A mentally ill child

http://thebluereview.org/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother/

30 Years of Mass Killings in America

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map?page=2

Firearms

I read on the Internet that in "the old days" when people wanted to get a ham radio license to broadcast, they had to pass a rather difficult Morse code test. Morse code was useless for the majority of hams, but it worked well in separating the ones willing to work from those just playing around. Firearms should be at least as difficult to get. To own a firearm, a person should have to pass marksmanship and other tests similar to what a police officer has to take. Psychological tests also would be appropriate. Then the aspiring gun owner could even be designated a member of the "Civil Militia" (as in the 2nd Amendment). Members of the Militia would be allowed to own and carry a gun, but they would be responsible if their gun were used in a crime. (No more "I lost it" or "It was stolen".) Gun owners should be held to the same high standards to which police officers are held.

Legally owned guns

Adam Lanza, 20, was armed with two handguns and a semi-automatic Bushmaster .223 rifle Friday morning when he barged into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Authorities said all the weapons were legally owned and registered by Nancy Lanza, the shooter's mother. According to police, a Glock handgun, a Sig Sauer handgun and a Bushmaster rifle were recovered after the shooting at Sandy Hook. Authorities say that Nancy Lanza had five weapons registered to her, including a Glock, a Sig Sauer and a Bushmaster. Acquaintances of Nancy Lanza told the New York Times that the 52-year-old mother was a big fan of guns. She had several different guns and would go target shooting with her kids. She was originally from New Hampshire and was comfortable with weapons. Reports that Adam Lanza may have suffered from a personality disorder are being supported by people who knew that the mother had a troubled son. A classmate of the shooter from kindergarten through middle school said Adam was “quiet” and “one of the smartest students in school.” She said that Adam “was always participating in class and everything.” But she said her former classmate with whom she rode the school bus “sort of vanished” after their junior high years. “He almost fell off the radar in middle school,” she said. The shooter's aunt, Marsha Lanza, said that Adam’s mother pulled him out of Newtown public schools because of a dispute over the district's plan for her son. She ended up home-schooling him because “she battled with the school district,” the aunt said. Newtown’s school superintendent, Janet Robinson, told reporters that Nancy Lanza had no connection to Sandy Hook School despite initial reports that she was on the faculty or a substitute teacher there. Lanza divorced her husband, Peter, in 2009 when Adam was 17. As part of their divorce settlement, she got the house, and she did not have to work because Peter, a financial executive, left her very well off.

A pink dress and white boots

JoAnn Hagen Bacon, mother of 6-year-old Charlotte Helen Bacon who was murdered Friday in the Newtown, Conn., massacre, attended Orono (Minn.)High and St. Cloud (Minn.) State University before moving to the woodsy New England community of Newtown because of her husband Joel’s job. JoAnn’s parents, John and Irene Hagen, now live in Nisswa, Minn. They and several other relatives are going to Connecticut for Tuesday’s visitation and Wednesday’s funeral service. Friday morning, JoAnn Bacon called her mother, informing her that her children's school was on lockdown and that she was heading over there. Charlotte and her older brother, 10-year-old Guy, attended Shady Hook Elementary School. On the day she died, Charlotte had her heart set on wearing a brand-new pink dress her mother had bought. Her mom did not want her to wear the dress quite yet but to save it for the holidays. But Charlotte insisted. So JoAnn combed Charlotte's curly hair into pigtails and fastened them with pink bows. “She looked so cute,” JoAnn told her mother. Now she is left with one of her last treasured images of Charlotte: joyful in her new pink dress and white boots. “I guess she was dressed to go live with Jesus,” her mother said.

Face bookie

Since joining Facebook about four years ago, I have not blogged. I do not know if anyone sees what I write, but later today I am going to add a post or two regarding Friday's mass murder at the elementary school in Newtown, Conn.