“The Whole Damn Place Is Going Down”

As a current student who goes through security often, simply showing her ID at a distance to the security guards, I would feel a lot better if at least the entry ways were more secure. Sometimes I can just walk right on in.

"There are cameras everywhere. You can't get into the building without checking in and showing ID."

Actually, there are no doors between the ID desk and the rest of the building.

But I'm comforted by the fact that a couple intruders armed with perfectly legal assault rifles will have to stop and show their IDs before they can walk directly into the main cafeteria. That will make it easier to identify the shooters after the mass shooting happens. (assuming they were old enough to even have an ID - any child can buy a working machine gun on Craigslist or from a gun show in cash, with no questions asked).

anonymous, I do wish you would get your facts and figures strait.

An assault rifle is by definition, a select fire weapon, firing a micro caliber or intermediate round. Thus, unless registered as an NFA weapon, and registered under the Connecticut Assault Weapons law, no assault rifle is legal in Connecticut.

All machine guns are full auto capable, and thus subject to the NFA. In order to transfer an NFA firearm, one must get approval from the chef law enforcement officer, pass a Federal background check, and pay a $200 tax.

Even as someone who does not own any gun, of any type, I know that.


Speaking as a non expert, who has talked with an expert, and has read The Gift of Fear, it is my understanding that no spree killing has ever happened without some warning. This warning may be hard to detect, or otherwise go unnoticed. I am relived that the warning was recognised (albeit fairly obvious) in this case.

None too smart....

HhE, not every weapon is purchased in Connecticut, and there are many ways that one might define these weapons, particularly when anyone can modify them at home.

Please tell me that is not a baby's crib in the picture...

Good eyes MamaBear. I think you are right.

anonymous, the NGCA of 1968 bares interstate transfer of firearms without an FFL, except in the case of estates. "Assault weapon" is a legal classification, in the case of our state, is defined by statute. "Assault rifle" is a word defined by the militaries of the world. To redefine that to mean something else is to ignore establish practise, meaning, and history. To modify a semi automatic firearm to run full auto is a violation of the NFA of 1934, and the Gun Owners' Protection Act of 1986.

That said, I am confident that anyone bent of being an active shooter is not concerned with such issues, nor with the criminalisation of murder. I also imagine they could shot out any lock, as well as video cameras.

Gateway has a cafeteria on street level on Church Street, and the wall at the street is just big panes of glass. All you'd have to do to cause mayhem is blast one of those panes with a shotgun and you'd be able to step right into the cafeteria unhindered by ID checks or other security.

I am probably going to get in hot water for this post.

I wonder why people are not asking why individuals who go, or threaten to go, "postal" get to that tragic point.

I in no way am condoning this kind of violence. I simply wonder why unresolved injustice is never talked about in the context of these kinds of public threats or actual violence.

After all, what is violence but a demonstration of power and in this context usually perpetrated by the powerless?

Who was that said, "If you want peace, work for justice," or something to that effect.

@Curious... another helpful suggestion! Bad enough that people come up with bad ideas on their own, but let's not add to the problem with what I hope was a poor try at sarcasm. Too many people are easily influenced. on another note...211 has resources for helplines/hotlines for all sorts of needs(mental health,housing, childcare,abuse,etc.) and I believe they are available 24 hours.

Brutus:
An irony being that some of us are there studying to be able to work in some form of public service!

Anonymous
Can a child honestly buy a machine gun? I'm aware that some gun enthusiasts do modify semi-automatic weapons, but, is it really true that a child (how old?) can buy an actual honest to goodness working machine gun on craigslist easily?

I've never seen a machine gun for sale, although I absolutely am not in the market for it. While I don't doubt that one can, with time and money, buy one, I do wonder at how easy you make it sound.

Why don't more children buy machine guns? I remember being a kid. I would have LOVED to have a gun like the ones in GI Joe.

Hhe,

It's more or less customary when employing specialized jargon, abbreviations and terminology to a lay audience to explain clearly what those terms mean and why they matter. 'Micro caliber', 'intermediate round', 'select fire', NFA, NGCA . . . I imagine most of that is meaningless to lots of the people you are trying to convince of . . . whatever you're trying to convince them of.

William Kurtz,

micro caliber, a cartridge who bullet is 6mm or under, the most typical is the ubiquitous 5.56NATO.

intermediate cartridge, a cartridge with a bullet between 7mm and 8mm, but shorter in length and of less power high power cartridges it superseded. While the most famous is probably 7.62x39, the original was the 8mmKurtz.

NFA National Firearms Act of 1934, its provisions include restrictions on machine guns, muzzle cans, and short barrelled rifles and shotguns.

GCA Gun Control Act of 1968, put an end to mail order guns.

Select fire, a firearm that can fire one round per pull of the trigger, or fire a burst or full auto (multiple rounds) per pull of the trigger.

I am not trying to convince anyone of anything, save that anonymous tends to make claims about guns that are altogether untrue, or presents facts that are true, but mislead. I believe that this in turn undermines arguments that he has made that have merit.

As a rule, trying to convince anyone to change their views on guns and gun control is futile. It is probably the most polarized issue in America, and expressing a position is effectively turning off half of ones audience, and nothing more.

Whatever I think about this topic is not important, but I do wish both sides would tell the truth.


steever, I believe, but do not know, that if one had enough money, and if one knew the right person, and if one were willing to risk serious federal time, one could get full auto capable firearm. (None of these three elements is true in my case.) I believe anon's post is far more rhetoric than credible threat assessment.


Not me brutus2011. I too deplore violence in the work place, school, and elsewhere. However, in a world where courts are more worried about meeting the needs of lawyers than justice, stock-brokerage firms that run day trading programs without telling people in no uncertain terms that what they are doing is gambling, and other cases where lives are destroyed, this sort of crime will most likely flourish.

One thing we do know, is that publicity tends to encourage and sanction this sort of behavior in the sick sort of mind that thinks this is an appropriate response-- as we are seeing here. This is why I was so distressed by the amount of media coverage of Sandy Hook.

Brutus -- Most mass murderers are not victims of social injustice. The shooters in Newtown, Aurora, Columbine were not poor kids. They were just crazy and they had access to weapons that fire a lot of bullets quickly.

to "BumperCar:"

While not disputing your point, I feel compelled to point out that we human beings lie about others to cover our own rears with a frequency that would probably amaze most. What this does is "murder" another's reputation falsely. This can have disastrous consequences for a person's, and their family,life and ability to earn a living. All because of the injustice of a lie believed by someone with power to change a life through the stroke of a pen or the utterance of a directive. Or, as hHe pointed out, by knowingly perpetrating a fraud on a unsuspecting or gullible public.

Quite frankly, I am surprised that the hidden unjust actions of the DeStefano-Mayo education cartel has not spawned significant public violence--individually and collectively.

And now these perpetrators of injustice are looking for adulation and respect for long careers where the people they hurt far outnumber the people they helped.

Although it would not be particularly easy for a child to get their hands on a dangerous weapon, it is not inconceivable given the millions of such weapons available in the USA and the fact that roughly 10-15% of gun killings are committed by children. That said, this is all a distraction from the fact that just about anyone can buy a gun, walk in with or without their ID, and start shooting up the place in a manner similar to the other 50 recent mass shootings and the 2,000 other Americans who have been shot to death since Newtown happened.

@Anonymous
It is a distraction: particularly you positing it in the first place ;-) I had never even thought of it until then.

If children don't actually have easy access to buy machine guns, I'd love to see everyone focus on the important issue of improving gun regulations and making it less likely that someone can walk into a building and start shooting each other.