News

Nation/World

ussandyhook-storygallery

East End residents huddled outside Rep. Tim Bishop's office in Southampton Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
The 17 participants occasionally hoisted signs into the air for passing drivers to see that read, "We are Newtown" and "Sandy Hook, we promise not to ever forget." And they pleaded for an end to gun violence and for stricter weapons regulation, in a local tribute to a national tragedy.
"We're here today to commemorate the 20 children and six educators who died a year ago today, and we want to also commemorate all of the other hundreds and hundreds of gun victims that have happened since Sandy Hook," said Sue Hornik, executive director of States United to Prevent Gun Violence. She described the group as an umbrella organization that represents anti-gun-violence groups in 27 states, including New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.
"We're not going to forget, but we're also not going to remain silent on the issue of gun safety laws," said Jackie Hilly, former executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.
Bishop (D-Southampton) was not in his local office. Rally participants said he has supported gun legislation in the past. Hilly extolled Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's NY SAFE Act of 2013, passed in January in response to the Newtown shooting, as a leading piece of gun safety legislation. But she warned that stricter laws and background checks are needed nationwide to prevent another Newtown, where Adam Lanza, 20, killed more than two dozen students and educators on Dec. 14, 2012.
"It was an horrific tragedy beyond comprehension that shocked the nation," Hilly said, "yet only yesterday [Friday], there was another school shooting in Arapahoe, Colo."
Snow fell heavily on the front lawn of Bishop's office as rally participants read biographies of Newtown's 26 victims, gleaned from family statements and news reports. Voices broke as speakers described the hopes and dreams of slaughtered 6- and 7-year-olds as remembered by their parents.
They read aloud of the young victims' love of snuggling, a certain family dog, their dreams of horseback riding and growing up to become teachers or pop stars. Some readers had to choke back tears, stop reading and pass the duty off to the next person.
After each mini-biography, a bell was rung.
"Today we bow our heads in remembrance of the lost lives in Newtown on this solemn day," Hilly said. "While the sadness of this day can be unbearable, it should also embolden us to do all that we can to prevent school shootings like the one that happened last year."

Long Island

Suffolk

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Sandy Hook victims remembered in LI tribute

sandy hook -- cropped

No one needs to be reminded what happened exactly one year ago at Sandy Hook Elementary School; certainly no one in Newtown, Conn., where no memorials are planned Saturday, and no TV cameras are welcome. As the snow piles up — 7 to 12 inches expected to cover this town of nearly 30,000 by Sunday morning — TV news will have no familiar easy hooks for anniversary stories; no ceremonies, no reflections, no vigils. As the snow comes down, people aren't standing on corners waiting for TV crews to pull up, waiting for that one easy and obvious question: "How does it feel one year later?" 
 There's lots of good reasons for TV to ignore Newtown for on-site anniversary stories — the networks, with the exception of CBS, say they will stay away out of respect for the community and the victims' families. But, I would submit, there may be one or two compelling reasons not to entirely stay away, either. 
 Foremost, there's this one: The Sandy Hook tragedy was a national one — and, in the words of Bob Schieffer just about a year ago, the worst day in the United States since 9/11. Many millions mourned that day, still do — trying to close the gap of comprehension with what happened, and what they think they know about the meaning of life. Unable to do so, maybe some of them waited for this day to see whether any healing has taken place, or if comprehension has advanced to any degree, or the gap closed... As usual, many will turn to TV for answers, and find none. 
 TV, we should have realized long ago, is not the place for answers, but it is the place on occasion for national communion — however briefly — as everyone attempts to share in something that touches each of them in ways only they can define. It's the national hearth theory of television, but today — just to continue the metaphor — that hearth will be cold. 
 But something very terrible, utterly incomprehensible, did happen exactly one year ago, and because even terrible anniversaries need to be honored in some way, here's a brief collection of clips that you may or may not care to watch. But they are a visceral reminder of how TV tried to deal with some of this a year ago, with one or two more current clips. Most of these just happen to come from CBS News (which did a particularly fine job), but maybe that's just because they were the easiest to find. All of the networks grappled to the best of their ability with the horror and aftermath. 
 <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/on-the-road-snowflakes-for-newtown/">I close this gallery with a piece Steve Hartman (of "On the Road" fame) did about an office building &nbsp;- and go to this link for that one</a> -. in nearby Hamden, Conn., that was stuffed to the ceiling ... with snowflakes. A modest little call had gone out from the state's PTA to get kids to make snowflakes as part of their own modest little memorial. That call went viral, and before long, many millions of snowflakes from around the country and Canada descended on this building. 
 On this somber and snowy day, it's a good reminder of just how national in scope this tragedy was, and remains. 
 &nbsp;Newsday app readers please go to <a href="http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/tv-zone-1.811968/newtown-one-year-later-through-the-tv-lens-1.6608044">Newsday/tvzone.com</a> to watch... 
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Entertainment

Newtown, one year later — through the TV lens

the flagpole in Newtown, CT

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- When the <a href="/topics//New_York_Giants">New York Giants</a> trotted onto the <a href="/topics//MetLife,_Inc.">MetLife</a> Stadium field Sunday, <a href="/topics//Isaiah_Williams">Isaiah Williams</a>, a third-grader at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., and a team fan "since I was born," gave cornerback <a href="/topics//Corey_Webster">Corey Webster</a> a high-five. 
 "You're boss," the 8-year-old said, offering the 30-year-old words of pregame encouragement. 
 Matthew Bradbury, 10, a fifth-grader at the school, slapped hands with defensive end <a href="/topics//Justin_Tuck">Justin Tuck</a>. "So far it's the experience of a lifetime, to be on field and high-five the players," Matthew said. 
 Mallika Suyal, 8, a third-grader, admitted she is not really a Giants fan. 
 "Not yet," said her father, Ved Suyal, 45. "But she's going to be one." 
 Newtown resident Kim Bassett, who was at the game with her teenage son, said she saw something on the field she hadn't seen in a while. "All the kids were smiling," she said. 
 Two weeks after a gunman killed six adults and 20 students at Sandy Hook, more than 400 Newtown residents -- about 200 students from the elementary school and families -- were guests of the Giants as the team took on the <a href="/topics//Philadelphia_Eagles">Philadelphia Eagles</a> in their final game of the season before a crowd of 80,657. 
 For a moment before the game, the Newtown residents and the Giants held hands on the field in what the stadium announcer described as "a circle of faith." The stadium was silent and all attention was on the families once more. 
 The <a href="/topics//New_England_Patriots">New England Patriots</a> also claim the <a href="/topics//Hearts_FC">hearts</a> of football fans in Newtown, a community of 27,000 people about two and half hours' drive from Boston. 
 But the Giants, who play in a stadium about an hour and 40 minutes away from Newtown, now have a hold. 
 Wide receiver <a href="/topics//Victor_Cruz">Victor Cruz</a> drove to Newtown after the shootings to visit the family of Jack Pinto, a 6-year-old who was buried wearing his jersey with Cruz's name. The strength of Jack's love for the team led Cruz to "go up there and pay homage to his family," he said. Cruz vowed to stay in touch with the family. 
 One little girl stood on the field holding a poster that had a photo of Pinto attached. Next to it, she had written, "To <a href="/topics//Victor_Cruz">Victor Cruz</a>, I was friends with Jack Pinto." Other residents carried photos or held banners thanking the team for its generosity. 
 The Giants' 42-7 victory over the <a href="/topics//Philadelphia_Eagles">Eagles</a> "was the first time, probably in a long time, that somebody put a smile on their faces," Cruz said. 
 Safety <a href="/topics//Antrel_Rolle">Antrel Rolle</a> said the Newtown residents' attendance, and their appearance on the field, "puts things in perspective." 
 "It's a heartbreaking feeling, at the same time we just tried to go out there and give those kids something to look forward to . . . something to raise their spirits," he said. 
 Guard <a href="/topics//Chris_Snee">Chris Snee</a> shook hands and slapped high-fives with many of the Newtown children before the game. In the locker room afterward, he said the players wanted to win for the families. 
 "We played for them," he said. 
 But a football game -- even a Giants blowout win -- can only do so much. 
 "People are still trying to put the pieces together," said Nick Debellis, 32, a Newtown golf course superintendent said of life after the school attack. 
 Richard Wilford, 36, an IT manager and youth football coach, said he is still trying to answer his 7-year-old son Richard's questions about the shooting, but not in too much detail. 
 Adam Lanza, 20, forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, shot and killed 20 first-graders and six adults with an assault rifle, then killed himself with a handgun, police said. He fatally shot his mother in their home before going to the school. 
 Getting out of town and riding a bus to the stadium felt good, said Hunter Bassett, 18. 
 "Everyone was happy, kind of excited, all in good spirits," he said. "It was a nice change of pace for all of us. We had something to look forward to [and] be happy about." 
 With Tom Rock

Sports

Football

New York Giants

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Giants host hundreds of Newtown residents at game

3 Sandy Hook Giants -- cropped/jb

Federal agents Thursday arrested a Bronx woman on charges she lied to <a href="/topics//Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation">FBI</a> officials about a fraudulent fundraising scheme in which she posed as a relative of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Newtown, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., school shooting. 
 Prosecutors said Nouel Alba, 37, used her <a href="/topics//Facebook">Facebook</a> account, telephone calls and text messages to falsely claim to be the aunt of one shooting victim -- identified by a federal law enforcement source as Noah Pozner -- and solicit money for the child's "funeral fund." 
 When contacted by <a href="/topics//Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation">FBI</a> agents investigating fundraising and charity scams related to the Newtown tragedy, Alba falsely told them she did not post information related to Newtown on <a href="/topics//Facebook">Facebook</a>, solicit donations or access her <a href="/topics//PayPal">PayPal</a> account, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>. Alba also falsely claimed to have immediately refunded any donations that she received, the complaint said. 
 "This arrest should serve as a warning to anyone who attempts to profit from this tragedy by contriving fraudulent schemes that exploit the many victims, their families and individuals who sincerely want to help," David B. Fein, U.S. attorney for the district of <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>, said in a statement. "Investigators continue to monitor the Internet to uncover other fundraising scams arising from this tragedy." 
 In one text message to a donor, Alba allegedly said she hugged <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a> when he visited Newtown and described her fear of seeing her nephew in a coffin. 
 "11 gun shot in his little body," she wrote in the text message, according to the complaint. 
 Pozner's relatives last week told The Associated Press that someone they didn't know was soliciting donations in Noah's memory, claiming that they'd send cards, packages and money collected to his family. The person directed people to send donations to an address in the Bronx, one that the Pozners said they had never heard of. 
 Alba appeared in federal court in <a href="/topics//Hartford,_CT">Hartford</a> and was released on $50,000 bond. Before she was arrested, Alba said she "never sent any message on <a href="/topics//Facebook">Facebook</a>," according to an interview she gave <a href="/topics//NBC_News">NBC News</a>. Her lawyer, Deirdre Murray, a federal public defender, was not available for comment Thursday. 
 If convicted of making false statements to federal agents, she faces up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The probe is ongoing and more charges are possible, prosecutors said.

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Feds: Bronx woman accused in Newtown fundraising scam

Noah Pozner

Noah Pozner -- cropped

A Newtown rabbi, speaking before a Great Neck audience, called for broad <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun control</a>, anti-bullying measures and better parental control over violent video games to help prevent tragedies like the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
"If the death of their loved ones sparks major improvements across the country, I've got to believe that will be a source of comfort to them," Rabbi Shaul Praver said of the families of the victims in his talk at the Great Neck Synagogue, attended by about 200 people Tuesday night.
Praver of Congregation Adath Israel of Newtown had presided over the funeral of 6-year-old Noah Pozner, who was killed in the Dec. 14 attack on the school along with 19 other children and six adults. 
He also sung a Hebrew prayer at an interfaith vigil in which <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a> spoke, shortly after the attack.
Before his talk Tuesday night, Praver -- a native of Great Neck who once attended the synagogue -- described his efforts at creating a lasting memorial museum dedicated to the victims, as well as a "prescription for change" to keep such attacks from happening again.
"It's like a little, localized 9/11," Praver said when describing the effect of the attack on his town. "The love between people is what is enabling people literally not to die of cardiac arrest."
Praver said he hopes to unite the victims' families through an advocacy group called "Newtown United," and said the museum he envisions would have rooms dedicated to each victim and a space dedicated to the "spiritual lessons we learned."
He also said there needs to be efforts at gun control as well as bullying prevention to keep people with "psychotic reasoning" from other such attacks.
The event also included speakers who addressed the spiritual questions relating to the tragedy, as well as security issues and other concerns.
Dale Polakoff, senior rabbi of the Great Neck Synagogue, said the event was held to find a way to respond to the unimaginable.
"We come [together] to let them know their pain is shared by all of us, whether we knew them or didn't know them, whether they are of the same faith or not -- we share their pain and pray for them and their families," he said.

Nassau

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Newtown rabbi speaks at Great Neck Synagogue

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Bizarre, out of touch and insane. That's how <a href="/topics//Long_Island,_NY">Long Island</a> educators described the <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">National Rifle Association</a>'s call for "armed security" at every school to curb gun violence. 
 The gun lobbying group's announcement came a week after a 20-year-old man shot his way into a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, killing 20 first-graders and six adults. 
 <a href="/topics//Wayne_LaPierre">Wayne LaPierre</a>, the NRA's chief executive, told reporters Friday that "we need to have every single school in America immediately deploy a protection plan proven to work -- and by that I mean armed security." 
 Henry Grishman, head of the <a href="/topics//Jericho,_NY">Jericho</a> district, was stunned at the statement, calling it "outrageous," "out of touch" and "out of step" with his schools' mission. He said, too, that a guard with a pistol would be no match for a madman with a semiautomatic. 
 "It would only wind up increasing the number of deaths from gun violence," he said. "A school district is not a place for a firearm in any form." 
 Arnold Goldstein, superintendent of the <a href="/topics//North_Bellmore,_NY">North Bellmore</a> schools, said it's "pretty obvious that what we need are fewer guns, not more," and that "the answer isn't to make schools armed fortresses." 
 Regent Roger Tilles called the NRA's idea "insane," and State Education Commissioner John B. King Jr. called it a distraction from what should be a serious conversation about "<a href="/topics//Common_(musician)">common</a>-sense <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun control</a>" and mental health issues. 
 Ed Vasta, head of the teachers union in <a href="/topics//Manhasset,_NY">Manhasset</a>, said he would never consider carrying a firearm at school. "That's not my area of expertise," he said. "I am a teacher by training." 
 Kishore Kuncham, superintendent of the <a href="/topics//Freeport,_NY">Freeport</a> district, called the NRA's announcement "the most bizarre and most irresponsible statement I can think of." Schools are like temples of peace, education and wisdom, he said, calling them one of "the most important and sacred symbols of our democracy." They are no place for guns and holsters, he said. 
 Howard Koenig, interim superintendent of the South Country schools in <a href="/topics//Patchogue,_NY">Patchogue</a> and <a href="/topics//Bellport,_NY">Bellport</a>, said he wouldn't want a firefight inside any of his buildings, calling the NRA's plan "the dumbest thing I've heard in years." 
 Some states are considering allowing teachers to bring guns to school. At least one small <a href="/topics//Texas">Texas</a> town, Harrold, already does. Armed guards or officers also work at schools elsewhere in the country. In another <a href="/topics//Texas">Texas</a> city, <a href="/topics//Grand_Prairie,_Texas">Grand Prairie</a>, police said they will put officers at all 47 schools next month, according to The Dallas Morning News. 
 Still, the idea of armed security seems to have no traction on <a href="/topics//Long_Island,_NY">Long Island</a>. 
 "All someone has to do is make a mistake, and a kid gets hurt," said Richard Nathan, superintendent in the <a href="/topics//Lindenhurst,_NY">Lindenhurst</a> district. 
 His school system, in response to the Newtown tragedy, added unarmed security guards at all of its elementary schools. 
 "Violence begets violence," Nathan said, adding the world the NRA describes sounds like "a primitive society."

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LI educators condemn NRA school security idea

Connecticut School Shooting

<a href="/topics//Albany,_NY">ALBANY</a> -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Thursday that he plans to unveil a "full package" of gun-control proposals in his State of the State address on Jan. 9, following the tragic school shootings in Newtown, Conn. 
 The <a href="/topics//U.S._Democratic_Party">Democrat</a> said he has had discussions with the leaders of the <a href="/topics//U.S._Republican_Party">Republican</a>-led state <a href="/topics//U.S._Senate">Senate</a> and <a href="/topics//U.S._Democratic_Party">Democrat</a>-controlled Assembly, but not on specifics. In a radio interview, he said the focus of his proposals "is assault weapons . . . and the accessibility of these guns." He even floated the possibility of confiscating assault weapons that are currently legal. 
 "I want to know what the respective parties and houses feel," Cuomo said. "So that's the reason for the conversations. Obviously, it's a very hot topic." 
 There were talks about convening the Legislature before Jan. 1, but the governor downplayed the idea, saying: "I highly doubt it." However, some State Capitol sources said the discussions included possibly returning on Dec. 30 or New Year's Eve. 
 <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">Gun control</a> hasn't been a hot topic during Cuomo's first two years in office. In his 2010 campaign, Cuomo spoke of cracking down on illegal guns but not specifically on semiautomatic weapons. In contrast, Assembly <a href="/topics//U.S._Democratic_Party">Democrats</a> have annually pushed a range of gun proposals -- including limiting high-capacity magazines and tightening the definition of assault weapon so gun manufacturers can't get around a state ban. 
 Cuomo acknowledged the state law has many loopholes, saying, "In this state, the assault weapon ban has more holes than <a href="/topics//Switzerland">Swiss</a> cheese." 
 The governor, who owns a shotgun, added: "I don't think legitimate sportsmen are going to say I need an assault weapon to go hunting." 
 <a href="/topics//U.S._Democratic_Party">Democrats</a>, led by Assemb. Michelle Schimel (D-<a href="/topics//Great_Neck,_NY">Great Neck</a>), held a rally in Manhattan Thursday to push for tougher laws. Schimel, a longtime gun-control advocate, said there will a renewed, stronger push in the 2013 legislative session. 
 "The circumstances of last week's shooting has changed the collective conscience of everyone," the assemblywoman said. "After last week, my constituents are demanding a plan. They want real results." 
 A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader <a href="/topics//Dean_Skelos">Dean Skelos</a> (R-<a href="/topics//Rockville_Centre,_NY">Rockville Centre</a>) indicated <a href="/topics//U.S._Republican_Party">Republicans</a> are open to discussions. 
 Spokesman Scott Reif said in an email the <a href="/topics//U.S._Republican_Party">GOP</a> supported "going after illegal guns, boosting mandatory minimum sentences, cracking down on criminals who use a gun in the commission of a crime, taking steps to enhance school safety, curbing gun-related gang violence, and keeping guns away from individuals who pose a danger to themselves or others."He added: "If there is a law that could prevent the tragedy that took place in Newtown, Conn., from happening here, we have a responsibility to pursue it." 
 Another key <a href="/topics//U.S._Republican_Party">Republican</a> told a <a href="/topics//Binghamton,_NY">Binghamton</a> radio station Thursday that a number of topics are under discussion, including a statewide handgun registry. 
 "I don't want to get anybody excited, but I do believe something will get done," said Sen. <a href="/topics//Tom_Libous">Tom Libous</a> (R-<a href="/topics//Binghamton,_NY">Binghamton</a>), Skelos' deputy majority leader. "We're also waiting to see what kind of proposals the federal government makes because we do have tough <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun laws</a> in New York state."

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Cuomo to unveil gun-control proposals on Jan. 9

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So the problem isn’t real guns killing real people. The problem is video games and movies, fake guns killing fake people. 
 That and, of course, the media, who by publicizing slaughter give shooters a path to notoriety. 
 So says Wayne LaPierre, head of the National Rifle Association, who cited mainstream shooting videogames like “Call of Duty,” as well as ones few have ever heard of, like “Kindergarten Killers,” to make his point. LaPierre was twice interrupted by extremely effective protesters carrying signs decrying the NRA and shouting that the organization is causing or adding to the violence in our nation. 
 But first, LaPierre made the point that so many things in the world we value, from money in banks to airport security to President Barack Obama, we protect with armed security. 
 And there it is, the assertion that mass violence in our nation is due to too few guns, or the lack of guns in certain places, rather than a surfeit of firepower. 
 It’s not an assertion to be dismissed out of hand. If I picture my child’s schools, or the schools I attended, I’m pretty sure there’s no one and nothing there to stop a massacre. But at the same time, I don’t think an armed guard can do it either, if our shooter is willing to kill that guard as an appetizer to the main course of mowing down children. 
 Let me say some painfully honest things here: It is extremely unlikely that Newtown is the last school massacre. It is almost impossible to imagine a series of societal changes that would keep every one of these young men from wanting to kill, and keep those that do go down that path from achieving their goals. 
 But we need, incrementally, to become a better nation. We need to do this by making it harder for lunatics to get their hands on guns, and by making it easier to get potential lunatics treatment, or see them locked away. We need to make good decisions about allowing our children to be exposed to violent media, whether it be video games or movies or music. We must teach our children about the sanctity and beauty of every human life, every day. We need to make absolutely certain that no one can buy a gun without a background check, not even at a guns show or in a back alley. 
 Do we need, or could we use, or should we tolerate, armed guards at schools? 
 I think not, although I’m pretty open-minded on it and willing to listen. In truth, schools don’t have enough money to teach reading and violin, and adding armed guards would cost quite a bit. If we can’t find money to save millions of kids from illiteracy, how are we going to find money to save a few from random shooters? 
 In truth, it’s hard to conduct background checks, particularly ones that nab people who’ve never been caught doing anything wrong. We’ve gotten used to stories about teachers sleeping with and abusing students, having child pornography on their computers and doing other horrible things, though these transgressions are still fairly rare. 
 For a psycho who has never been caught, an armed guard in an elementary school is pretty much the perfect job. 
 Do we need armed guards at schools? I think what we need to do most is change the United States of America into a place where schools don’t need armed guards. And I worry that placing that kind of security in schools would actually have the opposite effect, normalizing the idea that we are a violent nation where guns are a regular part of daily life. 
 &nbsp;

Opinion

Filler: Do we really need more guns in schools?

Filler: Do we really need guns in schools? Wayne LaPierre and the NRA think so

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The <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">National Rifle Association</a> broke its silence Tuesday about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>, saying it is "prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again." 
 Noting that the NRA is "made up of four million moms and dads, sons and daughters," the country's oldest sportsmen's group said "we were shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown." 
 "Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of <a href="/topics//Common_(musician)">common</a> decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting," the NRA said. 
 The group said it is planning "to hold a major news conference" Friday, and "details will be released to the media at the appropriate time." 
 <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">Gun control</a> has become a hot-button issue after a lone gunman burst into Sandy Hook Friday and killed 20 children and six adults. 
 Gunman Adam Lanza, 20, is believed to have used a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, a civilian version of the military's M-16. It is similar to the weapon used in a recent shopping mall shooting in Oregon and other deadly attacks around the United States. Versions of the AR-15 were outlawed in this country under the 1994 assault weapons ban, but the law expired in 2004. 
 With AP

USNRA19

NRA: 'Prepared to offer meaningful contributions' after Sandy Hook

A day after Jack Pinto was buried in a jersey with Victor Cruz's name on the back, the <a href="/topics//New_York_Giants">Giants</a> wide receiver visited Newtown, Conn., Tuesday to deliver his game-used cleats and gloves that bore Pinto's name. 
 Cruz honored the memory of the 6-year-old, one of 20 children killed in Friday's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, by writing Pinto's name on his equipment. On one cleat he wrote "Jack Pinto My Hero" and on another he wrote "R.I.P. Jack Pinto." His gloves also had Pinto's name along with the phrase "This one is 4 U!" 
 "Much love to the entire Pinto family," Cruz posted on Twitter Tuesday. "Great people with huge <a href="/topics//Hearts_FC">hearts</a>. I'm sorry again for your loss. Looking at life through a different lens." 
 According to The Associated Press, while Cruz met with Pinto's family in their home for about 45 minutes, several elementary school-age children played touch football in the front yard. Many wore <a href="/topics//New_York_Giants">Giants</a> jerseys as they laughed, smiled and hugged. 
 The children and their families left after several hours. Kids carried autographed <a href="/topics//New_York_Giants">Giants</a> footballs and jerseys. 
 Cruz learned that Pinto was a big fan of his on Saturday and, through a network of mutual friends, was able to speak with the family on Saturday night, a day before the Giants' game in Atlanta. While all of the Giants remembered the victims with a moment of silence in their meetings and before the game and wore the initials "S.H.E.S." for Sandy Hook Elementary School on their helmets, Cruz dedicated the game to Pinto. 
 "It was very humbling just to hear how big of a fan he was, for them to think about putting my jersey on him for the services" an emotional Cruz said on Sunday.

SPCRUZ19

Victor Cruz visits family of slain 6-year-old

victor cruz cropped

NEWTOWN, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>. -- A steady rain poured as Newtown held a funeral for little Jack Pinto, a 6-year-old boy buried in his idol's jersey as this small town Monday began its farewell to victims of an unspeakable act that shook the nation.
Newtown Town Hall's bell tower struck 1 p.m. as hundreds filed into the community's only funeral home, near the center of town, to pay their respects. His grieving family includes grandparents Alfred and Laurine Volkmann and aunt Karen Volkmann, all of <a href="/topics//Shoreham,_NY">Shoreham</a>.
The services marked the beginning of the process of laying to rest the 20 children and six adults who were killed Friday morning when Adam Lanza, 20, forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and began shooting.
<a href="/topics//Saba_(musician)">Saba</a> Quraishi, a mourner who attended Jack's wake, said the services can allow the town to grieve and heal. "We go from crying to sending out love," she said. "We're going to work very hard to live in community and build bridges."
Also buried on Monday in Fairfield County was Noah Pozner, 6, after a service at the Abraham L. Green &amp; Son Funeral Home. He was buried at B'nai Israel Cemetery in Monroe, which borders Newtown. Gov. Dannel Malloy attended the service and later talked of the difficulty of trying to comfort families: "You try to find some words that you hope will be adequate, knowing that they will be inadequate, and you see little coffins and your heart has to ache.
"So, you tell them that you grieve for their loss, you give them a hug and you tell them their community, their state and their nation and dare I say the whole world stands with them, and you hope that makes some difference," Malloy said.
At least four more wakes and funerals are scheduled for Tuesday, said Laura Soll, spokeswoman for the <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> Funeral Directors Association. At least 11 funerals of the victims are to be held at the Honan funeral home in Newtown, which normally handles about 110 funerals annually, she said.
A rabbi presided at Noah's service, and in keeping with Jewish tradition, the boy was laid to rest in a simple brown wooden coffin adorned with a Star of David, The Associated Press reported.
"If Noah had not been taken from us, he would have become a great man. He would been a wonderful husband and a loving father," Noah's uncle Alexis Haller told mourners, according to AP. Both services were closed to the news media.
Haller described a smart, funny and mischievous child who loved animals and Mario Brothers video games. "It is unspeakably tragic that none of us can bring Noah back," Haller said. "We would go to the ends of the <a href="/topics//Earth_(musician)">earth</a> to do so, but none of us can. What we can do is carry Noah within us, always."
At Jack's funeral, loud wailing from family members and friends competed with speakers sharing stories about the boy's plucky nature and love of sports. Mourners who could not fit into the white, two-story funeral home paid their respects outside on the lawn.
Jack wore a white jersey, emblazoned with the number 80 of the <a href="/topics//New_York_Giants">New York Giants</a> wide receiver <a href="/topics//Victor_Cruz">Victor Cruz</a>. Touched by fans who told him of Jack's fondness for him, Cruz wrote "Jack Pinto" and "This one is for u!" on his gloves during Sunday's game. He also wore cleats with handwritten messages of "Jack Pinto, My Hero," and, "R.I.P. Jack Pinto."
He also told reporters that he had called the family to tell them to "stay strong and to understand that God has a plan."
The funeral procession snaked a mile long through rain and fog that has beset Newtown since the shooting. Police kept a heavy presence around the funeral home and held a blocks-long line of media at bay across the street.
According to his death notice in the Newtown Bee, Jack Armistead Pinto was born in Danbury, the son of Dean and Tricia Pinto and brother to Benjamin Pinto, 11. The Volkmanns are his maternal grandparents.
He loved participating in flag football, baseball, basketball, wrestling and skiing and was "an incredibly loving and vivacious young boy, appreciated by all who knew him for his lively and giving spirit and steely determination."
The notice said Jack was "a joy whose wide reach belied his six short years." It also listed his good friend JJ Haddick as one of his survivors.
Cliff Husted, of Newtown, standing outside the funeral home, said he came because he was an acquaintance of the school's principal, Dawn Hochsprung, another victim. He said he wants to attend every victim's funeral.
Husted said he hopes the funerals focus on the victims' lives and not their deaths. "I'm a firm believer in celebrating life rather than mourning it," he said.
Also attending was Kansas City resident David Callen, who said people from around the country were coming to offer support. He said he and friends came to bring candy for the town's children.
"There are gestures like this from around the country," Callen said. "We feel for them."

USFUNE18

Sandy Hook victims Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, both 6, buried

liNOAHjp010

How does our national political establishment address the needs of a shocked and grieving country after remaining largely silent in the state and local battles raging over <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun control</a>? 
 Speaking on behalf of <a href="/topics//Mayors_Against_Illegal_Guns">Mayors Against Illegal Guns</a>, the coalition he co-founded, <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> Mayor <a href="/topics//Michael_Bloomberg">Michael Bloomberg</a> yesterday suggested some fast, practical ways for a previously gun-shy political class -- he included <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a> in that group -- to atone. 
 <a href="/topics//U.S._Congress">Congress</a> should outlaw superlethal, military-style assault rifles like the one Adam Lanza used to mow down 20 first-graders and seven others last week in Newtown, Conn., Bloomberg said. This is the most popular rifle in the country. 
 Congress also must tighten background checks for <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun ownership</a>, Bloomberg said. An astonishing 40 percent of all gun sales are not subject to federal checks. Private sellers who often do business online or at gun shows can avoid conducting any background scrutiny at all. This is a giant loophole that gives felons, the mentally ill and drug addicts among others access to firearms. 
 Meanwhile, why not make gun trafficking a felony, as Sen. <a href="/topics//Kirsten_Gillibrand">Kirsten Gillibrand</a> (D-N.Y.) has proposed? 
 These are just a few ways the United States could quickly address its toll of 12,400 gun deaths a year. And politically speaking, the timing seems right. 
 A reporter asked Bloomberg what standing he had on the issue. "I'm an American!" he answered. "This is an outrage." We're the only industrialized country with such lax laws. 
 Sen. <a href="/topics//Joe_Manchin">Joe Manchin</a> (D-W.Va.), a <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">National Rifle Association</a> member and longtime <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun rights</a> advocate, yesterday called for a discussion of gun policies and regulations. 
 Sen. <a href="/topics//Joe_Lieberman">Joseph Lieberman</a> (I-Conn.) is also saying that the time has come to examine mass shootings and figure out how to prevent them. 
 This much we already know: Even with a fast-building mandate, the recommendations Bloomberg made yesterday are not a complete answer. He knows that. Congress knows that. They're simply a start. 
 The really difficult questions will come when we try to untangle our dysfunctional firearms policies from our dysfunctional mental health system. How do we find more effective ways to treat the mentally ill? If you look at the streets of any American city, you'll know we haven't found a useful or humane answer yet. 
 Beyond that, when do we deny such people the right to bear <a href="/topics//ARMS_(band)">arms</a>? 
 The answers will require an uncommon measure of legal wisdom, human empathy, <a href="/topics//Common_(musician)">common</a> sense, street savvy, and a determination to stand up to some indefatigable interest groups. 
 Over the last five or six decades, we have wrestled with these issues sporadically and settled for a standoff each time. 
 The human enactment of these repeated failures was played out in the most horrific terms imaginable on a bright Friday morning last week. We cannot let this happen again. 
 <a href="/topics//Mayors_Against_Illegal_Guns">Mayors Against Illegal Guns</a> has given Washington a plan for triage. It now falls to <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">Obama</a> and Congress to use it as the basis for a rational firearms policy.

VPGUNS18

Editorial: Take these actions to reduce gun violence

School Shooting cropped

Investigators recovered "significant evidence" at the home of <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> school <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooter</a> Adam Lanza Monday and authorities said he had no connection to the site of a massacre where 20 first-graders and six adults were killed. 
 Details of the evidence collected at the home Lanza shared with his mother, Nancy, were not released but officials said the two-story home and Sandy Hook Elementary School about five miles away will likely remain crime scenes for several months. 
 Lanza shot his mother to death inside the home Friday morning before getting into her car and heading to the school where he trained a semiautomatic rifle on two classes of first-graders, teachers, the principal and staff members. 
 "We are going to do everything it takes . . . to paint a clear picture as to exactly how and why this tragedy occurred," said <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance. 
 Investigators are still interviewing witnesses, Vance said. 
 Not far away from where authorities sifted through evidence, the first of the 20 children shot to death were buried Monday and <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> Gov. Dannel P. <a href="/topics//Dannel_P_Malloy">Malloy</a> talked about breaking protocol in the hours after the <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooting</a> to release the names of the dead to their relatives. 
 State police also said Monday that a second <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooting</a> victim survived the attack. The two survivors' names were not released. 
 Malloy choked up as he revealed that he pushed past initial hesitation by authorities to release the names to relatives who had waited anxiously into Friday night to hear their loved ones' fate. 
 "It was evident to me that there was a reluctance to tell parents and loved ones," Malloy said. "I made the decision that rather than relying on traditional investigative policies" in which identification and notifications are made, "to have that go on any longer was wrong." 
 He called for a moment of silence and for churches to ring bells Friday morning, exactly one week after the <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooting</a>. 
 Shooting victims Jack Pinto and Noah Pozner, both 6, were buried in separate services attended by family and friends of the little boys but also strangers touched by the events of the past four days. 
 Investigators said that despite what appeared to be a well-planned attack, it was still a mystery Monday why Lanza targeted the kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school. Earlier reports said his mother was a teacher at the school and it was where Lanza himself attended. Both reports were later proved false. 
 Lanza took classes at Western <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> State University when he was 16 and earned a B average, said Paul Steinmetz, spokesman for the school in Danbury. He said Monday that Lanza took his last class in the summer of 2009. Police had no record of any criminal activity involving Lanza. 
 All Newtown schools except Sandy Hook are scheduled to reopen Tuesday, a spokesman said. The district was making plans to send surviving Sandy Hook students to a former school building in a neighboring town, The Associated Press reported. 
 Vance said all of the victims at the school were shot with a Bushmaster AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and that "numerous" magazines were emptied at the scene. Lanza, a quiet young man described as developmentally disabled and who struggled socially, had hundreds of bullets that went unused, Vance said. 
 Lanza shot and killed himself as first responders closed in on him inside the school, officials said. 
 "There was a lot of ammo, a lot of clips," Vance said. "Certainly a lot of lives were potentially saved" by first responders approaching the school. 
 The <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> State Police have 250 troopers investigating the shootings, and Newtown Police Department detectives, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the <a href="/topics//Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation">FBI</a>, the <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> forensic laboratory and municipal agencies are all assisting. 
 With Tania Lopez and Patrick Whittle--With AP

USMAIN18

Cops: Sandy Hook school could be crime scene for months

memorial lanza composite

In his sober, sad speech in Newtown, Conn., Sunday night, <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Obama</a> sounded like he meant it when he promised to address gun violence. 
 "Because what choice do we have?" he said. "We can't accept events like this as routine. Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage? That the politics are too hard?" 
 In fact, until now, that is exactly what the president, like so many other politicians, has concluded. And their calculus has been perfectly rational. Look at the polls showing waning support for stricter gun-control laws. Consider the political muscle and campaign spending of the <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">National Rifle Association</a>. 
 If you are a gun-control advocate, the news regularly brings you what every reform movement wants: a powerful anecdote demonstrating the urgency of your cause, in the form of a mass <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooting</a> of innocents. 
 Yet, in contrast to so many other movements for restrictive laws - the push to curtail the rights of sex offenders, or to enlarge the scope of the death penalty, or to crack down on child abusers - the gun-control folks last succeeded at turning the outcry of the moment into legislative change 20 years ago. That's not their fault. It's our fault. There is no single-issue vote in favor of <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun control</a> to counter the NRA, which "has been delivering voters to the polls since 1970," as Jill Lepore writes in <a href="/topics//The_New_Yorker">The New Yorker</a>. 
 The challenge, of course, is to change that now. 
 You can read President <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">Obama</a>'s speech as a plea to be held accountable - and that part is on us. There's a suggestion that the polls are shifting in the right direction. <a href="/topics//Rupert_Murdoch">Rupert Murdoch</a> signaled he's ready and wants the president to take "bold leadership action." Unlike all the pro-gun-rights senators who can't be found on TV, and the gone silent NRA, <a href="/topics//West_Virginia">West Virginia</a> Sen. Joe <a href="/topics//Joe_Manchin">Manchin</a> said Monday on "Morning Joe" that he's altering his position, too. 
 OK, so where to start? I like Manchin's framing: "I'm a proud outdoorsman and huntsman, like many Americans, and I like <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooting</a>, but this doesn't make sense. I don't know anyone in the sporting and hunting arena who goes out with an assault rifle; I don't know anyone who needs 30 rounds in the clip to go hunting." 
 I'm no expert, but a ban on rapid-fire ammunition does seem key. Renewing the assault weapon ban, which expired in 2004, is also a place to start, though as Patrick Radden Keefe explains, it's a partial fix at best. 
 One big question is how to address semiautomatic rifles and handguns, like the ones Adam Lanza used Friday morning in Newtown. These weapons have the distinction of being both popular and a <a href="/topics//Common_(musician)">common</a> link in recent mass shootings. 
 James Holmes, the accused <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooter</a> in Aurora, Colo., used a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle. <a href="/topics//Jared_Loughner">Jared Loughner</a>, who killed 6 people and shot Rep. Gabbie Giffords in Tuscon, Ariz., used a <a href="/topics//Glock">Glock</a> 19, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. <a href="/topics//Seung-Hui_Cho">Seung-Hui Cho</a>, the 2007 <a href="/topics//Virginia_Tech">Virginia Tech</a> <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooter</a> who killed 32 people, used the same semi-automatic handgun. 
 I can understand the frustration of the many gun owners who feel like they're being unfairly blamed for the sins of a few mentally unstable transgressors. I get that almost everyone who owns a semi-automatic uses it legally and reasonably. And I also understand, as my friend and Yale Law professor James Forman Jr. puts it, that guns are the only social problem that are their own solution. We don't fight cocaine and heroin with more cocaine and heroin; we do fight gun violence with gun defense. 
 But that answer isn't translating into public safety. Maybe we need to shift from fighting over rights to appealing to the communal good. If you are the law-abiding owners of a semi-automatic, Adam Lanza's horrible act isn't your fault, and your desire to protect yourself and your family is probably heartfelt. But if you shared in a collective sacrifice of your preferred type of weapon, you could help make it just a little bit harder for the next young man experiencing a dangerous psychotic breakdown to go on a <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooting</a> rampage. 
 And the thing is, it's hard to see how that could happen without your sacrifice. Lanza got his guns from his mother, who owned five of them and took her sons <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">target</a> shooting. They lived in a town with a strong gun culture - strong enough to torpedo a police-led effort earlier this year to curb the shooting of assault weapons at unlicensed guns ranges. 
 In <a href="/topics//New_York_Times_Company">The New York Times</a>, <a href="/topics//Michael_Moss">Michael Moss</a> and Ray Rivera report that at two packed meetings last summer, a representative of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade association, led the fight against regulation. "No privileges should be taken away from another generation," he said. 
 There's no straight line between the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and that stance, or the town's decision to shelve an ordinance to curtail the unlicensed shooting. But I do think that we have to shift away from the cultural acceptance of weapons and ammunition of the kind Sen. Manchin is talking about. And the <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">Second Amendment</a> right to bear <a href="/topics//ARMS_(band)">arms</a> shouldn't block these kinds of reforms. 
 The courts have struck down outright bans on handgun possession and the carrying of concealed weapons, but maybe that's actually part of the political détente - you can have your gun at home and on the street, it just can't rapidly fire bullet after bullet. 
 There's another parallel route for addressing the problem of mass killings: Limiting mentally ill people's access to weapons. 
 "To reduce the risk of multi-victim violence, we would be better advised to focus on early detection and treatment of mental illness," Cato chairman Robert Levy told <a href="/topics//New_York_Times_Company">The New York Times</a>. "An early detection regime might indeed be the basis for selective gun access restrictions that even the N.R.A. would support." 
 I'm all ears, and apparently the Department of Justice has some ideas. Background checks at guns shows and other private sales would help, too. But it's important to remember that the problem isn't that mentally ill people are more violent, it's the link between untreated mental illness and violence. By definition, this is a breed of trouble that often falls between the cracks. To spot it, wouldn't we have to do comprehensive psychological screening for all gun purchasers, as Israel reportedly does? 
 There's so much to think about here. The main thing, though, is to learn more and to hold <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">Obama</a> and other politicians responsible for turning the best ideas into law for the first time in decades. 
 We can do this. We've done it before, with seemingly intractable problems from lynchings to drunk-driving deaths. We just have to stay the course, for as long as it takes. 
 Bazelon (@emilybazelon) is a Slate senior editor and writes about law, family, and kids.

Commentary

OPBAZELON18

Bazelon: Can we finally disarm the NRA?

sandy hook memorial -- cropped

The man identified as the gunman who killed 26 children and adults in an elementary school took college classes when he was only 16, a spokesman for Western <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> State University said Monday. 
 <a href="/topics//Paul_Steinmetz">Paul Steinmetz</a>, spokesman for the Danbury school, confirmed that Adam Lanza earned a 3.26 grade point average while a student there. He dropped out of a German language class and withdrew from a computer science class, but earned an A in a computer class, A-minus in American history and B in macroeconomics. 
 He participated when called on by the teacher in his evening course on introductory German, according to Dot Stasny, who was one of about a dozen other students in the class in the spring of 2009. She said she and a classmate once invited him out to a bar but he declined, saying he was only 17. 
 "We attributed him being quiet to him being so much younger than the rest of us," said Stasny, 30. "I assumed he was this super smart kid who was just doing extra course work." 
 Stasny said she saw him later when he came in as a customer at a video game store where she was working. She said she shared a laugh with him about how difficult the German class was. She told him she failed one of the exams, and he mentioned he got a D. 
 "I just remember him as a nice, quiet kid," she said. 
 Steinmetz says Lanza was among a small group of 16-year-olds among the school's 5,000 undergraduates. 
 The <a href="/topics//Hartford_Courant">Hartford Courant</a> and The <a href="/topics//Wall_Street_Journal">Wall Street Journal</a> first reported Lanza's academic record at Western <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> State. 
 Steinmetz said Lanza took his last class in the summer of 2009 and didn't return.

School gunman went to Conn. univ. when he was 16

Adam Lanza went to Conn. univ. when he was 16

stSHOT

This time the shots didn't ring out in a movie theater in <a href="/topics//Colorado">Colorado</a>, or outside of a <a href="/topics//Safeway_Inc.">Safeway</a> in <a href="/topics//Arizona">Arizona</a>, or a spa in Wisconsin, or a temple or a college campus. This time it was children, elementary school boys and girls in Newtown, their bodies carted out like battlefield casualties. 
 A few days earlier there was the mass shooting of Christmas shoppers at an <a href="/topics//Oregon">Oregon</a> mall. The week before, it was the murder-suicide by an <a href="/topics//National_Football_League">NFL</a> player. And every day there were - and are - the less prominent shootings that claim 100,000 victims every year in America, 30,000 of them deaths. 
 We all know the post-shooting drill: Politicians will cue up their condolences, and run for cover from Americans demanding solutions to our nation's gun violence epidemic. It is "not the time" to discuss solutions, they will claim - then wait for the nation's attention to be diverted by the next turn of the news cycle. 
 There are two basic ways we can respond to America's relentless gun carnage. One is resignation at our leaders' failure to address gun violence as we do every other public health and safety problem, and acceptance that periodic mass shootings and 87 gun deaths a day is simply a fact of life in our country. This view assumes that Americans are simply more prone to violence than other peoples, and that we are unavoidably fated to live awash with guns, with no realistic way to ever control dangerous people's access to high-powered weaponry. 
 Give up, say the cynics. The gun lobby can't be beaten. 
 Reload, says the gun lobby. Arm the movie theaters, the temples, the colleges and elementary schools. You can't stop the shootings, you can only shoot back. 
 We must reject that dark vision - and most Americans do. We believe that Americans are at least as decent and good and peaceful as people of other nations. We also believe that this great nation - which has led the world in war and peace, in economy and medicine and so much else - is at least as capable of tackling the problem of gun violence as the rest of the industrialized world has already done. 
 We are better than this, an emerging majority says. 
 Cynicism and resignation, we believe, are weapons as destructive as the semiautomatic AK-47 clones so readily available to dangerous people in America. 
 More and more Americans are raising their voices, and engaging in an honest, open, thoughtful conversation about the need to address our gun violence problem. This conversation is respectful of the now-recognized <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">Second Amendment</a> rights of law-abiding, responsible citizens, while deeply aware of the public safety risks posed by guns, and open to policies that can keep guns out of dangerous hands and off the streets. 
 This conversation is happening in promising - often surprising - ways. <a href="/topics//Bob_Costas">Bob Costas</a> introduced the subject of gun violence in America to "Football Night in America." <a href="/topics//Bill_O'Reilly">Bill O'Reilly</a> expressed support for stronger gun policies. Before that, <a href="/topics//George_W._Bush">George Bush</a>'s speechwriter <a href="/topics//Michael_Gerson">Michael Gerson</a> and <a href="/topics//Rupert_Murdoch">Rupert Murdoch</a> called for stronger <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun laws</a>. 
 <a href="/topics//U.S._Republican_Party">GOP</a> pollster <a href="/topics//Frank_Luntz">Frank Luntz</a> found that 74 percent of gun owners and <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">NRA</a> members support expanding Brady background checks to all gun sales. (Under existing law, no background checks are required for 40 percent of gun sales.) And the Supreme Court (per conservative Justice <a href="/topics//Antonin_Scalia">Antonin Scalia</a>) has held that while the <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">Second Amendment</a> does not allow the government to deprive responsible citizens of guns in the home for self-defense, the Constitution also allows the people, through their elected representatives, to reasonably regulate guns and their use. 
 Victims who lost loved ones in Aurora, <a href="/topics//Tucson,_AZ">Tucson</a>, and other mass shootings are leading the way, calling for action to spare other families the tragedies they have suffered. This week, <a href="/topics//Colorado">Colorado</a> Gov. <a href="/topics//John_Hickenlooper">John Hickenlooper</a> said it was time to engage in this conversation and address what can be done to reduce gun deaths and injuries. 
 Americans are coming together in that <a href="/topics//VAST_(musician)">vast</a> middle policy ground, and speaking out for <a href="/topics//Common_(musician)">common</a>-sense laws that will prevent much of the bloodshed to which we are far too accustomed. After all, in America it's often the people who lead. 
 Now it's time for our leaders to follow. 
 Dan Gross is president of the Brady Campaign and Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence based in Washington. He wrote this for the <a href="/topics//Hartford_Courant">Hartford Courant</a>.

OPGROSS17

Gross: We don't have to live with the gun violence

Vigil Cropped

As television entertainment continues to pick its way past the unimaginable horror in Newtown, this week's "Saturday Night Live" landed upon an idea both profound and moving - a cold open by the New York City Children's Choir singing "Silent Night." (The hymn's final line, "sleep in heavenly peace," was the punctuation mark on this performance.)&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;Meanwhile, expect changes to schedules and on-air advisories throughout the week, as networks scramble to determine which episodes of which shows may be deemed too violent, or simply too insensitive in the wake of Newtown. 
 Take a look at the "SNL" open: 
 <iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1427011" width="485"></iframe>

'Saturday Night Live': 'Silent Night' cold open

ny=snl-pic

This time the pain is all but unbearable: another massacre in another quintessentially American locale at the hands of another troubled young gunman. And the list of young victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School makes Friday's horror unfathomable. 
 Twenty first-graders -- 12 girls and eight boys, innocents by definition -- were mowed down in the insane fire of a semiautomatic assault rifle. Four teachers, a school psychologist and the principal died trying to save their young charges. The shooter's mother was also a victim. 
 We must stop the madness. On NBC-TV on Sunday, former Education Secretary <a href="/topics//William_Bennett">William Bennett</a> said schools might consider arming certain workers as a way to prevent attacks. The psychologist and principal in both lunged at the shooter. <a href="/topics//William_Bennett">Bennett</a> said: "I'm not so sure I wouldn't want one person in a school armed and ready for this kind of thing." 
 That's not an acceptable answer -- not in a society that puts astonishingly few restrictions on the fast-growing proliferation of lethal weaponry. The semiautomatic rifle used in Newtown was the same kind of weapon our soldiers use in <a href="/topics//Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>. It was used in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater <a href="/topics//Slaughter_(band)">slaughter</a> in July and in the rampage at an Oregon shopping mall last week. It is considered the most popular rifle in the country. 
 The epidemic of mass shootings in our public places will not be stopped by the person with the fastest draw or the best arsenal or the truest aim. It will only be stopped when we rely on <a href="/topics//Common_(musician)">common</a> sense and sharply reduce the proliferation of semiautomatic firearms and large magazines of ammunition. 
 Until Friday, the chances of this happening, or even being discussed, didn't look strong. The issue merited little more than a peep in the presidential campaign. And weeks ago, a law took effect in <a href="/topics//Oklahoma">Oklahoma</a> allowing licensed firearms carriers -- 141,000 people there -- to openly take weapons into stores, banks and other public places. Some places have been debating whether to permit firearms in churches and on <a href="/topics//Higher_Education">college campuses</a>. 
 In short, our public discussion of guns and their regulation has been veering into a dark and dangerous place. Now it appears that a shift in our thinking has emerged in the most tragic way possible. 
 If nothing else, the violence that erupted in Newtown on Friday has reminded many Americans that a proliferation in our society of weapons designed to kill many people as quickly as possible doesn't make us safer. It makes us more vulnerable. And this insanity has to stop. 
 <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a>, who ran in 2008 on a promise of banning assault weapons, must now turn the tears into steel and lead the nation. He said Sunday night that Newtown was the fourth time in his presidency he has traveled to the site of a mass shooting. "We can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end," he said. 
 It's worth remembering that there have been other moments like this -- after the political assassinations of the 1960s and after the wounding of President <a href="/topics//Ronald_Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a> in 1981. Legislation is passed, years go by, the <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">National Rifle Association</a>, among others, steps up its lobbying and the nation winds up back where it started. 
 <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">Obama</a> was right when he said, "We can't accept events like this as routine. Are we really prepared to say we're powerless in the face of &nbsp;such carnage?" 
 The overwhelming emotion of <a href="/topics//Today_(NBC_Program)">today</a> is not necessarily permanent. Americans need to push back hard against the gun lobby. Starting now.

VPCONN17

Editorial: Time is now to stop gun carnage

Obama vigil -- cropped

Daniel Barden was a happy 7-year-old who lived in the same neighborhood as the young man accused of shooting 20 children Friday at their school, neighbors said.
Dylan Hockley, 6, was a playful boy whose family moved to the same Newtown neighborhood after living in England.
Both died Friday when their neighbor, Adam Lanza, opened fire in their school, killing 18 other children and six adults.
"Just normal, happy kids," said Nicole Germak, 12, who had attended Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the shootings occurred.
Daniel could often be seen playing around the neighborhood with friends, she said.
The Hockleys live very close to the home of Adam Lanza and his mother, Nancy Lanza, on Yogananda Street, in the leafy subdivision of two-story homes and manicured lawns, said Nicole's father, Nick Germak, who also lives in the neighborhood.
Police said Sunday that Lanza shot his mother multiple times in their home before going to the school.
The Hockleys have swing sets in their yard and are pleasant neighbors, Germak said. Chase Kowalski, 7, who also died in the attack, lived nearby as well, Germak said.
"Your heart breaks," he said.
Nicole added, "It's a lot to take."
Nick Germak said neighbors have been trying to come to grips with the deaths and the fact that they lived so close to the shooter.
"I think they're numb," he said.

Crime

LIKIDS17

Sandy Hook victims Daniel Barden, Dylan Hockley were 'just normal, happy kids'

Hockley Barden -- cropped

Another deadly shooting rampage has stunned our nation, this time in the quiet suburbs of <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>. Twenty-seven families have lost loved ones. Parents are preparing to <a href="/topics//Bury_FC">bury</a> their children. And hundreds of elementary school students in Newtown have suddenly been robbed of their innocence after hearing their classmates shot and killed over the PA system. 
 I cannot help but wonder - how much worse do things need to get for our country's leaders to begin addressing the gun violence that plagues us so? 
 For me this issue is deeply personal. I grew up in Southbury, just next door to Newtown, and in July, I almost died after a gunman opened fire on a crowded theater at the Century 16 in Aurora, Colo. Just a few minutes into the midnight showing of the new "Batman" movie, a tear-gas canister flew across the theater and shots rang out. I'll never forget the screams. 
 Though I was hit with 25 shotgun pellets in my face, neck, chest and arms, I was able to escape to safety. Twelve of my fellow moviegoers that night were not so lucky. 
 In the wake of Aurora, our country did what we so often do after suffering a national tragedy: We reflected, we mourned, we observed a moment of silence. Our elected officials in Washington offered their condolences, but little else. There was no action taken to ensure that something so horrific never happened again. Washington avoided starting a meaningful dialogue on gun violence, and the costs of that were tragic. 
 Just weeks after we said "never again," worshipers at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin were brutally murdered with guns. They were followed by several women in a beauty salon outside of suburban <a href="/topics//Milwaukee,_WI">Milwaukee</a>, shoppers in a mall near Portland, Ore., and most recently the young victims at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown. 
 After choking up on national television, <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Obama</a> reminded us that these children had lives ahead of them and future milestones that will go uncelebrated. Instead of opening holiday gifts this season, they'll be mourned by their parents, grandparents and siblings. 
 "Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter, and we'll tell them that we love them, and we'll remind each other how deeply we love one another," the president said at a press conference Friday. 
 His words are touching, but they do little for the victims' families, who won't take comfort in their loved ones' warm embrace tonight or tomorrow or the day after that. The sentiment will also be of little value to the 48,000 Americans who will be murdered by guns during <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Obama</a>'s second term. 
 We need our nation's lawmakers to begin a conversation on this epidemic of violence, and we need them to do it now. Now is the time to demand a plan. 
 They can begin with the issues we all agree upon. For all the passion and intensity of the debate over guns in America, there are commonsense reforms that people on all sides support, such as requiring background checks on all firearms purchases. 
 After all, 82 percent of gun owners - including 74 percent of <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">National Rifle Association</a> members - are in favor of such checks. They believe that support for <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">Second Amendment</a> rights goes hand-in-hand with keeping guns out of the wrong hands. 
 If only our country's leaders would begin with the sensible first steps that no one disagrees with, then perhaps 34 Americans won't be killed with guns every day. 
 We are all long overdue for a discussion on gun violence and there's no better time than now. We have painfully witnessed too many Americans dying in our streets, in our theaters and now in our schools. When will it be too much? 
 Stephen Barton, a native of Southbury, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., and a victim of the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., this past July, works for the bipartisan coalition <a href="/topics//Mayors_Against_Illegal_Guns">Mayors Against Illegal Guns</a>. He wrote this for the <a href="/topics//Hartford_Courant">Hartford Courant</a>.

OPPARTON17

Barton: How much worse does it have to get?

NEWTOWN, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>. -- An emotional <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a> told an overflow crowd gathered at Newtown High School Sunday night that the nation must protect its children by facing head-on the causes he said led up to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. 
 "We can't tolerate this any more," Obama told the crowd. "These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change." 
 He said he is going to use the power of the presidency to confront the shootings that killed so many Friday morning. 
 "It's our first job," said Obama, referring to protecting the young. "If we don't get that right, then we won't get anything right. That is how we will be judged . . . Can we honestly say we are doing enough to keep our children, all of us, safe from harm? . . . If we are honest with ourselves, the answer is no . . . we are not doing enough and we have to change." 
 Obama's plea for change came about an hour after clergy members representing nearby Christian, Jewish and Islamic houses of worship led the audience in prayer and first responders to the shootings received a standing ovation as they entered the school auditorium and hugged victims' families. 
 <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> Gov. Dannel Malloy introduced the president after he told the audience that when he sees the first snowfall of winter, he will be "thinking of the 27 souls lost just a few days ago . . . we will move on, we will never forget." 
 The president took the stage, his expression serious and his tone compassionate. 
 He was not specific and did not say the word "gun" in his address, but his intentions seemed clear: He will seek change when he returns to the capital. 
 "No single law, no set of laws can do it. But surely we can do better than this." 
 Obama said he will use the power of his office to engage politicians, law enforcement and others in "an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this because what choice do we have? We can't accept events like this as routine. Are we really prepared to say we are powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics is too hard?" 
 He said the loved ones of the 20 children and six adults struck down in the attack are joined by the nation in mourning. 
 Obama read the names of the 20 first-graders, between the ages of 6 and 7, who were shot multiple times by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who earlier had shot his mother to death inside their home. Lanza killed himself at the school. 
 "You are not alone in your grief," Obama said. "Our world too has been torn apart." 
 But throughout his address, the president remained focused also on what chain of events could have helped cause the carnage. 
 He said, "As a nation we face some hard questions." 
 Being a parent, Obama said, is like having your "heart outside your body, walking around." 
 Obama talked about the first responders who "had a job to do" for those who needed them. He spoke of the children struck down as they went about their school routine. 
 "I can only hope it helps for you to know you're not alone in your grief," the president said. "Whatever measure of comfort that we can provide, we will provide." 
 Religious leaders from several faiths led off the vigil with prayers and calls for comfort. 
 Obama sat in the front row of the auditorium as the clergy members led the audience in prayer and called on a higher power for comfort. 
 Malloy spoke of the song "Amazing Grace" and its meaning for the "family and spouses" of shooting victims. 
 A rabbi sang a traditional Hebrew prayer, Christian clergy offered up spiritual reflections, and an Islamic clergy member spoke of the Quran and "God's mercy and compassion." 
 Other clergy urged the crowd to remember the victims and share in the grieving. 
 "We pray for all those who lost," the Rev. Mel Kawakami of Newtown United Methodist Church told the crowd. "Help us to care for all those in their sorrow . . . we <a href="/topics//Embrace_(musician)">embrace</a> the grieving as our own." 
 Earlier, a crowd of hundreds slowly filed into the auditorium, which has a capacity of about 1,700. In a nearby overflow room -- a basketball gym -- sat another 1,000. 
 Still, others were turned away, unable to get into either building. Red Cross volunteers handed them blankets as they made their way into the cold, rainy night. 
 As many in the crowd left the high school in tears, Trumbull, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., resident Buali Naqvi said he attended because friends of his have children in the school district. He said Obama's speech was important because "he's the leader of our tribe. The whole world's looking to him. I think this was truly important." 
 Norwalk, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., resident Frank Falcone said he appreciated the unifying tone of the president's remarks. 
 "As a divided nation," Falcone said, "I'm sure we feel a lot more close together this season." 
 With AP

USOBAM17

Obama to Sandy Hook mourners: 'We can't tolerate this any more'

158450578

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Barry and Cheryl Ogowetsky brought a bouquet of flowers to a makeshift memorial outside Newtown High School. 
 It was a small gesture like so many others here in recent days. 
 Thousands of people trekked to this picturesque New England town on Sunday to pay respects and mourn with a community that is struggling in the aftermath of the mass killings of 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 
 Somehow, the Ogowetskys hoped, this latest tragedy would finally spur action in a nation obsessed with guns. 
 “How much lower does it have to go?” Barry Ogowetsky, of Yorktown Heights, said outside the high school, frustrated with the futile political debate over gun laws. “You’re shooting kindergarten kids.” 
 We’ve seen this sort of gun violence in this country – more recently in malls, movie theaters and temples. 
 This latest one in Newtown has spurred all sorts of emotions. Throughout the day, people lit candles, prayed and shared hugs with friends, loved ones and strangers. 
 Many tears were shed. And for so many people, there was no getting away from a discussion on guns. 
 Standing in front of a memorial along the town's main street, Jane Philbrick said she felt a sense of “muted despair” over this barbarism. It was about time for our political leaders show courage, she said. She hoped the president would seize the moment. 
 President Barack Obama acknowledged past events during an 18 minute speech at a vigil last night. He said it was the fourth time he’s grieved with families of this sort of violence and that a nation must protect its children. 
 “We can’t tolerate this anymore,” the president said, speaking in an auditorium at the high school. “This trend must end – and to end it, we must change.” 
 We must change. But will we? 
 Long after the emotions are a little less raw and the cameras and spotlight leave this town, will we demand change from our leaders? Will our voices be more resolute than any lobby or political inaction? 
 Let's hope so. 
 The issues are complex -- perhaps far more than just guns or mental health -- and they deserve a fair and complete airing. 
 That will take time. 
 For now, a town and nation are grieving. We must be there for them.

McKinstry: Long debates ahead; Sandy Hook needs support

McKinstry: Long debates ahead, but for now Sandy Hook needs our support

sandy hook shooting

Every parent or grandparent in America should make it a point to watch the agonizing CNN footage of Robbie Parker, the father of 6-year-old Emilie, one of the 20 first-graders killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday. 
 In his brave, tear-streaked accounting of his daughter's short life, he spoke with pride about the gifts of character and artistic talent that she was given; about the drawings or cards she created spontaneously to give to anyone whose spirits were down; about the way, in saying goodbye to him that morning, she told him she loved him, in Portuguese, a language he was teaching her. 
 Looking at Emilie's picture, listening to her dad, watching the photo of the family and thinking of her two younger sisters, who will never get over this, I felt tears welling up. I thought of my own grandchildren, but beyond that, of all the families that will endure this horror as long as they live: the immediate families, whose lives have been destroyed in a few minutes of madness; the children who survived the shooting, but may well end up suffering something very like post-traumatic stress disorder; the friends of those who died, and the children who endured hours of uncertainty Friday, wondering if close friends had been killed. Endless ripples of intersecting grief. 
 As it turns out, this tragedy has reached into my own family. The first details I heard about the murders on Friday came in a phone call from my daughter, Rachel, who had just arrived in Dallas on a visit to my son-in-law Noel's family. They had just picked up news of the shootings on their phones, and saw that they had taken place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. My nephew, Frank Milano, lives there with his wife and three sons. "Dad, are Frank's kids OK??" she asked, with a shaky, nervous edge in her voice. 
 Thankfully for our family, Frank lives just over three miles from the school, and his sons attend other schools. But the shootings did not leave them untouched. One of the children murdered was an <a href="/topics//Occupational_Therapy">occupational therapy</a> client of Frank's wife, Lauren. And the best friend of Frank's son Alex attends Sandy Hook. His friend emerged OK. But for Frank -- and for Lauren, suffering a deep grief over a student she had come to know so well -- explaining all this to their children, Lucas, Alex and Tristan, and helping them to cope with the thick, persistent fog of grief in the community, won't be easy. 
 If this obscenity, this slaughter of the innocents, does not finally make us look at what we have become as a nation and do something substantive and real to change it, what it will take? We are an incredibly violent nation, where the attitude toward guns is almost idolatrous. Fueled by a righteous anger over this event, we must do something to curb the power of the high priests of gun worship, the <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">National Rifle Association</a>, and to send a stern warning to their lackeys in <a href="/topics//U.S._Congress">Congress</a>. 
 The NRA will trot out its insane refrain, "Guns don't kill people; people kill people." But mentally ill people, like the young man who took these lives, can kill far fewer people with fists or knives. We'll never be able to predict those whose illness will turn them homicidal, but we can at least make it as difficult as possible for them to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Even in the Supreme Court's disastrous decision that the <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">Second Amendment</a> gives private citizens a constitutional right to weapons, there's room for regulation. Let's do it. 
 Our first reaction to this event was: "Not again!" Now it has to pivot quickly to: "Never again!" 
 Bob Keeler is a member of the Newsday editorial board.

OPKEE17

Keeler: Let agony of Sandy Hook shootings spur us to confront NRA

Vigil --- cropped

Eitan Kilchevsky, 62, a neonatologist at Danbury Hospital, helped take care of Caroline Previdi when she was born and followed her progress through her aunt. 
 On Sunday he recalled what he tells all families when they first take home their child. 
 "We tell the parents, 'The kid is OK, the kid is fine, we don't see any problem, go home, raise her and be happy,' " he said. "You tell them, 'Invite me to their wedding.' " 
 Instead, Kilchevsky will attend Caroline's funeral, he said. She was one of 20 children gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 
 "You send a baby home with hopes of a long life of happiness and in a loving family," he said. "Now what do you tell them? There was so much ahead of her, so much potential. You see her and she is gorgeous and developing and growing. It's like you go from the height of happiness to the bottom of darkness."

LIDOC17

Doctor remembers Sandy Hook victim Caroline Previdi

Caroline Previdi

Caroline Previdi -- cropped

Mourners filled church pews Sunday morning, holding tight to loved ones and seeking answers that may never come. 
Others gathered throughout the day at the <a href="/topics//Christmas">Christmas</a> tree in the Sandy Hook neighborhood or makeshift outdoor memorials, leaving flowers, toys and other gifts, small gestures for the community as it grapples with unbearable pain two days after 26 people -- including 20 children ages 6 and 7 -- were shot dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
After dark, they poured into the Newtown High School auditorium for an interfaith prayer vigil, joined by <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a>, who earlier met with families of victims and first responders.
The entire community about 60 miles north of New York City was in mourning.
Stacey Premus, 44, took her three children to morning services at St. Rose of Lima <a href="/topics//Roman_Catholic_Church">Roman Catholic Church</a>, hoping to share her grief and ease the pain that left her 6-year-old daughter crying for "the children [that] don't have their mommies and daddies."
"It helps us to start to heal and come together as a community, to comfort one another," Premus said. "It's going to take a long time to heal from this."
On Friday morning, police said, gunman <a href="/topics//ADAM_(designer)">Adam</a> Lanza, 20, forced his way into the elementary school and opened fire before taking his own life. Before going to the school, Lanza had fatally shot his mother at the home they shared about 5 miles away, authorities said. 
At St. John's <a href="/topics//Episcopal_Church">Episcopal Church</a> in Sandy Hook Sunday, the Rev. Mark Moore implored his followers to reach out.
"If there is a lesson to be learned, it is that cataclysmic events can happen," he said. "Ordinary people living ordinary lives in an ordinary town live largely at the mercy of forces not in our control . . . We can escape into our own cocoons or reach out in love and understanding."
Services at St. Rose of Lima were disrupted Sunday by a telephone threat, police said. The church was evacuated as a precaution, rubbing raw residents' already jangled nerves.
Phyllis Grisanti, 66, of Lafayette, N.J., visited the church hoping to console residents. 
"We brought 20 white roses for the kids and six red roses for the adults," she said. "As sad as it is, it feels good being here."
But the evacuation prevented Grisanti and her husband from entering the church during the last Mass when they arrived shortly before 1 p.m.
Nancy Elis, 66, of nearby Southbury, cried about the tragedy, compounded by the threat to the church.
"This is the house of God. This is where people come to be comforted," Elis said tearfully. "This is not where these things should be happening."
Jennifer Waters, 6, went to the 9 a.m. Mass with questions.
"The little children -- are they with the angels?" she asked her mother while fiddling with a small plastic figurine on a pew near the back of the church. Her mother, Joan Waters, 45, assured her they were.
All around Newtown are reminders of the tragedy: 27 Christmas trees, donated anonymously, and decorated by residents; a collection of tiny tan and brown teddy bears sitting atop a stone ledge near the entrance to the school. 
Gregor and Christina Aleksiejczuk adorned a community Christmas tree with 27 angels. Other ornaments and teddy bears on the tree also memorialized the victims.
The tree -- placed near the Stevenson Dam by the Riverside Fire Company in Oxford every year -- will showcase angel figures each year from now on, Christina Aleksiejczuk said.
"Every year we will be putting 27 angels on it so there will always be Christmas for them," Christina said. "I feel so much compassion for those parents who lost little ones."
Residents have shown solidarity in the wake of the shooting by changing their social media profile pictures to the town's seal.
The seal depicts a rooster and "1705," the year of the town's founding, ringed by the words "Town of Newtown." It has been showing up on social media websites such as <a href="/topics//Facebook">Facebook</a>, said Nicole Germak, 12, who attended Sandy Hill Elementary three years ago.
"Everyone knows one of the families that is a victim," Nicole said. 
The grief extended beyond Newtown.
On <a href="/topics//Long_Island,_NY">Long Island</a>, Peter Moloney, who co-owns Moloney's Lake Funeral Home &amp; Cremation Center in <a href="/topics//Lake_Ronkonkoma,_NY">Lake Ronkonkoma</a> with his brother Dan, organized a candlelight memorial service for Tuesday at 7 p.m. in memory of the shooting victims. 
"We got involved with this because we felt it was close to us," said Moloney, 48, of <a href="/topics//Patchogue,_NY">Patchogue</a>. "I have kids. When I heard about it, I cried. I think the community and people need to feel like there's a place they can come together and pay tribute to these people." With Lauren R. Harrison, Tania E. Lopez, Candice Ruud, Nicholas Spangler, Brittany Wait, Patrick Whittle and AP

USLIFT17

Newtown seeks solace in church as world mourns Sandy Hook school shooting

Conn Shooting - cropped

Friday morning, a madman attacked more than 20 children at an elementary school in <a href="/topics//China">China</a>. As of this writing, there are no reported fatalities. 
 A few hours later, a madman attacked an elementary school in <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>. As of this writing, 20 of those kids are dead. 
 The difference? The weapon. The madman in <a href="/topics//China">China</a> had a knife. The madman in <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> had semi-automatic pistols. 
 Look up <a href="/topics//Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a>'s list of the worst school massacres in history, and you'll see the pattern. Madmen are everywhere. They strike without regard to <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun laws</a>, mental health care or the national rate of churchgoing. 
 They've slaughtered children in every country you'd think might have been spared: Scotland, Germany, <a href="/topics//Canada">Canada</a>, Brazil, <a href="/topics//Finland">Finland</a>, Japan. They've falsified every pet political theory about what kind of culture or medical system or firearms legislation prevents mass murder. 
 But one pattern holds true: The faster the weapon, the higher the body count. 
 It's not politics. It's logistics. If you stick a knife in your first victim, it takes time to move on to your second. You might need two stabs or more to finish off the first kid. By then, the other kids have begun to flee. Soon, the cops will be here. How much time do you have? At some point, it's time to off yourself. And all you managed to kill were two kids because the only weapon you had was a kitchen knife. 
 <a href="/topics//Google_Inc.">Google</a> "knife control" and you'll find legions of gun-control skeptics comparing U.S. firearm attacks to Chinese knife attacks. 
 In the past two years, there's been an epidemic of knife attacks on Chinese schools. Some of them show up on <a href="/topics//Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a>'s list of school massacres. But none crack the top 10 because the body counts never rise above single digits. It's just too hard to kill that many people, even little kids, with a knife. 
 Guns do more damage. Look down the list and you'll see gun after gun after gun. But not all guns are equal. 
 I've gone through the 25 worst massacres on the chart, and nearly every shooter had a semi-automatic weapon. The one exception was a guy who had speedloaders and a bandolier so he could keep firing. The shooter in <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> reportedly had used <a href="/topics//Glock">Glock</a> and Sig Sauer semiautomatic pistols and possessed a semi-automatic assault rifle that could fire as many as six bullets per second. 
 High-capacity magazines are another <a href="/topics//Common_(musician)">common</a> factor. All these patterns <a href="/topics//Converge_(musician)">converge</a> on a <a href="/topics//Common_(musician)">common</a> lesson: Speed kills. Madness pulls the trigger, but the rate of fire drives the body count. 
 It's not all about guns, either. 
 The worst Chinese school massacre by a knife-wielding madman wasn't caused by the knife. The perpetrator used the knife to scare the kids and make them retreat to the back of a classroom. Then he locked them inside and killed them by starting a fire. 
 Right below him on the list is a guy in Germany who killed one victim with a lance and the rest with a flamethrower that ignited a classroom. Knives and lances take too long. It's more efficient to kill everyone at once. That's what the record-holder did: He wiped out more than 40 victims with a series of bombs in 1927. 
 I wish we could pass a magic law that would stop madmen from killing our children. We can't. 
 There will always be angry lunatics. There will always be knives and shotguns and gasoline. I don't think banning guns will make the problem go away. 
 We don't need another all-or-nothing war between pro-gun and anti-gun ideologues. What we need is a frank, precise, constructive conversation about the problem of high-speed weapons. 
 You don't need rapid-fire weapons to hunt or defend your home. Cops don't need them to shoot down bad guys. And while it's true that passing a law against them won't eliminate them, that's not an argument against legislation. It's an argument for going beyond legislation. The community of gun sellers and enthusiasts must act collectively to track and control the technology of mass murder. 
 Every child who died in that school in Connecticut Friday was precious. To lose even one young life in such a senseless way is a gut-wrenching tragedy. But this I know: It didn't have to be 20. 
 Saletan covers science, technology and politics for Slate.

OPSALTEN16

Saletan: One lesson from Sandy Hook: The faster the weapon, the higher the body count

The 20-year-old gunman shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School carrying hundreds of bullets, firing multiple times at each of his 26 victims, then killing himself with a handgun as authorities were closing in, officials said Sunday.
Adam Lanza, who forever changed the history of this quiet New England town, had shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, in the face at their home before driving her car to the school on Friday, police said.
<a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> Gov. Dannel P. <a href="/topics//Dannel_P_Malloy">Malloy</a> said Lanza killed himself as first responders were closing in on him. Investigators say the children were killed in two separate classrooms. 
"We surmise that it was during the second classroom episode that he heard responders coming and apparently at that, decided to take his own life," Malloy said on <a href="/topics//ABC">ABC</a>'s "This Week."
Investigators are still interviewing witnesses and would not give any indication as to a motive. But Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said he was confident questions about the second-worst school shooting in the United States would ultimately be answered.
He said all of the victims at the school, including 20 first-graders and six adults, were shot with a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle and that "numerous" magazines were emptied at the scene. Lanza, a quiet young man described as developmentally disabled and who struggled socially, had hundreds of bullets that went unused, Vance said. 
"There was a lot of ammo, a lot of clips," he said. "Certainly a lot of lives were potentially saved" by first responders approaching the school.
Detectives executed several search warrants at Lanza's home and have seized a lot of evidence, Vance said, but he would not elaborate on what they found. 
Phoned-in threat to churchAs the community mourned Sunday, they turned to churches and each other for comfort and support. St. Rose of Lima <a href="/topics//Roman_Catholic_Church">Roman Catholic Church</a> hosted three packed Masses in the morning. In the afternoon, however, the building was evacuated because of a phoned-in threat, police said. 
The rectory and church were scoured by law enforcement officials, their weapons drawn. Vance would not provide details about the nature of the call.
Such threats and any social media "misinformation" that is "threatening" and "inaccurate" will be investigated and anyone creating or sending such information would be prosecuted, he said.
On some social media outlets, including <a href="/topics//Facebook">Facebook</a>, postings purport to come from Lanza.
"It is important to know that we have discussed with federal authorities that these issues are crimes," Vance said during a news conference. "They will be investigated statewide and federally and prosecution will take place when people perpetrating this information are identified." 
The State Police have 250 troopers investigating the shootings and Newtown Police Department detectives, ATF, <a href="/topics//Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation">FBI</a>, the Connecticut forensic laboratory and municipal agencies are all assisting. Vance called the group "the best of the best."
The weapons uncovered, including a shotgun in Lanza's car parked at the school, are being traced "back to the workbench where they were being assembled," he said.
"I am confident we will put every single resource we have into this investigation and will answer every question possible by the conclusion of this case," Vance said. 
Law enforcement officials said Lanza visited an area shooting range but they have not concluded whether he actually practiced there, The Associated Press reported. Ginger Colburn, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, would not identify the range or say how recently he was there. 
Lanza's mother visited shooting ranges several times but it's not clear if she took her son or if he'd ever fired a gun there, Colburn said. The AP reported that Lanza's mother was shot four times while dressed in her pajamas.
Nancy Lanza, 52, owned guns for self-defense, her former sister-in-law, Marsha Lanza, of Crystal Lake, Ill., told CNN, although "she never felt threatened, or she would have said something."
The weapons found at the scene of the shooting were legally purchased by Nancy Lanza, CNN reported.
At Newtown High School, Adam Lanza would have crises that only his mother could defuse, a family friend told the AP.
"He would have an episode, and she'd have to return or come to the high school and deal with it," said Richard Novia, the school district's head of security until 2008, who got to know the family because both Lanza sons joined the school technology club he chartered.
With Adam Lanza, it "wasn't a rebellious or defiant thing," Novia said. "It was withdrawal."
Police say the shootings took place in a single section of the school, including classrooms and a hallway, but would not say specifically where the bodies were found.
Newtown police Lt. George Sinko said it's unclear whether the surviving students will ever return to the campus. 
"It's too early to say, but I would find it very difficult for them to do that," he said, adding that children might be moved to another school.
While police continue their investigation and schools around the country assess their safety, local, state and federal elected officials are calling for another look at stricter <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun control</a> laws. But such debates offer little relief to a struggling community.
Nancy Elis, 66, lives 10 minutes from Newtown and visited Sunday to connect with local residents. She was still stunned Sunday by the violence at the school and by the new threat against the church.
"You don't see that in a little town like this," she said. "You see it on television, you see it in a big city environment, you see it in a war zone, you don't see it here. It just feels so wrong."
With Tania Lopez, Nicholas Spangler, Patrick Whittle, Candice Ruud, Lauren R. Harrison and Bill Bleyer

USMAIN17

Officials: Adam Lanza shot way into Sandy Hook Elementary

<a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> Mayor <a href="/topics//Michael_Bloomberg">Michael Bloomberg</a> Sunday demanded that <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a> "stand up," make federal gun-control legislation his top priority and push back at weapons lobbyists. 
 "It's time for the president to . . . lead and tell this country what we should do, not go to <a href="/topics//U.S._Congress">Congress</a> and say, 'What do you guys want to do?' " Bloomberg said, speaking on NBC's "Meet The Press" about the fatal assault Friday on a <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> school. 
 He noted that <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">Obama</a> campaigned in 2008 on an assault weapons ban. "The only gun legislation that the president has signed since then was one that gave the right to carry a gun in national parks, where our kids play, and one that gave the right to carry guns on <a href="/topics//Amtrak">Amtrak</a> . . ." Bloomberg said. 
 A shooting such as the one in Newtown, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., where 27 people were killed, including 20 first-graders, "only happens in America. And it happens again and again," he said. "We've just got to stop this . . . We don't need military assault weapons with big magazines on the streets of our cities." 
 Bloomberg called for new legislation banning assault weapons with large magazines. And he called for a law that would close a loophole that allows people to buy and sell weapons at gun shows without undergoing background checks. 
 Bloomberg's message was echoed by Long Island congresswoman <a href="/topics//Carolyn_McCarthy">Carolyn McCarthy</a>, who said on CNN that the president needs to deliver on his Friday call for "meaningful action" on <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun control</a>. 
 Also on "Meet The Press," <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> Gov. Dannel Malloy said part of the solution is better care for the mentally ill. But Malloy also noted that <a href="/topics//U.S._Congress">Congress</a> allowed the ban on assault weapons to lapse in 2004. And Democratic Sen. <a href="/topics//Dianne_Feinstein">Dianne Feinstein</a> of California said on the show that she'll revive her plan to ban new assault weapons. 
 Bloomberg said <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">Obama</a> and members of Congress should not cower under the perceived political might of the <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">National Rifle Association</a>, calling its clout "a myth." 
 "This should be his No. 1 agenda" during his second term, Bloomberg said of Obama, who he noted was re-elected despite opposition from the <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">NRA</a>. "If he does nothing during his second term, something like 48,000 Americans will be killed with illegal guns. That is roughly the number of Americans killed in the whole <a href="/topics//Vietnam_War">Vietnam War</a>." 
 The <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">NRA</a> could not be reached and its website made no mention of the shooting. But Gun Owners of America, a Springfield, Va., lobbying group, has since called for the repeal of the Federal Gun Free Schools Zone Act, saying that because the law forbids most adults working in schools to carry firearms on the premises, they can't protect themselves and their students from attackers. 
 The White House offered no response. 
 "Nobody questions the <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">Second Amendment</a>'s right to bear arms," the mayor said. "I don't think the founding fathers had the idea that every man, woman and child could carry an assault weapon." 
 Despite the chorus of calls for gun-control reform, Rep. <a href="/topics//Peter_King">Peter King</a> (R-<a href="/topics//Seaford,_NY">Seaford</a>) said Sunday he was "not hopeful" that legislation would pass through Congress, given similar failed attempts for reforms following previous mass shootings. 
 "Based on what I've seen over the last 10 years, I'm not hopeful," <a href="/topics//Peter_King">King</a> said. "In the last several years, we've seen <a href="/topics//Virginia_Tech">Virginia Tech</a>, <a href="/topics//Gabrielle_Giffords">Gabby Giffords</a>, the shooting at a movie theater in <a href="/topics//Colorado">Colorado</a> and countless others, but there continues to be opposition." 
 <a href="/topics//Peter_King">King</a> said he is a proponent of "meaningful" reform and voted in favor of the assault weapons ban back in 1994. He has sponsored a measure to prevent those on the federal terrorist watch list from purchasing weapons. 
 Meanwhile, McCarthy, a <a href="/topics//Mineola,_NY">Mineola</a> <a href="/topics//U.S._Democratic_Party">Democrat</a> whose husband was killed and son wounded during an assault on passengers on a <a href="/topics//Long_Island_Rail_Road">Long Island Rail Road</a> train in 1993, said on CNN, "The attitudes of the American people are a little bit different than they were on Friday." 
 McCarthy also wrote to Obama on Sunday asking for action to improve the background-check system. "I ask you to immediately improve the flow of information into the system by requiring all federal agencies to share relevant information," she wrote. 
 With Laura Figueroa, AP and Scripps Howard News Service

USGUNS17

Sandy Hook shootings prompt Bloomberg, politicians to seek tough new gun laws, enforcement

bloomberg - crop

Most of the lives lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting were those of children, who had every reason to hope for a bright future. 
 They were precisely attending that rural school, in a idyllic New England town in <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>, because their parents wanted to give them the best life has to offer. 
 And though their lives were short, they would be remembered by those who loved them -- and a nation in mourning for the killing of its innocent. 
 Daniel Barden 
 Daniel Barden was a happy seven-year-old who lived in the same neighborhood as <a href="/topics//ADAM_(designer)">Adam</a> Lanza and his mother, neighbors said. 
 Barden could often be seen playing with friends in the neighborhood, a subdivision of about 200 manicured homes set on a tree-lined hill, said Nicole Germak, 12, who lives in the neighborhood. 
 "It's a lot to take," said Germak, who attended Sandy Hook Elementary until three years ago. 
 Germak's father, Nick Germak, said neighbors have been coming to grips with the deaths - and the fact that they lived so close to the shooter. 
 "I think they're numb," Germak said. 
 Dylan Hockley 
 Dylan Hockley, 6, was a playful boy whose family moved to the Newtown area after living in England, a neighbor said. 
 The Hockley family lives near the Lanza home on Yogananda Street in the subdivision of stately two-story homes. The Hockleys have swingsets in their front yard and are pleasant neighbors, Germak said. 
 The neighborhood was also home to victims Chase Kowalski, 7, and Daniel Barden, 6, said Germak. 
 "Just normal, happy kids," added Germak's daughter, Nicole, 12, who is a former Sandy Hook Elementary School student. 
 Charlotte Bacon, 6 
 JoAnn Bacon had bought her daughter a new <a href="/topics//Pink_(singer)">pink</a> dress and boots for the holidays. 
 But Charlotte, an outgoing girl with long and curly red hair, couldn't wait, said her uncle on her mother's side, John Hagen, of Nisawa, <a href="/topics//Minnesota">Minnesota</a>. 
 She kept asking to wear her new outfit. 
 On Friday, her mother gave in. She let her wear the dress and boots and did her hair special for the end of the school week. 
 Hagen said his sister "was quite happy Charlotte was able to wear her dress and boots" but no one could have imagined it would be the last day they would see her alive. 
 Her older brother, Guy, was also in the school but survived the shootings. 
 Her parents, JoAnn and Joel, who had lived in Newtown for four or five years, and their extended family felt numb after the shooting, Hagen said. 
 "She was going to go some places in this world," Hagen said. "This little girl could light up the room for anyone." 
 Ana Marquez-Greene, 6 
 Ana Marquez-Greene spent last year's holidays reveling in celebrations with her extended family in her first trip to Puerto Rico. 
 The family had moved to <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> just two months ago but did not get to celebrate the holidays in their new home. The family arrived there from <a href="/topics//Canada">Canada</a>, drawn in part by Sandy Hook's pristine reputation, said her grandmother Elba Marquez. 
 She said the child's 9-year-old brother was also at the school, but escaped safely. 
 Grandmother Elba Marquez had visited the new home over <a href="/topics//Thanksgiving">Thanksgiving</a> and was perplexed at the killings. 
 "It was a beautiful place, just beautiful," she said. "What happened does not match up with the place where they live." 
 Noah Pozner, 6 
 The reason the parents of six-year-old Noah moved from <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> to <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> was so the boy, his twin sister and older sister could attend Newtown's top schools and live in a safe community, said the victim's uncle. 
 The child had just visited with family last Saturday, said <a href="/topics//Arthur_(designer)">Arthur</a> Pozner, of Brooklyn, who had only praise for his little nephew, now counted among the victims. 
 "Extremely, extremely mature -- when I was his age, I was not like him," Pozner said. "Very well brought up. Extremely bright. Extremely bright." 
 The boy's twin sister and 8-year-old sister were also students at the school, but they had not been hurt, Pozner said. He had not been able to reach the <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> family to see how they were coping with the tragedy. 
 "At this stage, two out of three survived... That's sad," he said. "The reason they moved to that area is because they did not consider any school in <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> State on the same level -- that's one of the reasons they moved, for safety and education." 
 Grace McDonnell, 7 
 Grace, "a real cute little blonde girl with blue eyes," lived in a house that was still was still "all ablaze with <a href="/topics//Christmas">Christmas</a> lights" on the night after she was killed, neighbor Todd Werden told the <a href="/topics//Washington_Post_Company">Washington Post</a>. 
 On many mornings, the Werdens saw Grace's father, Christopher McDonnell, a competitive runner, out for jog. The two families shared a school bus stop. 
 "It's heartbreaking, just heartbreaking," Werden said. "It's just unfathomable." 
 Chase Kowalski, 7 
 Chase was always outside, playing in the backyard, riding his bicycle. Just last week, he was visiting neighbor Kevin Grimes, telling him about completing -- and winning -- his first mini-triathlon. 
 "You couldn't think of a better child," Grimes said. 
 Grimes' own five children all attended Sandy Hook, too. Cars lined up outside the Kowalski's ranch home Saturday, and a state trooper's car idled in the driveway. Grimes spoke of the boy only in the present tense. 
 Emilie Parker, 6 
 Robbie Parker said his daughter Emilie -- a girl of bright blue eyes and shock of blond hair -- was the light of his life. 
 She was the kind of little girl who would try anything new and different, except food. She carried a piece of paper and crayons with her everywhere she went. She colored homemade cards for her friends and family when they were sad or didn't feel well. 
 She taught her little sisters, ages 4 and 3, how to dance and read. She kissed their boo-boos. 
 "She always had something kind to say about anybody," he said. 
 Parker said he and his wife don't know how to proceed after her death. But he knows their daughter left the world a better place, simply for having been in it. 
 Parker had one last memory to treasure from her. He had been teaching Emilie to speak a second language and the last time he saw her, as he headed off to work as a physician's assistant, she greeted him in Portuguese. 
 Catherine Hubbard, 6 
 A family friend turned reporters away from the house but Catherine’s parents released a statement expressing gratitude to emergency responders and for the supportive community. 
 “We are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter, Catherine Violet and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have been affected by this tragedy,” Jennifer and Matthew Hubbard said. “We ask that you continue to pray for us and the other families who have experienced loss in this tragedy.” 
 Madeleine Hsu, 6 
 Dr. Matthew Velsmid was at Madeleine’s house Saturday, tending to her stricken family. He said the family did not want to comment. 
 Velsmid said that after learned of the shooting, he went to the triage area to provide medical assistance but there were no injuries to treat. 
 “We were waiting for casualties to come out and there was nothing. There was no need unfortunately,” he said. “This is the darkest thing I’ve ever walked into by far.” 
 Velsmid’s daughter, who attends another school, lost three of her friends.

USVICT16

Sandy Hook's youngest victims remembered as innocent children

Boys composite

NEWTOWN, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>. -- The gunman who killed 20 first-graders and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school, shooting many multiple times, used a military-style rifle rigged to quickly reload, the state's chief medical examiner said Saturday. 
 Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, the medical examiner, said the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown died Friday morning from "a very devastating set of injuries." 
 Carver said of the seven autopsies he personally performed, the victims had "three to 11 wounds apiece" and were shot in the head, extremities and torso -- two of them at close range. 
 "I believe everybody was hit more than once," he said. 
 Carver said the shooter was able to reload so quickly because he had taped two magazines together. 
 Carver said he couldn't say with certainty whether the victims had suffered painful deaths, but added: "If so, not for very long." 
 All the child victims were first-graders, Carver said -- the slain teachers were discovered in classrooms, while the principal and school psychologist were found in the school hallway. 
 Of the 4,000 autopsies Carver said he has performed, and of the 40,000 to 50,000 autopsies he has overseen in his career spanning more than three decades, "This is the worst I've seen." 
 As the town woke up to another day of mourning, the motive behind the rampage remained a mystery. While few details about the shootings emerged yesterday, more heartbreaking stories surfaced. 
 Robbie Parker, 30, said he had kissed his 6-year-old daughter Emilie, who died in the shooting, one last time before heading to work Friday. 
 "She said that she loved me and I gave her a kiss and I was out the door," Parker said. 
 He said his daughter was "the type of person that could just light up a room. This world is a better place because she's been in it." 
 A survivor of the rampage, third-grader Maleeha Ali, said, "I heard screaming, crying and I also heard guns . . . I'd never heard that before." 
 Her mother, Sabeena Ali, said her daughter told her after the shooting: "One good thing happened today. I didn't die." 
 Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said police have "some very good evidence" that will enable investigators "in hopefully painting the complete picture as to how, and more importantly why, this occurred." He declined to elaborate. 
 Carver said families identified victims not personally at the morgue, but through post-mortem photographs that officials showed them. 
 As parents continued to cope with their losses, Connecticut Gov. <a href="/topics//Dannel_P_Malloy">Dannel P. Malloy</a> called for love, courage and compassion. He said the time for a discussion about public policy would come in the future, but that for now, "We can hug someone we love a little tighter." 
 After the gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, burst into the school Friday morning wearing dark clothing, children as young as 5 hid in corners and closets, or cowered under their desks. 
 Meanwhile, the school's principal, Dawn Hochsprung, sacrificed her life, school officials said, trying to protect the children from the gunman, who had forced his way into the school. 
 "He was not voluntarily let into the school at all," said Vance, who did not explain how Lanza had gained entry. 
 Town officials said Hochsprung died while lunging at the gunman in an attempt to overtake him. 
 Police on Saturday released the identities of the victims. Of the 20 children, 16 of them were 6 years old. The other four children were 7 years old. All were in the first grade. 
 Officials said the shooter fatally shot himself at the school. Law enforcement sources said the shooter's mother was found dead in the home she shared with her son. 
 Carver said he would perform an autopsy on Lanza and his mother, Nancy Lanza, 52, this morning. A sheriff in <a href="/topics//New_Hampshire">New Hampshire</a>, where Nancy Lanza once lived, read a statement Saturday, saying the family is trying to understand "the tremendous loss." 
 <a href="/topics//Rockingham_County,_NH">Rockingham County</a>, N.H., Sheriff <a href="/topics//Michael_Downing">Michael Downing</a> said Nancy Lanza's brother James Champion, a retired police captain in Kingston, N.H., and other relatives express their "heartfelt sorrow" and "the whole family is traumatized by this event." 
 Newtown school Superintendent <a href="/topics//Janet_L._Robinson">Janet Robinson</a> said Saturday that there was no evidence that Nancy Lanza was a teacher at the school, as previous news reports had indicated. 
 Asked about reports that Adam Lanza, a former student, had an altercation at the school a few days before the shooting, Vance said police received no such report. 
 Lanza, who according to law enforcement sources was developmentally disabled, shot his mother then drove to the school in her car with at least three of her guns and opened fire in two classrooms around 9:30 a.m. Friday, said law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity. 
 Two handguns -- a <a href="/topics//Glock">Glock</a> and a Sig Sauer -- were found inside the school, and a .223-caliber rifle was also recovered, according to news reports. Only the rifle was used on the victims, authorities said. 
 Peter Lanza, the father of the gunman, made his first public comments yesterday, saying in a statement, "Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected." He said "no words can truly express how heartbroken we are" and that relatives are "in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can." 
 Meanwhile, <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a> used his weekly radio address to offer solace and prayers. "Every parent in America has a heart heavy with hurt," the president said. 
 <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">Obama</a> called on Americans to extend a hand to the families of the victims, and come together "to take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this. Regardless of the politics." 
 The White House said <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">Obama</a> will meet Sunday with families of the victims and speak at a memorial service. 
 Mourners on Saturday left flowers, stuffed animals and candles near the school's entrance. And a local florist left an arrangement of 20 teddy bears in the shape of a heart -- one toy for each child who died. With AP

USMAIN16

ME: Adam Lanza's rifle rigged to reload quickly; Sandy Hook autopsies 'worst I've seen'

Teachers tried to shield children in the line of fire with their own bodies. 
 The school principal and school psychologist sprinted from a meeting to try to stop the gunman. A woman who, relatives said, was born to be a teacher gave her life doing what she loved. 
 When shots rang out at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, educators and school staff faced danger, clearly motivated by one overriding concern: The children. 
 Dawn Hochsprung 
 Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Hochsprung lost her life lunging at the gunman in an attempt to overpower him, Newtown officials said. 
 Hochsprung's pride in Sandy Hook Elementary was clear. She regularly tweeted photos from her time as principal there, giving indelible glimpses of life at a place now known for tragedy. Just this week, it was an image of fourth-graders rehearsing for their winter concert; days before that, of the tiny hands of kindergartners exchanging play money at their makeshift grocery store. 
 She viewed her school as a model, telling The Newtown Bee newspaper in 2010 that "I don't think you could find a more positive place to bring students to every day." 
 She had worked to make Sandy Hook a place of safety, too, and in October, Hochsprung, 47, shared a picture of the school's evacuation drill with the message "Safety first." 
 When the unthinkable came, she was ready to defend. 
 Diane Day, a therapist at the school, told The <a href="/topics//Wall_Street_Journal">Wall Street Journal</a> that she was in a meeting with Hochsprung about 9:30 a.m. when they heard shots. Hochsprung and a school psychologist ran toward the sound of the gunfire, Day said. 
 "She had an extremely likable style about her," said Gerald Stomski, first selectman of <a href="/topics//Woodbury,_NY">Woodbury</a>, where Hochsprung lived and had taught. "She was an extremely charismatic principal while she was here." 
 A month ago, she dressed up as the Sandy Hook Book Fairy -- wearing a crown and a dress that lighted up -- to inspire first-graders to read. 
 "She was always enthusiastic, always smiling, always game to do anything," said Kristin Larson, the former secretary of the school's PTA. "When I saw her at the beginning of the school year, she was hugging everyone." 
 "She was an educator," Larson said, her voice choked with emotion as she spoke by phone. "She wanted them to do well in school, but she also wanted them to have fun." 
 Hochsprung was married to George Hochsprung, and is the mother of two daughters and three stepdaughters, according to a 2010 article in the Newtown Bee. She became Sandy Hook's principal in 2010. Before that, she had worked for 12 years as an administrator in public schools. 
 Lynn Wasik, whose daughter attends Sandy Hook, said Hochsprung could often be seen crouching down to speak to her students at eye level. "She connected with the children," Wasik said. 
 Mary Sherlach 
 Friday morning, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, threw herself into the danger. 
 Janet Robinson, the superintendent of Newtown Public Schools, said Sherlach and the school's principal ran toward the gunman. 
 Even as Sherlach neared retirement, her job at Sandy Hook was one she loved. Those who knew her called her a wonderful neighbor, a beautiful person, a dedicated educator. 
 Her son-in-law, Eric Schwartz, told the South Jersey Times that Sherlach rooted for the <a href="/topics//Miami_Dolphins">Miami Dolphins</a>, enjoyed visiting the Finger Lakes, and relished helping children overcome their problems. She had planned to leave work early on Friday, he said. 
 In a news conference Saturday, he told reporters the loss was devastating. 
 "Mary felt like she was doing God's work," he said, "working with the children." 
 Lauren Rousseau 
 Lauren Rousseau had always wanted to be a teacher and was living the life she wanted when she found herself in the killer's <a href="/topics//Path.com">path</a> Friday. 
 Her parents said that the 30-year-old substitute teacher lived in nearby Danbury with her mother, and was a loving and hardworking woman who cared about the children she taught and was planning for her future. 
 "She didn't leave school at 3 o'clock or whatever and went home and forgot about them," said her father, Gilles Rousseau, of Southbury, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>. "It was on her mind the whole night." 
 And that was because she was truly living her life's dream, her parents said. 
 "Lauren wanted to be a teacher from before she even went to kindergarten," said her mother, Teresa Rousseau, in a statement. "We will miss her terribly and will take comfort knowing that she had achieved that dream." 
 Rousseau had worked hard to get to where she was. She got her bachelor's degree from the <a href="/topics//University_of_Connecticut">University of Connecticut</a>, where she had lived on campus, and had a master's degree in elementary education from the University of <a href="/topics//Bridgeport,_CT">Bridgeport</a>. 
 She had worked as a substitute teacher in Danbury, New Milford and Newtown before she was hired in November as a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook. 
 Her father said that she had trouble getting a full-time job and was so happy when she landed the Sandy Hook job. She also worked at <a href="/topics//Starbucks_Corp">Starbucks</a> in Danbury and catered, he said. 
 Rousseau had two younger brothers, Matthew, 27, and Andrew, 24, her father said. Her father described her as a caring person, suited to her profession. 
 "She has a cat that she treats like a little baby," said her father. "She just needs to mother things . . . she mothers those little kids." 
 Gilles Rousseau also shared some of the family's ordeal of the family as relatives sent text messages and left voice mails trying to reach her Friday. Her parents had told several police officers Lauren's name Friday, as they waited for the news. 
 Confirmation finally came at about 1 a.m. Saturday when a <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> State Police officer, a minister and two counselors rang the doorbell and knocked on his door. 
 "They had confirmed her death," he said, choking back tears. 
 Gilles Rousseau said he called the mortuary where his daughter was, requesting to see her. But he was told he couldn't come because she had been shot in the face. 
 <a href="/topics//Victoria_(Australia)">Victoria</a> Soto 
 She beams in snapshots. Her enthusiasm and cheer was evident. She was doing, those who knew her say, what she loved. 
 She's also being called a hero. 
 When she realized there was danger outside her classroom, first-grade teacher <a href="/topics//Victoria_(Australia)">Victoria</a> Soto, 27, rounded up her students and hid them in a closet. 
 "She went into lockdown mode and got those kids out of harm's way and, unfortunately, lost her life doing so," said a cousin, James Wiltsie, 39, a policeman from Stratford, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>. 
 Photos of Soto, known to her friends as Vicki, show her always with a wide smile, in pictures of her at her college graduation and in mundane daily life. She looks so young, barely an adult herself. Her goal was simply to be a teacher. 
 A graduate of Eastern <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> State University, she was studying for her master's in education at Southern <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> State. She had been teaching at Sandy Hook for five years. 
 "She just absolutely adored being a teacher," Wiltsie said. 
 Anne Marie Murphy 
 Teacher Anne Marie Murphy, a mother of four children herself, gave her life for the children that were in her care, her loved ones said. 
 The body of the Sandy Hook Elementary teacher, who grew up in Katonah in Westchester County, was found in a classroom, covering those of children also killed in the shooting, said her father, Hugh McGowan. 
 "One of the first responders said she was a hero," McGowan said. 
 Amid their sadness, her parents recalled Murphy, the sixth of seven children, as a caring person who loved art and was devoted to her family. 
 "I'll miss her presence," her mother, Alice McGowan, said Saturday. "She died doing what she loved. She was serving children and serving God." 
 Saturday morning, the couple attended Mass at St. Mary's of the Assumption in Katonah, where their sorrow devastated the congregation. 
 The Rev. Paul Waddell said he was preparing to pray at the start of Mass. "But I looked up and saw a lot of teary eyes," the priest recounted. "They told us about their daughter, that she was a teacher, she was killed in <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>. So we prayed at this 8 o'clock Mass for all of them and for her." 
 With Mackenzie Issler, Chau Lam, Betty Ming Liu and wire services

USHERO16

Sandy Hook educators died trying to save the children

hochsprung murphy russeau composite

Two weeks ago, sportscaster Bob <a href="/topics//Bob_Costas">Costas</a> was widely denounced for mentioning gun control on "Sunday Night Football." Costas, who grew up in <a href="/topics//Commack,_NY">Commack</a> and graduated from <a href="/topics//Commack,_NY">Commack</a> High School South, spoke a day and a half after a <a href="/topics//Kansas_City_Chiefs">Kansas City Chiefs</a> linebacker shot his girlfriend to death then turned the gun on himself. 
 Much too soon! Totally insensitive! Or so the critics roared. 
 Please, would someone tell me when the right time is? 
 On Friday morning, police say, Adam Lanza, age 20, walked into a classroom at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>. After killing his mother in their Newtown home, he went to the school, where he fatally shot 20 children ages 6 and 7. He also shot and killed six other adults before shooting and killing himself. Another adult was injured. 
 Say what you will about this latest tragedy, and there is quite a bit to say. One fact is undeniable: Most of those children and adults would still be living if Adam Lanza hadn't been able to arm himself so easily, in this case with two semiautomatic handguns, a Sig Sauer and a <a href="/topics//Glock">Glock</a>, and a Bushmaster .223 M4 carbine. Same with linebacker Jovan Belcher and Kasandra Perkins, the mother of his 3-month-old daughter, who might well be alive if he'd had no gun. Same with thousands and thousands of others. 
 The mayor of <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> and the members of <a href="/topics//U.S._Congress">Congress</a> from <a href="/topics//Long_Island,_NY">Long Island</a> have been among the voices of sanity since Lanza's shooting rampage. We have some of America's toughest <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun laws</a> around here and far less gun violence than many places. Rep. <a href="/topics//Carolyn_McCarthy">Carolyn McCarthy</a> is always front and center at times like this. That's to be expected. She has personal experience. But give extra credit to others who've been making sense. 
 "We keep viewing these tragedies as teachable moments on stopping gun violence," Rep. <a href="/topics//Steve_Israel">Steve Israel</a> wrote on <a href="/topics//Facebook">Facebook</a> minutes after the reports arrived from <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>, risking his very own Costas-style blowback. "Then we forget the lessons until the next tragedy." 
 Anyone ready to learn? 
 &nbsp; 
 UN-CONTROL 
 1. A well-regulated militia 
 2. Being necessary to the security of a free state, 
 3. The right of the people to keep and bear <a href="/topics//ARMS_(band)">arms</a> 
 4. Shall not be infringed- 
 5. Even if means 20 dead children in <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>. 
 ASKED AND UNANSWERED: Nice to hear that <a href="/topics//Stony_Brook_Seawolves_(football)">Stony Brook</a>'s Center for Communicating Science is asking scientists around the world, "How would you explain time to a sixth-grader?" So when will the Flame Challenge get around to asking something useful like, "How on <a href="/topics//Earth_(musician)">Earth</a> do we make more of it?" . . . Are commercial-property owners in Huntington really refusing to hang art in their long-vacant storefronts? The Public Art Advisory Committee's Art Around Town program is getting off to a mighty slow start . . . Who needs 12-12-12? On 1-25-13, hometown rocker <a href="/topics//Pat_Benatar">Pat Benatar</a> is headlining a superstorm Sandy benefit at the NYCB Theatre for her beloved <a href="/topics//Lindenhurst,_NY">Lindenhurst</a> . . . Now that <a href="/topics//Smithtown,_NY">Smithtown</a> has blocked Anthony Santilli's plans for a totaled-car storage depot on Old <a href="/topics//Northport,_NY">Northport</a> Road, who will be the first to utter two scary words: "<a href="/topics//Garbage_(band)">Garbage</a> Barge"? . . . How tight is parking on Main Street in <a href="/topics//Northport,_NY">Northport</a>? Tight enough that local merchants are positively gleeful at the prospect of six new spaces. Six! . . . Machine-company owner Fred Plumb is paying the feds $381,000 for Little Gull Island and its lighthouse off <a href="/topics//Orient,_NY">Orient</a> Point, 15,875 times what Dutch colonizer Peter Minuit paid the Lanape Indians for <a href="/topics//Manhattan,_KS">Manhattan</a> in 1626? By the way, how did the earlier deal work out? . . . Will Sandy-battered Jones Beach be ready for the <a href="/topics//Bethpage_State_Park,_NY">Bethpage</a> Air Show on <a href="/topics//Memorial_Day">Memorial Day</a> weekend? Ready or not, the Air Force <a href="/topics//Southern_Utah_Thunderbirds_(football)">Thunderbirds</a>, <a href="/topics//United_States_Military_Academy">Army</a> Golden Knights and Navy Super Hornets say they'll be roaring in. 
 THE NEWS IN SONG: "Today could've been the day everybody was laughing": <a href="/topics//Daughtry_(Musician)">Daughtry</a>, "Gone Too Soon," <a href="http://tinyurl.com/222soon">tinyurl.com/222soon</a>. 
 Email ellis@henican.com Follow on Twitter @henican

NYHEN16

Henican: Sandy Hook, Jovan Belcher, and gun control

APTOPIX Connecticut School Shootings

We know now the names -- Sandy Hook's young scholars, students who were slaughtered in their <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> grammar school. 
 Charlotte, Daniel, Olivia, Josephine, Ana, Dylan, Madeleine, Catherine, Chase and Jesse; James, Grace, Emilie, Jack, Noah, Caroline, Jessica, Avielle, Benjamin and Allison. 
 We know now that they were first-graders; that most of them were 6 years old; and that the four eldest in the group were only 7. 
 We know now that one child, Chase, was born on Halloween; that two others, Grace and Noah, had birthdays last month and that one girl, Josephine, celebrated her birth three days before her death. 
 We know, from Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>'s chief medical examiner, what the children were wearing. 
 Carver said so during a news conference Saturday, reviving something of their too-short lives by using present tense. 
 "They are wearing cute kid stuff," Carver said. "It is the kind of stuff you would send your kids and your grandkids off to school wearing." 
 We also Saturday learned the names and more of the heroic deeds of adults who were killed trying to thwart a gunman twisted enough to kill innocents. 
 Just as we are beginning to learn more of what happened during the last minutes of the victims' lives, we also now know -- in no uncertain terms -- how they were killed. 
 "I believe everybody was hit more than once," Carver said, referring to the semiautomatic rifle that he said was used to kill the victims. 
 Carver handled the autopsies of seven victims. Each body bore the devastating evidence of multiple wounds. 
 At one point during a news conference, Carver paused because he said he didn't want to be too technical about the carnage. "The energy is deposited in the tissue so the bullet stays in," he said. 
 Carver also said that two people he examined had been shot at close range. 
 He was asked whether the children suffered, the same question, according to a local priest, that so many of their parents asked when he accompanied officials to homes so parents could identify photographs of their babies. 
 "If so," Carver replied, "not for very long." 
 There's a lot we still don't know, especially the why of what pushed a young man to commit so heinous an act. 
 Or how he managed to get semiautomatic weapons. 
 Carver said each of the children he examined was shot between three and 11 times -- which <a href="/topics//Echoes_(musician)">echoes</a> survivors saying they heard multiple rounds. 
 Pop, pop, pop. 
 Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. 
 Charlotte, Daniel, Olivia, Josephine, Ana, Dylan, Madeleine, Catherine, Chase and Jesse; James, Grace, Emilie, Jack, Noah, Caroline, Jessica, Avielle, Benjamin and Allison never had much of a chance against the onslaught. 
 How much more do we need to know before finding a sensible way to curb access to so efficient, so lethal a tool?

Columnists

Joye Brown

LIJOY16

Sandy Hook shootings: 20 kids who should still be with us

sandyhook crop

Less than two weeks before <a href="/topics//Christmas">Christmas</a>, quaint Newtown, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., is dressed for the holidays. 
 On Yogananda Street, wreaths hang above doorways and holiday lights are strung along eaves. 
 In a yellow Colonial on a quiet, wooded lot, one of the nation's worst massacres begins. While the motive remains a mystery, this is an account of what happened, based on reports from authorities, survivors and town officials. 
 The gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, shoots and kills his mother, Nancy, 52, inside the&nbsp; four-bedroom home they share. 
 About 9 a.m. Friday, leaving her body behind, he grabs at least four guns, all registered to his mother: two rifles and two pistols -- a <a href="/topics//Glock">Glock</a> and a Sig Sauer. 
 Dressed in black fatigues and military vest, he drives his mother's black <a href="/topics//Honda">Honda</a> sedan 4½ miles to Sandy Hook Elementary School, which he once attended. 
 The weather is crisp and clear as Lanza makes his way through the 300-year-old town, with its historic churches and towering trees. At the school, he parks in the fire lane in front of the main entrance. 
 The school appears secure, its entrance monitored by a closed-circuit camera. But Lanza, taking three weapons with him, forces his way in. 
 Inside, more than 600 children and their teachers are beginning their day. Fourth graders, the oldest children in the school, are in gym and music classes. Some are watching the movie "The Nutcracker." 
 Principal Dawn Hochsprung, school therapist Diane Day, other staff members and a parent are having a meeting. 
 Shortly before 9:30, Lanza bursts into the administrative offices and opens fire. 
 "We were there for about five minutes chatting, and we heard Pop! Pop! Pop!" Day told The <a href="/topics//Wall_Street_Journal">Wall Street Journal</a>. "I went under the table." 
 As Lanza moves down the hall, Hochsprung lunges at him, trying to stop the shooting. The act of heroism costs the principal her life. 
 But a warning sounds throughout the school. The public address system is on loud enough for staff and students to hear gunshots and screams. 
 In Jaclyn Lloyd's gym class, Elise Beier and her fourth-grade classmates huddle briefly in a corner, before teachers usher them into a hiding place -- a storage closet. They have no idea where the gunman is. 
 "You didn't know what he was doing," recalled Elise, 10. "He could come in here; he could not." 
 In a first-grade classroom, teacher Kaitlin Roig also hears the shots. She rushes her 15 students into a bathroom. She locks the door and barricades it with a bookshelf, telling the students to be "absolutely quiet." 
 "I said, 'There are bad guys out there now. We need to wait for the good guys,' " Roig told ABC News. 
 "The kids were being so good. They asked, 'Can we go see if anyone is out there?' 'I just want <a href="/topics//Christmas">Christmas</a>. I don't want to die, I just want to have <a href="/topics//Christmas">Christmas</a>.' I said, 'You're going to have <a href="/topics//Christmas">Christmas</a> and <a href="/topics//Hanukkah">Hanukkah</a>.' " 
 One student says he knows karate. "It's OK. I'll lead the way out," the boy tells Roig. 
 Lanza next enters Room 10, a first-grade classroom where teacher <a href="/topics//Victoria_(Australia)">Victoria</a> Soto, 27, hid her students in closets and cabinets. She tells the gunman the kids are in the gym and is fatally shot. 
 As the rampage unfolds, local police receive their first 911 call, at 9:31, from inside the school. 
 Newtown officers begin rushing to the shooting scene. Surrounding police agencies and the <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> State Police are alerted. Troopers, on-duty and off-duty, scramble to respond. 
 Meanwhile, Lanza, wielding an assault rifle, moves on to a second first-grade classroom. He sprays bullets at close range, killing a number of children -- many of them 6 years old. 
 As students and teachers in other parts of the building cower in fear, or sprint to safety, the attack suddenly ends. 
 "The shooting appears to have stopped," a dispatcher says over the police radio at 9:38. "There is silence at this time. The school is on lockdown." 
 Arriving police enter the school, see the carnage, and call for medical help. "Send a bus," a dispatcher says a short time later, referring to an ambulance. 
 It's too late to save the victims at the school: 20 children and six adults. 
 Officers didn't have to fire a shot. They found Lanza dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 
 With Scott Eidler, Matthew Chayes and AP

USMIN16

How Adam Lanza carried out the Newtown shootings

Sandy Hook mourners

<a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> State Police on Saturday afternoon released the identities of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>. Of the 20 children killed, 16 of them were 6 years old. The other four were 7 years old. Read their profiles at newsday.com/sandyhook. 
 CHILDREN 
 Charlotte Bacon, 6 
 Daniel Barden, 7 
 Olivia Engel, 6 
 Josephine Gay, 7 
 Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 6 
 Dylan Hockley, 6 
 Madeleine F. Hsu, 6 
 Catherine V. Hubbard, 6 
 Chase Kowalski, 7 
 Jesse Lewis, 6 
 James Mattioli, 6 
 Grace McDonnell, 7 
 Emilie Parker, 6 
 Jack Pinto, 6 
 Noah Pozner, 6 
 Caroline Previdi, 6 
 Jessica Rekos, 6 
 Avielle Richman, 6 
 Benjamin Wheeler, 6 
 Allison N. Wyatt, 6 
 ADULTS 
 Mary Sherlach, 56 
 <a href="/topics//Victoria_(Australia)">Victoria</a> Soto, 27 
 Anne Marie Murphy, 52 
 Lauren Rousseau, 30 
 Dawn Hochsprung, 47 
 Rachel Davino, 29

LILIST16

Sandy Hook victims' names, ages released

Emilie Parker

In his Newtown, Conn., neighborhood, a woodsy hillside development where dog owners walk together and friends gather for sunsets, 20-year-old Adam Lanza stood apart. 
 "He wasn't the most social kid," said Jim McDade, a homeowner on Yogananda Street, where Nancy Lanza, his neighbor and Adam's mother, was found dead Friday. 
 Lanza, after shooting his mother, went on to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he committed the second-worst mass shooting in U.S. history, taking the lives of 20 children, six adults and himself, according to law-enforcement officials. 
 Acquaintances described him as unknowable. 
 Lanza couldn't socialize typically from the time he was young, said Louise Tambascio, owner of My Place, a Newtown pizza restaurant, and a friend of Nancy Lanza's for 12 years, in an interview last night. 
 Adam Lanza had Asperger's syndrome, she said, and was "very smart" with a high intelligence quotient. 
 He "couldn't deal with regular people," McDade said. 
 McDade's daughter, who was a year or two behind Lanza, also resides on the street where the Lanzas lived. McDade said Adam Lanza was quiet and reserved. 
 Lanza was "different" and "definitely a challenge," his aunt, Marsha Lanza of Crystal Lake, Ill., said. 
 Nancy Lanza and her former husband, Peter Lanza, were divorced in 2009. 
 The Associated Press identified Peter Lanza as a tax director and vice president for GE Energy Financial Services. 
 In Newtown, the Yogananda Street home of the Lanzas was cordoned off yesterday. 
 Ralph Strocchia, 17, who lives about a quarter-mile from there, recalled Adam Lanza as a high-school senior who rode the school bus when Strocchia was in his first year. The popular kids sat in the rear, Strocchia said, and Lanza wasn't among them. 
 "He didn't talk," Strocchia said in an interview. 
 Catherine Urso, a Newtown resident and piano teacher, said her son Nicholas went to Newtown High School with Lanza. She said she used to see Lanza dressed in a style favored by Goths, a subculture drawn to wearing all black and to music inspired by decay and despair. 
 Adam Lanza's brother, Ryan Lanza, 24, was questioned by authorities in <a href="/topics//Hoboken">Hoboken</a>, N.J. Ryan Lanza told officers he hadn't been in touch with his brother since about 2010. 
 People with Asperger's syndrome have difficulty with social, emotional and communication skills, as well as unusual behaviors and interests, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

USLANZ16

Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza 'unknowable'

A day after <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a> called for "meaningful action" to prevent mass shootings like the one that left 20 children and six adults dead at a <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> elementary school, leaders across <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> and <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> called for stricter gun control legislation. 
 "We should be able to come together around measures law-abiding gun owners would support such as banning high-capacity ammunition clips, closing the gun-show loophole and banning military-style weapons, which have no recreational sports use," Sen. <a href="/topics//Kirsten_Gillibrand">Kirsten Gillibrand</a> (D-N.Y.) said in an email. 
 Rep. Don Larson (D-<a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>.) said in a statement Saturday that <a href="/topics//U.S._Congress">Congress</a> should require background checks for all gun sales, close terrorist watch list loopholes and ban assault weapons and high-capacity clips. 
 Rep. <a href="/topics//Peter_King">Peter King</a> (R-<a href="/topics//Seaford,_NY">Seaford</a>) said he would support further regulation, as well. 
 "I'm more than willing to work for meaningful legislation if we can find a way to go forward," <a href="/topics//Peter_King">King</a> said. 
 He expressed doubts about the political will to make that happen. "When you get out of the Northeast, there's a solid majority against any type of new legislation," he said. 
 Even legislation that would make it illegal for those on a federal terrorism "watch list" had gone nowhere, <a href="/topics//Peter_King">King</a> said. "There was not one other <a href="/topics//U.S._Republican_Party">Republican</a> on the bill with me." 
 Sen. <a href="/topics//Chuck_Schumer">Charles Schumer</a> (D-N.Y.) said in an email he was hopeful "yesterday's unspeakable events will cause the nation to re-examine its position on guns, and allow us to come to a solution that still preserves the right to bear arms for law-abiding citizens, but makes it much harder for those who would do us harm to obtain firearms." 
 The comments Saturday joined those made Friday by <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> City Mayor <a href="/topics//Michael_Bloomberg">Michael Bloomberg</a>, <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> Gov. Andrew M. <a href="/topics//Andrew_Cuomo">Cuomo</a> and Rep. <a href="/topics//Carolyn_McCarthy">Carolyn McCarthy</a> (D-<a href="/topics//Mineola,_NY">Mineola</a>). 
 "The <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">Second Amendment</a> is the law of the land but it was never intended to allow murderers to take the lives of innocent kids," said McCarthy in a statement posted on her website. "It's our moral obligation as policymakers and as parents to do more to save lives." 
 Cuomo said it was time to"crack down on the guns that have cost the lives of far too many innocent Americans." 
 Bloomberg said <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">Obama</a>'s call for "meaningful action" was not enough. "We need immediate action," he said in a statement. 
 Meanwhile, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association, which is based in Newtown, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., where the shooting occurred, posted a brief statement on its website that said: "Our hearts go out to the families of the victims of this horrible tragedy in our community. Out of respect for the families, the community and the ongoing police investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment or participate in media requests at this time." 
 The <a href="/topics//National_Rifle_Association">National Rifle Association</a> did not answer requests for comment Saturday. 
 Jonathan Lowy, legal director at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the Newtown shootings could be a "seminal event in American history as far as regulation of guns . . . Anyone who watched the president choking back tears knows how every parent in America felt."

USGUN16

Pols: Time 'to come together' on gun control after Sandy Hook

nySANDY -crop

Make it stop. 
 That's how I react to yet another horrible mass killing. Like the third-grade class at Sandy Hook Elementary School that huddled into a corner -- "squished," as one student described it -- and the gym students hidden in a closet, I just want to shrink into a defensive posture. Don't tell me any more. 
 Don't offer any explanations or reasons. We've heard too many. There is no good reason why, when I talk to my children about mass murder, they've heard it all before in their 14- and 15-year lifetimes. As a country, we should not be resigning ourselves to this reality. 
 We need to face up to two facts we've been avoiding: that we have permitted an outrageous access to guns and level of gun violence. And we are pitifully inadequate at dealing with people in mental and emotional crisis. 
 It pains me to say this, but we have gone too far in protecting individual rights, and we must pull back and make this society safer. Get the guns out of madmen's hands, even if it means some hunters and self-defense advocates have to put up with more bureaucracy. The cost is worth it. 
 Strong and savvy voices -- those of Rep. <a href="/topics//Carolyn_McCarthy">Carolyn McCarthy</a> (D-<a href="/topics//Mineola,_NY">Mineola</a>) and <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> City Mayor <a href="/topics//Michael_Bloomberg">Michael Bloomberg</a> among them -- are raised now on <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun control</a>. Let's hope they are not muffled by politics yet again. 
 And what about the mentally ill? We always seem to find out after the fact that someone suspected this person was about to snap. A college mental-health counselor, or a parent, or a friend. 
 Does it seem at all likely that no one around Adam Lanza -- whom officials have named as the shooter -- recognized his potential to break? If someone in your home were about to murder 27 people, wouldn't you have some hint? Wouldn't something feel wrong? 
 It's not that we need stronger laws on involuntary commitment. For the most part, we already have them. We just don't use them. 
 Such laws vary by state. In <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a>, a person can alert the authorities that someone is dangerously askew, and that person will be taken in for observation and evaluation by a psychiatrist within 48 to 72 hours. The person making the report can remain anonymous. 
 One ready place to research the commitment laws is on each state's department of mental health website. The <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> State Office of Mental Health has hotline emergency numbers on its home page. Police and other first-responders also know where to direct people. 
 I don't know how often involuntary commitment is used. But it needs to be more widely known-about. The symptoms of someone in mental crisis are most times not <a href="/topics//Subtle_(musician)">subtle</a>: mood swings, abusive behavior, isolation, inability to cope with daily tasks like bathing, loss of touch with reality. 
 Perhaps it's often just too hard to admit that someone you love is so far gone. I wonder what Nancy Lanza -- Adam's mother, who was also killed -- was going through. 
 Too often, we look for a history of mental illness and treatment before we act. We want a diagnosis, some proof -- someone who has "gone off his meds" or tried suicide. 
 But a person who is about to snap for the first time slips out of this net. These are the ones who design and execute elaborate schemes to go out in a blaze. It must satisfy something that's gone wrong inside them, but we should not have to be a party to this any longer. 
 It sickens me to think that I will have to read about the "reasons" for this horror, as though the torments of the shooter could account for the terrible cost for all of these innocent children, their families, their communities -- and our country. 
 I don't want to see the photos of those <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> parents burying their kids. And it makes me die inside to think we could have prevented this tragedy but we didn't get serious enough. About guns, about insanity. We need to make it stop. 
 Anne Michaud is the interactive editor for Newsday Opinion.

OPMIC16

Michaud: After Sandy Hook, we can no longer ignore lax gun laws and the mentally ill

Cartoon: A Heartbroken Nation

Among the passengers on the school bus that Marsha Moskowitz drove to and from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., for 12 years were Ryan and Adam Lanza. She knew them as the mild-mannered boys of her neighbor Nancy Lanza. 
 "She raised really nice boys, well-behaved," said Moskowitz, 56, who has lived in the idyllic community since 1987. 
 She added that Nancy Lanza, with whom she shared small talk at the Big Y grocery store recently, was a "caring mother, very nice to me -- lovely, just a very kind woman." 
 Police believe Nancy Lanza was killed by her youngest son, Adam, 20, who then shot and killed 20 of his mother's kindergarten students at the elementary school, along with six adult staff members. Adam Lanza then turned the gun on himself. 
 Moskowitz spoke Friday as she stood about 400 yards from the Yogananda Street home where Nancy Lanza had lived with her sons before Ryan, 24, now of <a href="/topics//Hoboken">Hoboken</a>, N.J., moved out. 
 She said she was stunned that such a tragedy could happen in her community. And she recalled that she knew two of the children who died. 
 "They were very special kids," she said. "I knew their parents. I drove their siblings as well. The families are both just wonderful people who didn't deserve this. So innocent. That's what hurts the most. They didn't have a chance. You put them on the school bus, wave them off, and who would ever think you never see them again." 
 She added: "It's just not the place for that. It's one of the reasons why we moved here. It's supposed to be 'nicer in Newtown' -- that's one of the slogans." 
 Sandeep Kapur, who lives two doors down from the Lanza family, said he did not know them and was unaware of any disturbances at their home in the three years he has lived there. 
 He described the area as a subdivision of well-tended, 15-year-old homes on lots of an acre or more, where professionals work at companies like <a href="/topics//General_Electric">General Electric</a>, Pepsi and <a href="/topics//IBM">IBM</a>. 
 Some are doctors, and his next-door neighbor is a bank chief executive officer, said Kapur, a project manager at an information technology firm. 
 "The neighborhood's great," he said. "We have young kids, and they have lots of friends. If you drive past this neighborhood, it gives you a really warm feeling." 
 Local news clippings from recent years mention Adam Lanza among Newtown High School's honor roll students. 
 A friend of Ryan Lanza's in <a href="/topics//Hoboken">Hoboken</a>, Jennifer Massolo, said Ryan Lanza was at his job at <a href="/topics//Ernst_&amp;_Young">Ernst &amp; Young</a> in Manhattan when outlets began reporting he, and not his brother, was the <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> shooter. She said she called him soon after and he uttered some chilling words: 
 "I think my brother did it. I think he shot them all and my mom." 
 She said Lanza told her his brother was developmentally disabled and that he had not seen him in a while. 
 "He was, like, shocked," she said. "He said it must be his brother and he had to go to <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>." 
 Late Friday, <a href="/topics//Hoboken">Hoboken</a> police confirmed they were questioning Ryan Lanza and a roommate at police headquarters. 
 Neither has been charged with a crime, said <a href="/topics//Hoboken">Hoboken</a> Police Capt. Jim Fitzsimmons. 
 Ryan Lanza lives in a building in <a href="/topics//Hoboken">Hoboken</a> called The Metropolitan, which police, the <a href="/topics//Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation">FBI</a> and bomb squads descended on earlier in the day. 
 "He's a great kid," Massolo said of Ryan Lanza. "I feel so sorry for him." 
 Peter Lanza, the boys' father and former husband of Nancy Lanza, lives in <a href="/topics//Stamford,_CT">Stamford</a>, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., said a report on the website of the <a href="/topics//Stamford,_CT">Stamford</a> Advocate newspaper, in <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>. 
 The report said Peter Lanza was horrified when told by a reporter that his address had been linked to the massacre in Newtown. He declined to comment and went into his home, the report said. 
 Nancy and Peter Lanza began divorce proceedings in 2008, and Peter Lanza recently remarried and settled in <a href="/topics//Stamford,_CT">Stamford</a>, the report said. 
 He has worked as a tax specialist in the financial industry and has served as an adjunct professor at <a href="/topics//Northeastern_University">Northeastern University</a> in Boston since 1995. He has also taught classes on tax partnerships at <a href="/topics//Fairfield_University">Fairfield University</a> in <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a>, the newspaper said. 
 With Sarah Crichton in Newtown, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., Kevin Deutsch in <a href="/topics//Hoboken">Hoboken</a>, N.J., and AP

USPROF15

Sandy Hook Elementary bus driver: Adam Lanza 'well-behaved'

Screams blared over the intercom and gunshots echoed in the halls at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 
 Eight-year-old Sofia Lebinski and 18 of her third-grade classmates huddled on the floor, in the corner farthest from the door, while her teacher hunched with them and an assistant hid behind a desk. 
 As soon as they heard the "boom" of gunshots, the aide locked the classroom door while the teacher called 911, Sofia recalled Friday. 
 "Everybody was shaking," the girl said, "because we didn't know what was going on, and everybody was all squished." 
 In another classroom, students hid in closets during the morning rampage that left 20 children and six adults dead in the K-4 school in rural Newtown, Conn. 
 They had practiced fire drills, but nothing prepared them for the terror of the shooting spree -- hearing scores of gunshots and the 20-year-old killer's curses. 
 Fourth-grade teacher Theodore Varga said the sounds that played over the intercom were a warning that saved many lives. 
 "You could hear people in the office," said Varga, who was in a teachers' meeting at the time. "You could hear the hysteria that was going on. I think whoever did that saved a lot of people. Everyone in the school was listening to the terror that was transpiring." 
 A custodian ran through the school, warning people of a gunman on the loose, Varga said. 
 "He said, 'Guys! Get down! Hide!' " the teacher said. "So he was actually a hero." Varga did not know if the custodian survived the attack. 
 For anxious minutes, youngsters and teachers were prisoners in classroom closets and corners. 
 Then came a knock on the door of Sofia's classroom. They feared it was the shooter, she recalled. 
 "Somebody said, 'You can come out now,' " Sofia said, "and we thought it was the guy, but the assistant teacher looked out the door, and there was the police." 
 Fourth-grader Brendan Murray, 9, was in the gym with his classmates when they heard "lots of banging." 
 Teachers hid the students in a nearby closet for about 15 minutes, the boy told the <a href="/topics//Hartford_Courant">Hartford Courant</a>, before police arrived and led them safely outside. 
 As students ran down a hallway, police stood at every doorway, Brendan said. "Lots of people were crying." 
 In the parking lot, Sofia's mother, Brenda Lebinski, was frantically asking people what had happened and looking for her daughter. 
 "One of my neighbors said there was a little girl taken out and she looked like she was dead, and I panicked," Lebinski, 47, said. 
 Then she saw Sofia with her teacher. 
 "She was a little confused, but she was OK. Her face was red. When she gets upset, her face turns red," Lebinski said. "I was so happy to see her -- so happy. Tears of joy." 
 The children and their families, along with school staff, were escorted to a nearby firehouse, where authorities conducted a roll call to see who was missing. 
 "There were a lot of kids screaming and crying, and teachers were devastated," said Lebinski, who volunteers Thursdays at the school. 
 People were trying to figure out who was alive and which of their children's friends didn't make it, she said. 
 "That's when I saw another mom, who told me she was there at the school. She said a masked gunman came in and started shooting and that the principal was dead. I said, 'The principal is dead? She was such a wonderful lady.'" 
 School district Superintendent David Fleishman told parents Friday that counseling would be available at the school starting Monday. 
 But Lebinski isn't sure if she wants to send her daughter back so fast. 
 "You send your baby off to the school, where she's supposed to be safe," the mother said. "I don't know what to do. I can't imagine sending her back there." 
 With AP

USSCEN15

At Sandy Hook school, screams fill the hallways

Connecticut School Shooting - crop

Hours after the explosion of violence in this tiny <a href="/topics//Connecticut">Connecticut</a> town, hundreds gathered at St. Rose of Lima <a href="/topics//Roman_Catholic_Church">Roman Catholic Church</a> Friday night. The crowd couldn't fit into the Newtown church, spilling onto its steps and the front <a href="/topics//Pavement_(band)">pavement</a>. 
 People wept, hugged one another and held lit candles. 
 Among those at the vigil were sisters Ginger and Kristy Sturges, who went to Sandy Hook Elementary School when they were children. 
 "It is a good feeling that in the middle of something terrible, everyone comes together to give support," Ginger Sturges, 37, said. 
 Kristy Sturges said it all felt surreal. "This happening in the town we grew up in." 
 Four siblings gathered around a line of candles outside the church. 
 Nine-year-old Matthew Jacobs said it was important to be at the Mass "so we could support everyone who is here." 
 The four were with their parents, Bob and Brandy Jacobs. None of the children attend Sandy Hook, where 26 people, including 20 children, were shot dead earlier Friday. 
 "I couldn't get home fast enough," Bob Jacobs said of his hourlong commute. "It was the longest ride home I have ever had." 
 He said his children know some of the students who died, and when the full list comes out, he suspects they will know most of them. 
 On Friday, people in the town of about 27,000 used words like "surreal" and "shock" and "mind-blowing" to describe what happened. 
 Bobby, 12, and Julia Haskins, 14, recalled their bewilderment as a "lockdown drill" at school Friday afternoon stretched into two, then three hours. Teachers warned them not to use their smartphones. A friend whose little brother saw his teacher shot got excused early. 
 "You can't believe someone would be angry enough to kill a dozen children," said Bobby Haskins. "It doesn't even sound right when you say it." 
 "Evil" was what JoAnn Hornack, 62, said outside the Episcopal church where she is clerk. "What happened here was evil. That word doesn't usually come out of my mouth." 
 The church had opened its doors to anyone who wanted to pray, and she said she'd seen a lot of new faces throughout the afternoon. 
 "It is like our town is a ghost town with zombies walking around," said Maura Fletcher, 48, a mother of four. None of her children go to Sandy Hook. 
 Violent crime is rare in Newtown, where vandalism and other small lawbreaking is typical, many people said. 
 Fletcher said the town's motto is "nicer in Newtown." 
 At a bar, Mitch Falconer, 55, who's lived in Newtown for 40 years, said he'd rarely seen the police respond to anything worse than a domestic dispute. "This is beyond anything you can imagine," he said. 
 A Patchogue church has scheduled vigil for the Newtown victims Saturday at 7 p.m.: The Congregational Church of Patchogue, 95 East Main St.

USMOOD15

After Newtown shootings, mourners come together at vigils

connecticut school shooting

Would anyone harboring thoughts of shooting up an elementary school or otherwise hurting children please, please, please identify yourselves now. 
In your next moment of clarity, knock on the door of your local police station, ring up a psychiatrist -- put an email or <a href="/topics//Facebook">Facebook</a> blast out to friends and relatives before you can change your mind exclaiming, "I need help and I need it now." 
We promise not to judge you too harshly. We will thank you for your honesty and get you the help you need. 
Just please don't go through with what you're thinking. We cannot bear it. 
If you can't find the strength to turn yourself in, and you're definitely going to do something terrible, handcuff yourself to the nearest post and throw away the key. We will sincerely appreciate it. 
What one man and several guns did at a Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday was as terrible an act as anything we've ever seen, meaner even than 9/11 in some sense. 
To murder bright, beautiful kindergarten children in cold blood -- 6- and 7-year-olds -- is the purest of evil. It was an incomprehensibly wicked deed that will mar the collective consciousness of this country for years to come. 
I don't know how the parents of the children taken in Sandy Hook -- in the middle of <a href="/topics//Hanukkah">Hanukkah</a> and 11 days before <a href="/topics//Christmas">Christmas</a> -- ever get over this. How can they ever make sense of it? How will the families of the teachers killed Friday recover? 
The only sensible words that come to mind were those spoken by <a href="/topics//Robert_F._Kennedy">Robert F. Kennedy</a> in Indianapolis the night of April 4, 1968, when news of <a href="/topics//Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.">Martin Luther King Jr.</a>'s assassination came in. 
<a href="/topics//Robert_F._Kennedy">Kennedy</a> consoled grieving Americans by speaking of the pain he felt losing his brother, former President <a href="/topics//John_F._Kennedy">John F. Kennedy</a>, to a gunman. "My favorite poet was Aeschylus," <a href="/topics//John_F._Kennedy">Kennedy</a> said. "He once wrote: 'Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.' " 
All we can do as Americans today and tomorrow is pray that the grace and wisdom comes to those who need it as soon and as completely as possible. 
These massacres are now commonplace. And like with Columbine, <a href="/topics//Virginia_Tech">Virginia Tech</a>, Aurora, Binghamton, and the Oregon shopping mall this week, we are left to ask why. 
Why?
Why are shooting rampages occurring more and more often and with increasing cruelty? How can we not see the true nature of these latent killers in advance? Were there some warning signs we could have recognized? Or is this just inevitable with the number of guns out there? 
Is it television and video game violence; the loss of spirituality and organized religion among young people -- is it psychotropic drugs? 
The worst part is that there are no answers. There never have been in instances like these. Only heartache and suffering on one of the saddest days in American history. 
William F. B. O'Reilly is a Newsday columnist and a <a href="/topics//U.S._Republican_Party">Republican</a> political consultant. This column has been updated from an earlier version to reflect the ages of the childhood victims.

William F. B. O'Reilly

WOPORE14

O'Reilly: Can we ever understand the Sandy Hook killings?

Why does this shooting feel so different, I kept wondering Friday, as I felt tears well up in my eyes, as I exchanged texts with family and friends, as I tried to do my job. 
This doesn't feel like just any other massacre, I actually thought. 
Then I could only wonder what had happened in my life, in our world, that such a thought could not only come to me, but even make sense to me.
In 15 years as a journalist I've seen a lot of massacres play out over the airwaves, and sped through city streets to attend the aftermaths of a few. I covered a war once, lived in a city wracked by explosions, saw people killed.
This doesn't feel right, I thought, as I saw <a href="/topics//Barack_Obama">President Barack Obama</a> wipe away tears, and felt mine return. Presidents don't cry. Journalists don't cry. Does anyone, nowadays, hear news of folks they've never met, and cry?
Yeah, as it turns out. We do.
And then I realized what makes the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, so different to me, what makes this massacre so moving, this tragedy so epically, truly tragic.
It is different this time because they were not yet of the world, these kids. Their journey ended just a few feet from the start of the <a href="/topics//Path.com">path</a>, on what was supposed to be the safe stretch of trail.
Twenty-seven people were killed by a heavily armed shooter in Newtown, Conn. His attack on the school ended the lives of 20 children, most of them kindergartners. The adults will be missed and mourned, in time, but in the hours after the bullets first flew, I hardly heard them mentioned.
It was the murdered children we thought of, and their parents, and the never-to-be-opened gifts under the tree or by the menorah. 
We know terrible things happen in the world. "What are you gonna do," we say to each other. "That's just how it is."
We go out, into traffic and on the train, to the office and downtown for the big meeting, and through the airport and up on the prop jet to Boston. So do our spouses and our <a href="/topics//Brothers_and_Sisters_(musician)">brothers and sisters</a> and the adults we know. 
We are of the world, and it is a place where horrors happen. It's not likely. No sense worrying. But you never know, right? You just never know.
When a shooter takes down an office and everyone in it, we look for the explanation -- "disgruntled ex-employee," "disgruntled ex-boyfriend" -- and having mentally classified the incident, move on. 
"Oh, it was a bad divorce and they say he was nuts."
And when the massacres happen on a college campus, or at a high school? Ask just about any parent of a high school or college student whether they think their kids are in any danger, and if they're being honest, they'll say yes.
Cars and romance and drinking parties and bad decisions. Staying out late and drugs and the wrong friends and the wrong music. These kids are of the world, and the world is a scary place.
But elementary school children -- kindergartners -- are not of the world. They are of the full-body pajamas with footies, to keep everything toasty. They are of <a href="/topics//The_Movies_(musician)">the movies</a> in which the plucky kid always wins, the puppy never fails to find his way home. They are of the s'mores and the stuffed animal clutched close at bedtime.
They are never to be left unsupervised. They are never to be endangered. They are fragile, delicate, not nearly ready for the world.
But the world brought its madness to them Friday. And a nation wept as it never quite had when the guns roared in Aurora, or at <a href="/topics//Virginia_Tech">Virginia Tech</a>, or even in the hallways of Columbine.
What now, I wonder. Will we finally confront the insanity and violence in our society, and the ease with which it can be translated into horrific action? 
Or do we need to wait until something really bad happens?

Lane Filler

OPFIL16

Filler: Why the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting feels different

Connecticut School Shooting -crop

Parents should watch for behavioral changes in children shaken by the Newtown, <a href="/topics//Connecticut_College">Conn</a>., school shootings and give them continual reassurances that they are safe, child mental health experts said Friday. 
 Kids may have strong emotional reactions to the tragedy, and parents should especially shield young children from media coverage, they said. Behavioral changes could be delayed, coming days or weeks later. 
 "We can't underestimate the impact of them listening to the news or watching it or overhearing people talk about it," said Dr. Victor Fornari, director of child and adolescent psychiatry of the North Shore-LIJ Health System's Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, Queens. 
 "It is an unspeakable event. Generally, schools are safe, and this shatters that belief," he said. 
 Children may become aggressive, disobedient, clingy or withdrawn. Some children may want to avoid going to school, said Debbie Lyons, coordinator of mental health services for the Coalition Against Child Abuse and Neglect, in <a href="/topics//Bethpage_State_Park,_NY">Bethpage</a>. 
 Children who may have been displaced because of superstorm Sandy or whose homes suffered severe damage may be more vulnerable, said Sandra R. Wolkoff, a clinical social worker in <a href="/topics//Greenvale,_NY">Greenvale</a> who has served as a mental health consultant for child care and Head Start programs. 
 "Children are going to come home and think there is no place safe in the world," she said. "Parents have to struggle to find language to explain crazy, dangerous behavior, and that is not so easy." 
 Some <a href="/topics//Long_Island,_NY">Long Island</a> schools were taking steps to help children cope. 
 The Huntington school district posted strategies to assist children on its website Friday. 
 The <a href="/topics//Center_Moriches,_NY">Center Moriches</a> district enacted its crisis team plan, with social workers, guidance counselors and school psychologists to be available Monday to assist students and staff districtwide, school administrators said. 
 The district will alert parents Sunday by telephone about support that will be available and post information on its website. 
 The crisis team will be ready Monday "to respond to any person in crisis, even the staff," deputy superintendent Lynda Adams said. 
 The best thing for families, Fornari advised, is "to spend more time together." 
 "Some kids may feel helpless or angry, and parents should know children's reactions can vary," he said. "Parents should be listening for any changes as to how the child is coping." 
 Terry Sears, executive director of <a href="/topics//Manhasset,_NY">Manhasset</a>-based Tuesday's Children, the nonprofit organization providing support and services for the children of 9/11 victims and others affected by global terrorism, also advised parents to reassure children they are safe. 
 "Keep an extra watchful eye over the next weeks and months and stick to a routine, but at the same time provide opportunities for the child to speak when they are able," Sears said.

LICHIL15

Experts to parents: Connecticut school shooting could take mental toll on children

School lockdowns, evacuation drills and other security measures taken on <a href="/topics//Long_Island,_NY">Long Island</a> in recent years can all help guard against the kind of mass <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooting</a> that occurred Friday in Newtown, Conn., local experts said. 
 Across the Island, school security officials, psychologists and other authorities rushed to tell parents and their own co-workers that classrooms were safe. The wave of reassurances, which drew doubts from some safety specialists, began to hit the Internet shortly after word came that a gunman had shot and killed 20 youngsters and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 
 <a href="/topics//Suffolk_County,_NY">Suffolk</a> County's Police Department announced that it had increased marked and unmarked car patrols around school sites. 
 "We are prepared but not paranoid," Don Flynn, 51, a retired <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> City police detective sergeant, said in a message sent Friday morning to principals of 30 Island schools where he serves as a security consultant. 
 Last summer, Flynn's security firm trained teacher assistants in the Connetquot District in emergency steps to be taken in the event of a school <a href="/topics//Shooting_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics">shooting</a>. Friday, Flynn complimented the <a href="/topics//Bohemia,_NY">Bohemia</a>-based district for giving individual workers the authority to shut down a school if a crisis occurred there, rather than potentially putting students in jeopardy by delaying action until they obtained a supervisor's permission. 
 "Every one of our staff members has the ability to call a lockdown," said Alan Groveman, Connetquot's schools chief and a former president of the <a href="/topics//Suffolk_County,_NY">Suffolk</a> County School Superintendents Association. 
 Stepped-up school security on the Island and statewide goes back to 2001, with the advent of a sweeping package of safety laws known as Project SAVE. The law was enacted after the 1999 murders of 12 students and a teacher at <a href="/topics//Columbine_High_School">Columbine High School</a> in <a href="/topics//Colorado">Colorado</a> by two of the school's seniors. 
 Project SAVE required schools to develop response plans to shootings and other crises, evacuation routes, emergency parent notification systems and closer coordination with police. Schools formerly open to visitors began locking their doors and requiring parents and others to ring buzzers for entrance. 
 "Columbine changed everything," said Lorna Lewis, superintendent in the <a href="/topics//Plainview,_NY">Plainview</a>-<a href="/topics//Old_Bethpage,_NY">Old Bethpage</a> District. 
 Some safety experts remained skeptical, however. 
 Dale Yeager, a Philadelphia-area security consultant, said Friday that districts often fail to conduct regular security walks outside schools even though such patrols are recommended by federal guidelines. 
 "It doesn't matter what you put on paper, it matters what you do," said Yeager, whose Seraph consulting firm has advised the <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> State School Boards Association on safety issues.

LIPREC15

LI schools eye security after Newtown, Conn., school shootings

Stars from several different sports took to Twitter on Friday to try and cope with the school shooting in Connecticut, and the <a href="/topics//National_Football_League">NFL</a> asked each of its teams to observe a moment of silence before this weekend's games to pay respect to the victims. 
 A man killed his mother at home and then opened fire inside the elementary school where she taught, slaying 26 people, including 20 children. The 20-year-old killer, carrying two handguns, then committed suicide at the school. 
 "It's awful, just an awful day. It really, really is," <a href="/topics//Boston_Celtics">Boston Celtics</a> coach <a href="/topics//Doc_Rivers">Doc Rivers</a> said before their game at Houston. "This is our jobs. This is not a game for us, it is what we do but when something like this happens, it supersedes job and everything else. As a parent -- I don't know -- this is just awful, awful what happened." 
 Struggling to stay composed, <a href="/topics//Cleveland_Cavaliers">Cleveland Cavaliers</a> coach <a href="/topics//Byron_Scott">Byron Scott</a> paused a couple of times as talked about the tragedy in Newtown, a small community about 60 miles northeast of New York City. 
 "I have three healthy kids and a beautiful granddaughter," he said. "When you hear about kids who are that young and don't get a chance to live because of something that's so senseless as somebody going in and doing the things that this person did, I think it affects everybody. It puts everything in the right perspective as well. As much as we love this game, this doesn't mean nothing." 
 From the full slate of <a href="/topics//National_Basketball_Association">NBA</a> games to high school and college football finals, there were moments of silences at sporting events of all sizes. The overhead videoboard at the Barclays Center showed a candle and the town seal of Newtown as the <a href="/topics//Brooklyn_Nets">Nets</a> and Pistons paused for reflection before their game in Brooklyn. 
 <a href="/topics//Oklahoma_City,_OK">Oklahoma City</a> star <a href="/topics//Kevin_Durant">Kevin Durant</a> wrote "Newtown CT" on both shoes for the Thunder's 113-103 victory over Sacramento. 
 "I wish I could do more," he said. "But it hit me really hard. It's tough to see, especially kids that couldn't do anything for themselves. Words can't even describe it. I'm kind of at a loss for words right now." 
 The <a href="/topics//National_Football_League">NFL</a> sent a memo asking for each of its teams to observe a moment of silence before this weekend's games. 
 "This shocking event has brought the nation together in grieving for the victims and their families as well as the survivors," the note read. "We believe it is appropriate and important for us to collectively recognize and participate in the grieving process at our games this weekend, as we have done on other occasions." 
 Many athletes took to social media websites to process what happened, discussing their shock and horror, and openly worrying about their kids at school. 
 "Innocent victims just gone," <a href="/topics//Miami_Heat">Miami Heat</a> star <a href="/topics//LeBron_James">LeBron James</a> said in a series of posts on Twitter. "This is really messing with my mind. Kids is everything to me! And of course i have 2 of my own in elementary school as well. I can't imagine it happening to my kids school. I and the rest of the families would be devastated! Something has to be done." 
 Golfer John Daly talked about home schooling his children, and outspoken <a href="/topics//Minnesota_Vikings">Minnesota Vikings</a> punter <a href="/topics//Chris_Kluwe">Chris Kluwe</a> wondered about the road ahead. 
 "The way we deal with this tragedy in CT will tell us a lot about where we're headed as a society. Do we only address the symptoms (i.e. just <a href="/topics//Gun_Control">gun control</a> laws)? Or do we also address the disease -- how we treat each other and those who need help," Kluwe said in a couple of posts on Twitter. 
 There also was some anger. 
 <a href="/topics//Montreal_Canadiens">Montreal Canadiens</a> captain <a href="/topics//Brian_Gionta">Brian Gionta</a> tweeted: "Not sure if there is anything lower than harming innocent children." He ended the tweet with a hashtag of "coward," then was critical of the media interviewing young children outside the school. 
 "At some point, we've got to get past bureaucracy and all the nonsense and do something about this so our kids can be safe," said <a href="/topics//New_Orleans_Hornets">New Orleans Hornets</a> coach Monty Williams, who has five children ranging in age from 2 to 14. 
 "If we can go to outer space and take care of trees and rivers and animals, we can do a better job of taking care of our kids. It's just a sad situation."

SPCONN15.WEB

Sports world shaken by Connecticut school shooting

celtics cropped

The Connecticut school shooting may raise questions from children about what happened and whether such a tragedy can happen at their own school, as well as anxiety and sadness. Alyse Freda-Colon, a therapist in private practice in Huntington, offers the following advice on how to talk about the incident: 
 -Consider your child’s age. “If you think your child will see images on television, or read about it on the Internet, or hear about it from friends, it is best to talk with him about it,” says Freda-Colon. “Give him the opportunity to ask questions and express his fears or concerns.” 
 -Explain that school shootings are extremely rare. “And that’s why there is so much news coverage about this,” she says. 
 -Tell your child about the safety procedures in place at her school. “There are cameras inside and outside and the school staff knows everyone who enters the building,” she suggests explaining. “Reassure your child that she is safe.” 
 -Be understanding if your child seems anxious or unsettled about going to school or his safety in general. “If he needs it, walk him into the school building or let him sleep with the light on for a few days,” says Freda-Colon. 
 -Don’t create a problem where there isn’t one. “If your child appears unaffected by this event, just let her know that you are here for her if she wants to talk about it,” she says. “Don’t expect her to be traumatized.” 
 -Pay attention if your child appears to be having a difficult time coping with this event. If so, Freda-Colon recommends contacting the school psychologist or a school social worker for help.

Things to Do

Family

Expert tips for parents about the Connecticut shooting

Connecticut School Shooting CROP

Facebook status updates of parent-friends say it all today. 
 “Speechless.” 
 “Where is God when all of this is happening?” 
 “Every time I put my daughter on that bus I worry until the moment she comes home because this is the world we are living in.” 
 Some of us are lighting candles on our front stoop. Some of us are starting gun control groups. Others are thankful that their children have not yet noticed the news. One is cursing the alleged gunman. Many are praying. Most are crying. 
 And one friend sums up what all of us parents will be doing within the next few hours, including this mother of a 9-year-old. He put up a photo of his son and another of his daughter, with this message: “These two are getting extra big hugs tonight. Never letting go.” 
 Unfortunately we will have to let go at some point, and that is the scariest part of being a parent. Little did the parents of the children fatally shot today in Connecticut know this morning that they would never see their sons and daughters again. &nbsp;

Complete coverage: Newtown shooting

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