The shooter's mother was armed to the teeth

[brentspeak]

How come her guns didn't prevent this massacre?

[Cooley Hurd]

1. because they caused them.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Because her son murdered her with them. That's why...n/t

[uppityperson]

3. Oh, picky picky picky. Indeed. He used them to murder her, then took them and murdered children.

[DemoTex]

4. What is your point, brentspeak?

?

[Kolesar]

13. It's gonna be a long night for the gungeoneers...eom

[La Lioness Priyanka]

5. good point

(i am guessing this a retort to "we should all be armed" "teachers should have been armed" etc)

[rDigital]

6. You're not making sense. Do you believe guns are magical talismans? nt

[baldguy]

10. That's the point. HAVING A GUN DOESN'T KEEP YOU SAFE OR CONFER ANY SPECIAL PROTECTION ON YOU!

In fact, having a gun makes you LESS SAFE.

[rDigital]

11. I don't think she had them on her though. nt

[aandegoons]

30. He did and look what happened.

And you sitting right there enabling the next one. Your finger was on that trigger just like it will be on the next...

[rDigital]

31. Uh huh...sure. nt

[aandegoons]

32. You had your part in this murder.

It maybe small but you still had your part.

[rDigital]

33. Statements like this are the reason you can't be taken seriously. nt

[Hoyt]

17. I think kid grew up in gun culture, and look what happened.

Just a few days ago, one of Gungeoneers was talking about how he was going to leave his weapons cache to his kids and grandkids. How friggin nice of him. Hope they grow up and tell him they don't want his damn lethal weapons.

[baldguy]

7. If only she had more guns!

[Union Scribe]

8. So now she's the villain?

I don't like this new angle posters are latching onto. She was a victim today.

[oldhippie]

9. She was a gun owner ......

A crime waiting to happen, according to many here.

[baldguy]

27. Are you saying the massacre yesterday wasn't a crime?

[OldDem2012]

34. Has it actually been proven those guns were hers and not left behind when....

her husband left home prior to their divorce? Has it been proven she bought any of those guns, some of the guns, or any of the guns?

We have a ton of speculation in the press about who owned the guns but like most parts of this story, we have a real shortage of verifiable facts.

To be honest, the only thing we know for sure is that Adam Lanza became a mass murderer using weapons that he took from his mother's house. That's it.

[brentspeak]

12. Yes, she was a victim

There's no question about that.

My post makes a facetious reference to the circular and cliched illogic that "if only someone had a gun, someone could have stopped the killer". Her weapons, supposedly purchased to protect herself, were all-too easily turned against her and the many other innocent victims.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

18. Blame the victim is running rampant on DU today

What we know about seems odd collection for someone who is not a shooting enthusiasm of some sort. Looking for more data to come out on what all she had, how they were stored, and why she had them.

[brentspeak]

23. Do you deny that the weapons

were not secured enough from a clearly deranged member of the household?

The mother being a victim is incidental. In another reality, she would not have been shot, yet I would have posted the exact same thread. The issue still remains.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

26. That is not clear at this point...and dog piling the dead is at best unseemly until we know more

That the son was deranged is also premature.

- We know she was the registered owner of the three weapons
- We do not know which ones were used
- We do not know if there were more in the home
- We do not know why she had them
- We do not know how they were stored
- We do not know how the son had access to them

At this point it seems to me to be more productive to mourn the victims while the facts emerge and not knee jerk blame the apparent first victim.

[kestrel91316]

25. If SHE owned the guns and SHE let them fall into the hands of

a person who then murdered with them, she bears some responsibility.

Along with gun rights comes gun responsibility. You keep them LOCKED UP unless you are personally using them.

[JI7]

28. it doesn't have to be one or the other

[bklyncowgirl]

14. Perhaps she knew what her son was.

Is it possible that she thought she needed protection against her own child?

[rrneck]

15. She probably bought them for the boys. nt

[Cerridwen]

16. I wonder why she was "armed to the teeth"? n/t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. I am too

What we know about so far sounds like ones a shooting enthusiast of some sort would own.

Looking for more data to come out as to what else she might have owned, how they were stored and why she owned them.

As a parent I was amazed at how many of our secrets that our kids knew, including where the copy of the safe combination was stored.

[Cerridwen]

24. Very little gets past "the children."

I'm surprised more people don't remember their own childhood when they become parents.

There are too many conflicting stories about this horrific event to come to a clear understanding at this point, if ever.

The mother was a teacher; no, a volunteer; no, no one at the school knew her. The shooter was the older brother; no, the younger; he was a good boy; no, he was "socially awkward"; no, he was autistic. And on and on.

Why was she "armed to the teeth"? I wonder if we'll ever know.

[dionysus]

21. have some class now. nt

[upi402]

22. From 1995 to 2000 an average of 4 to 5 children died every day in nonhomicide firearm incidents

and it hasn't gotten any better. more guns in the house don't make you safer.

[baldguy]

29. More guns in the house makes you & your family less safe.