12.14.2012 01:57 PM

AP: This is the gun he used

This is gun is legal. 

(Anyone wanting to object to gun safety in comments – don’t bother. No one wants to hear from you.)

57 Comments

  1. Kyle says:

    Seeing this rifle makes it even worse.

  2. Philippe says:

    I’s my opinion that the NRA and their members have blood on their hands.

  3. Catherine Rhodes says:

    Why would anyone need a gun like this….

  4. frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

    I hope there is a special place in hell for this bastard…..for the killing of innocents, and for the lives of family, siblings, and fellow students that will be forever affected….
    I also hope the leadership of the NRA have trouble sleeping tonight…..

  5. Richard says:

    Citizens do not need military-grade weapons.

  6. KC Halas says:

    There is 1 consumer product that is designed and engineered to take life away from living things. This product has no other uses. To use this product for what it is designed for you must take life from a living being. This product in a gun.
    I Hate guns. Any person who loves guns I hate with equal passion. What kind of sick person gets off on owning a death machine? That is all they are. This killing is just proof to the manufacturer of this particular consumer product that their death machine works exactly as they designed it to work. Death stores on corners selling death machines with pride and superiority bordering on psychopathy. Who else but a psychopath sells death machines to death participants?
    The U.S. is exactly like a 3rd world nation masquerading as a first world nation.
    The U.S. has a massive number of citizens that love death machines, exactly like Afghanistan or any number of countries.
    The U.S. stands alone as a gun crazy country and it makes the rest of the world look at you like a mad dog because , we in the real 1st world are nothing like you.
    This is just another in a long line of atrocities that you all will forget about until the next one, and the next, and the next.
    Could you please move your murderous country to Mars? There you can be proud of your death machines and the minds it takes to love one.

    • monkey says:

      I think guns like this should be banned, but I don’t hate those who own hunting rifles. Hunting is a legitimate activity so those guns should be legal albeit anyone wishing to own one should have to pass strict background checks, follow tough usage and storage laws, and only be allowed to use it in certain legitimate areas like target practice or hunting. I don’t support allowing one to keep a loaded gun in their home or carry one in their briefcase. Its not black and white, but rather about reasonable laws.

  7. Ted H says:

    27 DEAD, INCLUDING CHILDREN!!

    According to the the thinking of the NRA and their wannabees that constitute the Canadian gun lobby, that’s a small price to pay for freedom.

  8. Riaz Khan says:

    It was a massive riot in the city and I was caught in the crossfire between two rival groups. My father did tell me not to leave the house but my friends were involved in the gunfight and I wanted to see some of them to tell them to stop shooting. He was probably 19 and I saw how the bullet hit in his head. He basically died in my arms. I did not speak for two months and then I left for Canada and have never returned to my birthplace. That was 18 years ago. Smart people can agree and disagree on major issues but what I can tell you and many from that troubled part of the world called Pakistan that guns are evil and to compare them with cars and knives is beyond normal human ability to think and analyze.

    As a father of two young kids, I CAN ONLY PRAY. May we all be guided by the divine providence.

  9. steve says:

    Time to frog march the NRA loving reformers across the border. We have this kind of thing every few decades, in the US its every few weeks. For our goverment to continue to enact policy after policy to make Canada more like the US is pure madness.

  10. frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

    Save Money….Live Better….. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sig-Sauer-M400-with-Prismatic-Scope/21677320

    • Darren says:

      The “look” of a weapon has no bearing on whether or not it is an “assault” class weapon. The action dictates that.
      I’ve said this elsewhere but in these kinds of incidents, there is the method, or “how”, and the motive, or the “why”. Gun control of any kind only addresses the “how” not the “why”. For anything truly meaningful to come from this, a discussion needs to happen about the “why”. Why does it seem we live in a society where lethal violence is more often being considered a viable option? We seem to be more desensitized to lethal violence, why?

  11. Plant Guy says:

    Theaters, malls, temples and now a primary school and these morons still don’t think they have a gun problem! I know. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Same could be said for hand grenades, rocket launchers and nukes, yet we control these. The NRA will say that the solution is more guns. Until every preschooler is packing heat in their diapers America will never be safe. Stupid,stupid,stupid!

  12. Torgo says:

    My deepest condolences to the victims, their families and the community of Newtown.

    I would hope that this tragedy would at least spark a discussion around the gun control issue in the US (never mind actual action and legislation), but I doubt it will do even that. The NRA and the political right won the argument around gun control years ago and most mainstream Democrats haven’t been willing to push the issue.

  13. Kelly says:

    Political balls. That’s all it takes. One bill and those guns are banned.

  14. Kevin T. says:

    This is just shattering, being a parent of a young child, I can only imagine the horror and fear the victims had to live through.
    It will always astound me how a significant portion of the US would rather fight to the death to keep their guns but will villify and demonize anyone proposing expanded health care. They’d rather stand their ground and shoot someone than stand up for someone in need.

  15. po'd says:

    Google sig sauer 223 rifle walmart, then click images. Before going overboard again, think about reality and that even BB’s and pellets for an air gun are kept in a locked cabinet at retailers in Canada and proof of age is necessary to purchase.

    Boxes of 12 gauge shotgun shells are displayed on pallets in the centre of aisles at Walmarts in the US along with the Cereal and Chocolate bars. It’s not the same thing as here.

    And I’m not objecting to gun safety. As far as I’m concerned, if you can’t hit it with a bolt action rifle and a scope then you shouldn’t be in the woods or shooting varmints either. But that doesn’t mean the government needs to know how many bolt action rifles I have and what they are. They only need to legislate which guns are legal to own, and who can’t own them.

    That said, and with the victims of this terrible tragedy in mind, I can’t help but wonder if US Homeland Security needs to be rethought and refocused?

    • GFMD says:

      But when not you but someone else commits a serious infraction and loses their license, it’s nice to know what guns that person has so they can be removed for everyone’s safety.

      And because we can’t tell the difference between you and him beforehand, we make both you and him fill out a sheet of paper. Or at least we used to.

      • po'd says:

        Well you can’t make people fill out a sheet of paper for what they already have and a great many didn’t. Nor can you be at all certain that a list is going to lead you where the guns are actually located. A Firearms acquisition licensing system and control of the sale of legal guns and ammunition on the other hand, does have a direct and positive impact.

        • GFMD says:

          You absolutely can make people fill out a sheet of paper for things they own. If they are responsible law abiding citizens they will gladly step up to the plate and be first in line to fill out the sheet of paper. The ones that don’t are the irresponsible ones who don’t deserve licenses in the first place. Pure and simple.

    • Robert Steven says:

      We do need to know how many you own and what they are so that you can’t act as a small arms trafficker with impunity as you can today in Canada, since Canada is now a lawless country as far as the illicit trade in non-restricted firearms is concerned.
      Canada is now in breach of several anti-trafficking treaties because you can now take your legally purchased weapons and ammunition and give or sell the to any criminal or terrorist you wish without leaving a single shred of evidence of any kind. In fact the government has made it illegal for gun stores or anyone else to maintain any records that might in any way assist in identifying an arms trafficker- one can only wonder why they are working so hard to make the illicit trade in firearms so foolproof, and the only answer that is apparent to me is that the gun manufacturers have understood that the illicit trade is good for their business.
      http://guncontrol.ca/canada-postposnes-firearms-marking-regulations/

  16. Domenico says:

    It must be frustrating to be a reasonable American and be held hostage by the gun nut lobby who facilitate atrocities like this.

    It is frustrating enough here in Canada to listen to Cons bleating about not needing to register their guns. I can only imagine how exasperating it is for rational Americans.

  17. Mark says:

    According to CNN, the model of Glock and Sig Sauer have not been identified yet, but also found on the scene was a “.223 Bushmaster,” also known as the AR-15. This is a semi-automatic version of the M-16. (Canadian Armed Forces carry an M-16 version labelled the C-7.) Since the AR-15 is semi-auto, it’s not considered an assault rifle, and therefore legal in Canada.

    • Cynical says:

      Legal yes, but “restricted”. You can legally own it, with the right type of license, but you can only shoot it at approved ranges, and can only move it between your home and the range. Not to say that a nutbar could not stop on the way and commit mayhem, a possibility that seems to escape the gun nuts.

      Guns don’t kill people. Assholes with guns kill people. Unfortunately we can’t always figure out in advance who is an asshole and who is not. So maybe….

      What a tragedy. I can’t imagine being one of the parents in that town. I used to live next door to a family from Littleton, CO, who couldn’t even live in the town any more.

      When will we learn?

      • monkey says:

        Also I believe Canada restricts it to 10 bullets per magazine. You cannot own such rifle with 100 bullets in a single magazine as the Aurora shooter did in Canada. While still can cause mayhem, at least if someone has to reload people can escape whereas if one can fire 100 rounds without reloading you can kill a lot people. Besides you do not need a 100 round magazine for target shooting or hunting. The only purpose those have is to kill as many people as possible. Yes not everyone who owns it is a murder as some people have a fascination with death machines even if they never intend to use them, but the point is such gun has no legitimate use.

  18. dave says:

    I think I mentioned this before, but I will mention it again.
    During the past year I was reading an article about a study of teaching and learning two to four centuries ago in England. The reviewer, an English scholar, discussed teaching of Latin quite a bit.

    One point he described, almost as a side issue to what he was writing about, was syntax in Latin sentences, the rhetorical uses of syntax. He used the example of the 2nd Amendment in the American Constitution. He said that the Latin construction of the sentence meant that the federal gvt could not keep a state from arming its state militia. He said that the people who composed that amendment were trained in Latin, and likely meant what I just stated. Seems to me the history at that time, the distrust in some of the states of a strong central government, would lend credence to that interpretation. The reviewer said that the Latin construction did not refer to individual ownership of arms at all.

    Myself, I have read that amendment a number of times. I could never get it to mean what American courts have claimed, that it gives individuals a right to own arms. The wording always has said to me that it allows for state militia’s to own arms.

    I realize that the courts down there have argued that inasmuch as all the other amendments refer to individual rights, then the 2nd Amendment must do so as well.
    But it seems to me that a whole body of law defending an American individual’s rights to own arms is built on a faulty interpretation of that 2nd Amendment.
    …and a problem with that is that fair number of our fellow Canadians buy into the same interpretation for Canadians.

    I’ll just write it here:

    A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

  19. patrick says:

    Perhaps it is time for censorship? The killer is never identified. Actually as much information as possible is suppressed.
    Why, because mass killing has become a means of making a statement and it is time to remove the benefit of what is imagined as a “prime time death”.
    Isn’t it enough to know that John Lennon was shot. Does it really matter that we all know who shot him
    Do you really want the Polytech murder’s name in you head.
    These are sad, horrific nonetities screaming to be noticed, are best unknown, not to be forgotten, but unacknowledged and eternally anonymous.

    Oh, and, of course the problem was that none of teachers had guns to defend themselves – while in a grade school. Read that twice so far. At least in Canada that thought gets buried pretty quickly by a raging opposition.

  20. james Smith says:

    There is something wrong in America.
    This kind of rampage is unknown in Switzerland – every male over 18 has an automatic rifle (locked in a cupboard) in their home.
    Same thing in first nation’s communities in this country, & in America for that matter, where guns are used by everyone. People use guns to hunt for significant food resources.

    What is it about young white males in America? Stupid assault style guns are a problem, as are hand guns used by these nuts.

    I don’t know what the answer is, but when broken young white men feel this is the way out of whatever is eating them. But if they could only use a hatchet, or a chain saw or a rock, many would drop their fantasy & might face their demons, at least fewer people would die.

    • monkey says:

      Switzerland also requires all males between 18-30 to join a militia and they only get such gun after extensive training. It also does not allow concealed carry weapons and only those who have done compulsory military service (militia) can own those. Those who have not cannot own them. Ironically Swiss gun laws are probably far closer to the original intention of the 2nd amendment then American gun laws, i.e. they were meant since at the time the US like Switzerland today had no standing army and this was the only way to defend against a foreign invasion.

  21. Pipes says:

    Obama’s response was so appropriate, how can you not love the guy.

    Some people in Newtown will be going home this evening without their child. They are going to walk into their living rooms and stare at a lifeless Christmas Tree and a closet full of Christmas presents.

    Why do we need guns in this world?

    Not that it matters I guess but I suspect a giant Oedipus Complex behind this.

  22. Michael Reintjes says:

    Actually its being reported that the rfle was recovered from his car….and that he used two handguns in the shooting……just horrifying…

  23. Lynn says:

    The NRA needs to get a grip and find a moral compass. Guns do kill people, but I can hear it now; if only someone was armed it could have been stopped, and it makes me furious. What has to happen for the NRA to have a rational discussion? If the gunman had a mental illness (likely) the NRA will point to that and not the access to the weapons. I cannot image the pain and grief those families are feeling knowing that the last moments were so horrific for their family member/child. Heartbreaking.

  24. Bruce A says:

    Why this isn’t a public health issue in the US is beyond me. Start suing the gun makers, the guns shops, in fact the whole supply and marketing chain.

  25. Sean says:

    We all mourn and pray for the victims and families of this massacre. We should also be mourning and praying for the victims of the next massacre, the one after that and the one after that. Only then will we have change.

  26. Jon Adams says:

    I’m going to come right out and say it: What the hell is going on with mental health on this continent? Why are we not helping people who need it? Why did this guy slip by us? Why did we let this happen? Are we so myopic as a society that we’re unwilling to admit to ourselves that we’re breeding people capable of doing this, and that we have the capability to stop it, and that we can prevent it happening again?

    I say this not to diminish the importance of the gun debate; I think it’s an important discussion that needs to be in the light of day, and the sooner the better. But it’s only 50% of the problem. If we frame this as a “guns alone” issue like that “confront the issue, you cowards” dumbfuck whose name I can’t be bothered to remember in the Aurora shooting thread on this site who wished he had been there so he could prove he was Rambo, then we’re no more useful than him.

    Let’s stop throwing up our hands and saying “I guess we’ll never know what motivated this” or blaming Doom or whatever media pariah like we have for the past fifteen-odd years. It’s one thing to stop the guns; it’s another to finally wake up and realize that something truly fucked is going on out there and we need to figure out what the hell it is.

    • Dave says:

      I hear your frustrations Jon. This guy clearly had some serious mental health issues and instead of getting help, he chose to kill innocent children. Unfortunately, it’s much easier to blame the guns than to admit that we have a mental health epidemic here in North America.

  27. reformatory says:

    Problem is as soon as the Republicans get back in then the laws will change. In Canada same thing… the liberals introduce gun control…. registry.. the CONS overturn it.

    Politicians only reflect the will of the people that support them. Agenda’s change! Power constantly shifts! The sick people and the sick agenda’s are what need to stop. They are the root cause.

  28. Mad Dad says:

    AP reports that the rifle was recovered from the car in the parking lot. In other words, he didn’t use the rifle, only the two handguns.

    Link to AP story: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONNECTICUT_SCHOOL_SHOOTING_SUSPECT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-12-14-18-40-31

  29. Iris Mclean says:

    As President Obama and most Americans are saying, this is a time to mourn, and not the time to discuss solutions for the insanity.
    They say that an armed society is a polite society..or something like that.

  30. Jeremy says:

    Oh so this is the thing that is protected by the 1791 Second Amendment? I didn’t know that this gun had been around for over 200 years. Shit no wonder America got her impendence with weaponry like that.

  31. Mitch says:

    All reports I have read indicate three or four different weapons were used (a long gun and some different handguns), so the picture of the “evil looking” rifle, as depicting a sole or primary cause of this tragedy, is misleading. The “look” of the weapon has no bearing on its lethality.

    That is not to say firearms (all firearms) are not potentially deadly, but rather to say it is how the firearm functions, not what it looks like, that determines its safety, or lack thereof. As hard as it is to see clearly in the face of this tragedy, the reporting so far is that the firearms were registered (to his mother) and legal in other respects. In other words these “legal” firearms ended up in the hands of a deranged individual and the results were unspeakable.

    Registration or licensing structures would have been of no benefit to prevent the catastrophe. I have seen no evidence that the function or calibre of the weapon(s), in and of themselves, were the root of the evil visited upon these children and adults. A sick and motivated person of the shooter’s ilk could have perpetrated this crime anywhere in the world (including Canada) where even basic hunting arms are legally available. See Mother Jone’s informative research: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map.

    MJ’s research shows clearly that, at least in the US, mass killings of this nature start mainly with legal firearms, and of the handgun variety. If licensing and registration don’t prevent these events (and they obviously don’t) then the focus has to be either on outright bans, or the more difficult (and beyond the election cycle) issue of prevention at the familial and/or societal level. As a fellow licenced firearms owner, I ask you to reconsider the use of pictures or depictions that tend to call upon the same mythologies that draw the deranged to those firearms in the first place…it isn’t looks that kill.

    • Conservative Socialist says:

      In a perfect world, only those who pose no threat of violence should have firearms. It is fair and reasonable that private firearms be allowed for inheriting the family gun, for target and practise and self defense. But with private firearms ownership, makes it easier for them to proliferate.

      I myself do not own guns, nor have I ever felt the need to do so. I have many friends and relatives who do, and I can attest that I don’t fear that any of them would ever go on a shooting rampage. I might decide to get a firearms license only for the sake of being allowed to inherit my Dad’s guns, but I would most likely stow them away under lock and key.

      So I’m not very familiar with the experience of red tape and hoops one has to go through to obtain them in Canada. The controversy over the long gun registry caused many to feel alienated and placed under suspicion when the vast majority of them would likely never commit crimes with firearms.

      Perhaps doing away with the LGR while maintaining a registry for hand guns provided social peace on the whole matter. Water tends to find its own level.

      In the case of Ryan Lanza, it was a matter of a socially maladjusted individual who was lonely to the point of having no friends. I’m a staunch advocate for making it easier to place people in mental institutions. Maybe that might cause some harmless eccentrics to lose their freedom temporarily, but trained professionals can then at least provide a proper diagnosis and give help where it’s needed.

      • MCBellecourt says:

        It wasn’t Ryan Lanza, but younger brother Adam who was the shooter. Ryan’s ID was found at the scene (in the car Adam drove, I believe), Poor Ryan was at work when this happened, but he was taken to the cop shop in handcuffs for questioning. Neither Ryan or his father are considered to be suspects in any way.

        Ryan frantically posted on his Facebook page that he was at work; “I didn’t do it!”, and it was quickly found to be true, from cardswipes at his workplace and witness testimonies.

  32. Martin says:

    It would be great if the U.S. could have true gun control. But, the U.S. has not had success in banning illegal drugs, I don’t think it would have success in banning firearms either. Guns are such a part of their culture that a ban would simply fuel a huge black market in guns.
    Does the video game and movie industry have to start to be more responsible in what products they deliver? Look at the new movie that’s out: Django Unchained. The average person will not be affected viewing this type of film. But don’t we have to start to wonder what all this violence on the screen can do to a fragile, sick mind? What happens when a deranged individual plays violent video games for hours and days on end? This modern day society seems to put alot of pressure on mental health. The number of people on anti-depression medication is astonishing. I don’t have any answers, but banning guns seems to be only a small part of the solution, and may not be practical at all if all you do is create a giant black market.

    • Pipes says:

      Sadly and honestly, I think they are too far gone. I was watching some news coverage and some people were advocating for teachers to have guns in the classroom and felt if they were armed, not so many children and adults would have been murdered.

      I don’t think you can completely legislate against insanity either, and ya there will always be a black market.

      I recall leading a very large community meeting on gun control a few years ago. I had a retired police officer who advocated for the abolition of guns at all levels. His best friend, both in the Police Hold Up Squad, was murdered with a shot gun during a bank robbery. At that meeting every asshole within 100 miles showed up to protect their guns. It was pathetic, and it taught me that everyone of these people are the type of people who shouldn’t have guns in the first place. In fact I seriously wanted to go get a gun just to protect myself from these people, but I bought a new guitar instead.

      Guns are here to stay and I guess legislation has to continue to evolve. I also recall there was a bank someone in America advertising a free rifle for every new account opened.

      In my view, and when I am King, the first step will be no more ammo and the second no more guns.

  33. mrburnsns says:

    This ad ran after John Lennon was killed. Still the most powerful anti-gun ad I’ve ever seen. And still relevant, sadly, 31 years later.

    https://twitter.com/stevewax/status/228197051081568256

  34. Tim says:

    Having access to guns is certainly part of the problem, but as this mother aptly put it, lack of access to help and stigma surrounding mental health issues, are the bulk of it.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/12/16/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-mental-illness-conversation_n_2311009.html

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