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I Can't Understand Why People Like Guns

Adam Lanza-Psycho Inadequate With Too Many Toys.... Newtown gunman Adam Lanza 'had weapons arsenal'
Adam LAnza undated picture Adam Lanza killed his mother at home before driving to the school
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The young man who killed 27 people in a massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, owned an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, court papers show.

More than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, a bayonet, several swords and knives were among the items found in a search of Adam Lanza's home.

Details of the searches were publicised after a court seal lapsed on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old first shot his mother, before killing 26 people at Sandy Hook elementary school in December.

The mass shooting - which ended when Lanza shot himself - shocked the United States and revived debate over how to curb gun violence.

President Barack Obama, who called the day of the shootings the worst of his presidency, launched a campaign to tighten gun laws in the wake of the attack.

On Thursday he stood alongside parents of Newtown's young victims and urged senators to approve gun control measures in votes due next month.
Mother's gun gift

Lanza managed to shoot all his victims and kill himself within five minutes of making his way into the school, said state prosecutor Stephen Sedensky, in a statement accompanying Thursday's release of the search warrants.
President Obama surrounded by Newtown families at the White House, Washington DC 28 March 2013 President Obama supports an assault weapons ban, a measure Congress is unlikely to pass

The 20 children and six staff members were all killed with a Bushmaster .223-calibre rifle.

The gun Lanza turned on himself was a Glock 10mm handgun, Mr Sedensky said.

Lanza also had a loaded 9mm Sig Sauer handgun with him in the school and three 30-round magazines for the rifle.

At the scene, investigators found 154 used .223 casings.

One more weapon - a 12-gauge shotgun with 70 rounds - was discovered in the Honda Civic that Lanza drove to the school.

Although the desc<x>ription of the gunman in search warrants suggests he was found wearing military-style clothing and a bullet-proof vest, prosecutors said on Wednesday Lanza was not wearing such a vest.

In the gunman's two-storey family home, investigators found a bayonet, a gun safe in Lanza's bedroom, three samurai swords and about 10 knives, according to search warrants.

Several guns were retrieved: a .323-calibre Enfield Albian bolt-action rifle, a .22-calibre Savage Mark II rifle, a BB gun and a .22-calibre Volcanic starter pistol, according to the papers.

The documents showed the gunman's mother, 52-year-old Nancy Lanza, had written a cheque for her son to buy a weapon and placed it in a holiday card.
NRA certificates

Police found her body in bed with a fatal gunshot wound to the forehead, and a rifle on the floor nearby.

Investigators also discovered a news clipping about a 2008 school shooting at Northern Illinois University.

In that attack a formerly successful student, 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak, killed five people and injured 21 others before turning the gun on himself.
Police outside the home of Nancy Lanza in Newtown, Connecticut on 18 December 2012 The Lanza family home in Newtown, Connecticut, pictured in December 2012

Two books, "Look me in the eye: My life with Asperger's" and "Born on a blue day: Inside the extraordinary mind of an autistic savant", were also found in the Lanza home.

Friends of the Lanza family had described the gunman as having Asperger's syndrome, which is a form of autism.

National Rifle Association certificates and a guide to pistol shooting by the gun lobby group, together with a smashed computer hard drive and gaming console were among the other items police found at the home.

One witness reportedly told police Lanza was a keen gamer who regularly played games, such asCall of Duty, and rarely left his home.

Some details, such as the name of a witness, telephone numbers and serial numbers, were redacted from the cache of documents.

The papers were made public at the request of Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, who expressed concern about information that had been leaked to the press.
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Philliefan73
Your facts are wrong. Adam had no guns whatsoever. Because of his mental condition, it would have been illegal to sell him a guy. Of course, criminals don't exactly follow the letter of the law, he stole his mother's guns, killed her with them, and shot up newtown. Just another case of a gun restriction accomplishing nothing whatsoever.
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
The gun control would have stopped his mother buying a load of guns and stopped him stockpiling ammo. Is that a simple enough explanation for you?
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
And background checks on medical conditions among gun owners aren't worth the paper they are scribbled on. Proper checks are needed.
Philliefan73
It's simple, it just isnt right. You see, the fact is, that Adam DID try to buy a guy himself, but wasn't allowed to do so. So, not having legal access, he stole them. He stole them from his mother, because that was easiest. Had she not had them, he would have stolen them from elsewhere. Because laws prohibiting things, don't make them unavailable to people who are willing to break those laws.

It is a hard truth to accept, but truth nonetheless, that if a person is willing to die in the interest of killing innocents, no law in the world can prevent it.
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
How hard is it to understand that less guns in circulation means less guns available to would be criminals?
Philliefan73
How hard is it to accept that gun prohibition laws don't mean less guns in circulation? Didn't work on alcohol, isn't working on pot, and wouldn't work on guns.
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
It means only criminals would have assault weapons if they were made illegal. Wouldn't that make America a safer place. Prohibition was a great example of how stupid the American people are.
Philliefan73
So, you think it is safer for criminals to have assault weapons, and law-abiding citizens to not have them? You might want to think about that for a while. There's a gross conceptual error there.....
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
No there isn't. Why do law-abiding citizens need guns? Is your faith in your own Police so low?
Philliefan73
Yes, it is. Our police force is useful for finding culprits of crimes after the fact. But for preventing crime, or stopping crimes in action, they are useless. Americans have to protect themselves, because the police can not.
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
So you would rather take the risk of serial killers easily getting hold of guns. That's your personal choice, but hopefully most Americans think otherwise.
Philliefan73
Serial killers will get the guns no matter what the law is. The only people that the law Is capable of disarming is law abiding ones
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
Check out what happened in Australia when they applied gun control. It could work in America too.
Philliefan73
In Australia, homocides were dropping at a constant rate, and then a gun ban was enacted, and the rate didn't change at all. The gun ban had no effect.
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
Again, twisted take. Gun crimes dropped by a huge amount. The Australian ban was in response to a farmer who went on a shooting spree with legally owned guns.
gothicboy1234
it doesn't matter if they were legal or not people will still find a way to get guns. People need guns for protection. It's not her fault she liked guns. It was her fault though to take Adam to the shooting range.
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
Who was protecting people from Adam Lanza? How come all the legal gun owners in America never stop killing sprees?
gothicboy1234
They didn't have a cop as far as I know. By the way nobody knew until the shooting happened. I guarantee if I put an ar-15 down on the table with a fully loaded mag without anybody touching it nothing will happen. If we tried to put a cop in every school in the nation then we wouldn't have cops for anything else. Guns aren't the prob people like Adam Lanza are.
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
But the reason he got the guns was because his mum legally owned a lot of dangerous weapons she didn't need. Too many Americans say they need guns for protection-protection from what exactly?
gothicboy1234
oh lets see the goverment, home invaders,and other countries invading us possibly. You don't need an ar-15 but you are allowed to have one if you desire. where did you get this info from anyway?
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
This info came from the BBC website via the American Police .There is no need to have a gun for any of the reasons you quoted. The Government aren't going to come and shoot you in your bed. You have the Police and your Military for the other two.
gothicboy1234
the police only serves justice even some people tried to sue the court for lack of protection and the court said that they aren't suppose to stop crimes only to support justice and the military. Sure but what if they come for your family and there's no military personnel around?
skeeter0079
The police are minutes away when seconds count. Their job is to investigate the crime AFTER it has occurred.
skeeter0079
Legal gun owners do stop killing sprees. The media just doesn't report it because it goes against their biased agenda
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
Ever shot any bad guys, Skeeter?. If the answer is no, how about telling me how many crimes your toys have prevented?
Mikemcneil · 61-69, M
Post a link to any article . Don't tell me the NRA wouldn't have a big list of those incidents if there actually were any?