'You could speculate for ever, but no one will ever really know what was going on. There is only one thing I am absolutely sure of, that it was only because he was legally allowed to have guns at home that he was able to carry out something so devastating.'

The gun lobby and the MPs who side with them disagree. They have long argued that it was the man, rather than the weapon, that was lethal, and that there will always be a few bad guys who would find a way to inflict harm, come what may. Hamilton could have rented a truck and driven it into a group of schoolchildren, North is repeatedly told. He is 'too emotional', critics say.

'He could have rented a truck,' Mick concedes. 'But can you give me an instance where this has happened? There are none, but there are numerous cases involving someone who has used a gun, and in a matter of minutes killed a lot of people before killing themselves.'

It took less than 3 minutes to kill 16 children.

On that 'one' person in your community

One of his clearest and most worrying conclusions, however, is that a decade on nothing has been done to address what he regards as the critical question of how society should deal with an individual like Hamilton before it is too late.

It is convenient, perhaps even necessary, to explain Hamilton away as an evil aberration. But that brings us no closer to understanding how it is that a human being can commit so brutal a crime. Or how society throws up such a person. Hamilton did not live in a void. He lived among other, more ordinary people. His gun licences were legally held, signed and agreed to despite question marks over some of his behaviour. To write him off as an exception is too easy. Exceptions are not born. They are made by circumstances and experience and the slow drip of alienation, isolation and paranoia.

'Hamilton was described by a lot of people as unusual, abnormal, weird, but in the end he felt ostracised and that is probably why he did what he did,' North says. 'I'm sure there are a significant number of people who feel the same way - that the world is against them. How do we make sure that people who don't quite fit the norm don't get marginalised to such an extent that they want to destroy innocent lives? It's difficult question, but I think we should start to address it.'

Time will tell with this tragic event today.

He is immensely proud of what has been achieved for the children of Dunblane, particularly the introduction of a handgun ban in 1998, but says there is still a long way to go. Legislation is now going through Parliament which aims to ban imitation guns. He also hopes that in future airguns will be regulated.

I think anything less than that will not be enough for these little innocent kids today. But I doubt it. But I hope so. I really do.

[OkToBeTakei]

Sorry for over-posting. I was 14 miles away that day. I have no claim to any more hurt than any other observer. Yes, I knew people affected. But I know you will all look at each and every photograph of each and every one of those wee babies in the next few days. I know you will become invested in all and each of their stories.

I watched and looked at every funeral. In 1996 it was mainly in the Newspapers. It was just fucking horrific. Really fucking horrific. I am just so sorry this happened again.

[emmiedahl]

Sorry for over-posting. I was 14 miles away that day. I have no claim to any more hurt than any other observer. Yes, I knew people affected. But I know you will all look at each and every photograph of each and every one of those wee babies in the next few days. I know you will become invested in all and each of their stories.

I watched and looked at every funeral. In 1996 it was mainly in the Newspapers. It was just fucking horrific. Really fucking horrific. I am just so sorry this happened again.

I am sorry you were so close to this, and you are not over-posting. I know someone in the area of the Connecticut shooting and the community is just destroyed over this. I can imagine what it was like for your town, although I don't enjoy it. Even across the country in my city, teachers and parents were weeping and hugging each other and the children. This could have been any of us in the US.

[Rowan]

Like others have said, I can't stop thinking about the presents that were bought and won't be given. The surviving siblings whose faith in Santa will be gone. All of the families that now this time of year may never be magical again.

The alarmists say the world is supposed to end in a week. For way too many people, it ended today. :crying-yellow:

[Maggie Mae]

I hate how they have all this focus on the killer, and not on the victims of this senseless act. Yes, I want to know what happened, but I am willing to wait until they get the correct story. Today I have read at least four different versions and it's only because all the "journalists" are too busy trying to scoop each other to bother fact checking. The bullshit with directing people to the wrong facebook? That is bad journalism. Not only did they get the wrong information and put it out there, it hurt someone who had nothing to do with it. So many lives have been ruined today. What happened to quality journalism, it seems like all the major news outlets are turning into TMZ.

[BlueberryBird]

Except TMZ rarely gets anything wrong.

[Minerva]

I hate how they have all this focus on the killer, and not on the victims of this senseless act. Yes, I want to know what happened, but I am willing to wait until they get the correct story. Today I have read at least four different versions and it's only because all the "journalists" are too busy trying to scoop each other to bother fact checking. The bullshit with directing people to the wrong facebook? That is bad journalism. Not only did they get the wrong information and put it out there, it hurt someone who had nothing to do with it. So many lives have been ruined today. What happened to quality journalism, it seems like all the major news outlets are turning into TMZ.

Exactly. They're giving the killer what he wanted. Though I'm glad they're not directing people to the victims' facebooks.

[Sprocket]

I saw footage of the school and something caught my eye. I went to try to find a picture of it and I'm not the only one who noticed it apparently.

I've got to step away from this. My nerves are shot.

[OkToBeTakei]

I am sorry you were so close to this, and you are not over-posting. I know someone in the area of the Connecticut shooting and the community is just destroyed over this. I can imagine what it was like for your town, although I don't enjoy it. Even across the country in my city, teachers and parents were weeping and hugging each other and the children. This could have been any of us in the US.

Just any parent, in any country. Maybe this will be the catalyst for your country. I honestly had never given any of this much thought before '96. It was just funny guys shooting targets in a club. I did that with my Dad, granted it was golf clubs and different targets.

[B5SnowDog]

Exactly. They're giving the killer what he wanted. Though I'm glad they're not directing people to the victims' facebooks.

I started crying again when I realized that the majority of the victims were too young to have Facebook pages. It's yet another reminder of how young they were. They just started.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I hate how they have all this focus on the killer, and not on the victims of this senseless act.

I think it's inevitable human nature though. The victims, insensitive as it might be to say it, were ordinary people - indeed, it could have been any of us (and that's partly what makes it so horrifying). But the killer, he's the special one, has something not quite right, maybe, people wonder how can someone do what he did? What exactly make him so different? So the curiosity is naturally there. He's the one to blame, so if you want to prevent similar incidents you have to look at what made him do what he did.

I'm only catching up to the story now, but it seems the killer's mother was killed at home, so I have to wonder, did the class have a substitute teacher, then? From what I know of American schools they don't do the "just study on your own today because the teacher isn't coming in" thing (particularly if it's kindergartners! heck the system I went to probably wouldn't do "self study" so young either!), so I wonder of the fate of the substitute :(

[Sprocket]

I think it's inevitable human nature though. The victims, insensitive as it might be to say it, were ordinary people - indeed, it could have been any of us (and that's partly what makes it so horrifying). But the killer, he's the special one, has something not quite right, maybe, people wonder how can someone do what he did? What exactly make him so different? So the curiosity is naturally there. He's the one to blame, so if you want to prevent similar incidents you have to look at what made him do what he did.

I'm only catching up to the story now, but it seems the killer's mother was killed at home, so I have to wonder, did the class have a substitute teacher, then? From what I know of American schools they don't do the "just study on your own today because the teacher isn't coming in" thing (particularly if it's kindergartners! heck the system I went to probably wouldn't do "self study" so young either!), so I wonder of the fate of the substitute :(

Given that the majority of the victims were minors, I imagine that the families don't want all of the excess press coverage descending upon them like voultures. I honestly can't imagine picking out a casket for my child and have news trucks parked outside my home. And they would. Some poor little girl was on CNN being interogated before the reporter moved on to her parents.

[NurseNell]

God Bless America? Whatever. We need to take care of our babies, even if it means a few people have a harder time getting their assault rifle.

No one needs an assault rifle, ever. They should be outlawed for all but military and swat teams.

[maybeizfundie]

I have been crying all day. I have a kindergartener. I look at him and I just cannot imagine the pain that those families are going through. It's just incomprehensible. :(

[Coconut Flan]

I was talking about this with my dad after he got home from work. He's a professor of education and had been watching a capstone presentation from a student. When he got back to his office and heard about the shooting, he wondered, "Should I call the girl who presented today and tell her that she needs to wear a bullet-proof vest to school, and bring a gun to protect her students?" He is also wondering if they will end up tearing down the school and building a new one. How many kids are going to have PTSD if they go near the building? What parent is going to want to send their kid to a school that is probably marked with bullet holes? In my parent's area, there was a mass shooting at a local fast food place in the late 1980's. The fast food place closed down immediately. It became a dry cleaners, then a string of several other businesses, none of which stayed open for more than several months at a time. Nobody wanted to shop where such a horrific murder took place. They ended up demolishing the building and leaving the lot empty because every business there was doomed to fail.

In San Ysidro?

I keep shaking my head and going make it stop ever since I heard.

[miffy]

Except TMZ rarely gets anything wrong.

So true! I really like Harvey Levin.

[OkToBeTakei]

I hate how they have all this focus on the killer, and not on the victims of this senseless act. Yes, I want to know what happened, but I am willing to wait until they get the correct story. Today I have read at least four different versions and it's only because all the "journalists" are too busy trying to scoop each other to bother fact checking. The bullshit with directing people to the wrong facebook? That is bad journalism. Not only did they get the wrong information and put it out there, it hurt someone who had nothing to do with it. So many lives have been ruined today. What happened to quality journalism, it seems like all the major news outlets are turning into TMZ.

It is minutiae. Even less than that. By the time journalism is finished with this. Who will remember in 10 years? In 15 years? Everybody is outraged today.