An outpouring of support and gifts for Newtown, Connecticut, in the wake of a mass shooting has forced the town to ask for a temporary halt in donations.
"Our hearts are warmed by the outpouring of love and support from all corners of our country and world," Newtown First Selectman Patricia Llodra said. "We are struggling now to manage the overwhelming volume of gifts and ask that sympathy and kindness to our community be expressed by donating such items to needy children and families in other communities in the name of those killed in Sandy Hook Elementary on December 14.
"Thank you for understanding our message of appreciation and our need to now defer gifts to others in need."
The town has received worldwide support after Adam Lanza opened fire on Sandy Hook Elementary school, killing 20 children, six school employees and his own mother before taking his life.
People can still donate through the Sandy Hook Donations Fund, maintained through United Way of Western Connecticut.
A message from beyond: Peace in Newtown
Glimpses of normalcy amid reminders of horror
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No reporter has asked anyone who had a child murdered in Newtown the following question...and no reporter will ever ask it because it is the right question, the question everyone wants to know, and the question news execs have forbidden any reporter to ask...even Fox News. The question? "After experiencing the horrible murder of your child, would you have wanted an armed security guard or an armed staff member on-site at Sandy Hook?"
I think the question you mean was "do you wish that crazy Adam Lanza's mom didn't give him access to military-grade weapons."
So true. I'm sure those parents would give anything to have had someone in the school that could have stopped the shooter.
While I dont agree with everything the NRA has said, there is one thing that sticks out and is hard to argue... "The only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun". Its not that far reaching to say this. Its not like a unarmed guard was going to stop him; the "security system" didnt stop him; the principal didnt stop him...
The only thing that DID stop him was when the good guys with the guns showed up. Now what would have happened if there was ALREADY a good guy there??
Stop the blatant fear mongering.
Fred, believe it or not, that question HAS indeed been asked...several times. However, the correct answer has not yet been given. The answer? Psycho Mom successfully prevented the normal process of Freudian "Oedipal weening" from occuring AND demasculinized her psycho-son as revenge against the husband she hated. Her pathetic attempted to "play Daddy" by teaching her boy how to shoot apparently..."backfired".
There were armed police officers stationed at Columbine during that shooting.
Ask the parents of the kids that were murdered there if they think it was effective at protecting their children.
I think the question that should be asked is no question. Let these parents grieve the loss of their children in peace.
There have been some who have answered that question and they have said that what they would have wanted was a ban on those kind of weapons.
Two questions....
1. Armed security guard? Yes.
2. Ms. Lanza not owning a registered assault weapon with a high volume magazine? Absolutely, unequivocally, yes.
I think what most news sites and individuals are failing to ask are the above two questions in unison as they are in no way mutually exclusive. After all, #1 might have prevented the tragedy or reduced the number of dead. In this case, #2 most likely would have prevented the tragedy. And #1 and #2 together, in this case almost certainly would have prevented the tragedy.
The idiocy of questions like these, is that they all are based on the really bad assumption that such people are "crack shots". That they always hit their intended target, 100% of the time.
While I will not go down the path of others, and speculate if these 1st graders had guns tucked away in their school desks, I will give an example of the theater in Aurora. There, the auditorium was dark and filled with smoke. If several people in the audience were "packing", and opened fire, it is much much more likely that they would have either missed entirely, or shot other people in the audience, than to have only hit the gunman.
In other words, a "free for all" in gun fire, will not result in only the bad/evil/crazy gunman being hit.
An armed security guard would have been no match for a surprise attack with an automatic weapon. He shot himself into the school. Not having a weapon that had clips of 40 bullets and that could shoot one child 11 times would have been better.
Why would you ask someone who is in a heightened emotional state a question like that? Do you expect a wise and reasoned response? If someone steals your car are you the best person to ask what a fair punishment should be? Should juries be comprised of victims/family members?
Hey Dave? Why not ask them if the wished there were no assault riffles or semi automatic weapons in general in the hands of the unstable? Ask them is the would like to have strong strong gun controls that require licensing, background certification, no hand guns, no semi automatic rifles and a careful watch on ammunition? Why not ask them if they think it's smarter to get rid of guns than for people have to arm their schools, movie theaters, malls. Dave? Yoiu still reading? Aren't those good questions?
As NRA Spokesman Barack Obama said "This is why there are eleven armed guards at my children's school."
Why don't we just take off even the lame, wimpy restrictions we currently have on gun ownership in this country, and just allow everybody to pack concealed weaponry wherever and whenever they want? Then whenever you feel "threatened" by someone, you can just pull your heat out from your pocket and preemptively "protect" yourself. Sounds pretty civilized to me.
"The only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" This implies that a bigger gun in the good guy's hand would be even better. Please keep your arms race away from my child. If the military style of weapon wasn't available the creature likely wouldn't have had one and this killing may not have happened because the freak would not have been so drawn to killing. But this reasonable chance is not as sure as arming the schools I guess.
You're sick. If they arm the teachers, post armed guards or give the principles of my children's schools guns, they are getting pulled out.
I'm certain as a parent that if you asked "would you have wanted The Dark Night to be there to stop him?" we would all say "yes."
Here's a better idea, ask the parent who hasn't just suffered one of the worse possible losses and trauma, and are thinking rationally and they'll say "no, I want the killer to know have the gun in the first place."
The shooter's mother was armed. She is dead.
We all know the answer to that question. It's "yes." Here in South Florida we've had police in our middle and high schools for years, and we don't have mass school shootings. Somehow we manage to pay for it. Get with the program and quit arguing against cops in schools just because you don't like the source of the idea: the NRA. They have a point!
MANY of the parents of the slain children have answered this question. Almost all of them said putting guns in the school is NOT the answer.
Obama is not the NRA spokesman.
You people still aren't answering the question. You're avoiding it. There's only one logical answer and it's "yes", because some chance is better than no chance at all, which is what those kids had. Admit it or not: if you are about to be killed, you WILL wish you had a gun, or that someone close to you does!
Fred, I hate to break it to you, but a bushmaster is not a military-grade weapon. Carry on and believe what you will.
The question I'd like asked of the Newtown residents is what they think of the NRA.
Here's the question no NRA member wants to ask. Are all those guns you possess so you can feel like Rambo more important than the safety of the children of this country.
Just wondering where you discovered that "news execs" have banned this question. Do you actually know this for a fact or are you just making stuff up to suit your agenda. Proof or gtfo.
Evil thinks only of taking and deprivation. Love shows itself by giving. I wish that we could make these victims whole in the only way they can be whole again.
The best gift we could give Newtown would be to repeal the Second Amendment.
Well said.
As the victim of a crime, I now have a gun and large dogs. Both of which I will never be without for the rest of my life.
.
IAs much as I wish this tragedy had never happened, I will not give up my right to own a gun if I wish. Had it for 38 years, haven't hurt anyone with it and hope to keep it that way. The problem began with Adam's mental illness that should have been addressed by both of his parents.
Oh so true. Time to come to the 21st century. Citizens do not need assault rifles!!!
Nikki – And it ended with him having access to a weapon of murder that allowed him to carry out his delusional plans. Without that weapon, he'd of been forced to sit and rot in his own stench. Or he could have tried attacking the school with a knife and would have inflicted a fraction of the damage, if that. Heck, I'm not even saying we should outlaw all guns. Even if he had access to, say, a glock, he would have done far less damage, and people could keep their guns.
Actually, the best gift we could give them would be our emotional support and understanding, not to turn their tragedy into a geopolitical farce
There's another Sandy that is being forgotten about a bit. Overflow donations would be more than welcomed by those on the south shore of li, the rockaways, staten island and the jersey shore (apologies to areas not mentioned). Not to discount this terrible situation at all but most of the healing in Newtown is now of a spiritual nature, money and gifts will help marginally. However donations could still be of great assitance to those still reeling from effects of SS Sandy, which I assure you there are still a great deal.
I do think that Americans have so many tragedies that our focus shifts too quickly from one to the next. I think there are some children that are also being forgotten here from a tragedy that is ongoing. Perhaps some of the outpouring of gifts should be funneled to the families of the thousands of inner city youths that are killed by gunfire every year. It has become normalized for violence to be seen in the lower income inner city neighborhoods and schools. We need to fix things in this country on SOOOO many levels.
Hurricane Sandy was so last month. Gotta keep up with the times. Sandy Hook is the tragedy du jour.
But seriously, people only care for and grieve over whatever the press is covering that moment. Cut Sandy Hook coverage from the media and the gifts will dry up.
I feel bad for those kids cause most of them just went to school that day and they never came back home i cant tell u how i feel it feel like i am the parent of those kid may their souls rest in peace amen
I could not imagine those 20 families, having to deal that night with the reality that they have an empty bed in their house, and that bed will never be filled again.
Please try to learn English before you post comments. First of all, ALL of the murdered children – not most – just "went to school that day and ...never came back." Secondly, it's the PARENTS who deserve our sympathy because it is they who are left behind and who are grieving. No one can understand the rest of what you wrote. (Please people; stay in school!)
hannah1 – "Please try to learn English before you post comments. First of all, ALL of the murdered children – not most – just "went to school that day and ...never came back." Secondly, it's the PARENTS who deserve our sympathy because it is they who are left behind and who are grieving. No one can understand the rest of what you wrote. (Please people; stay in school!)"
hannah, someone making a comment from their heart, regardless of how it is written, does not deserve your cruel backhand. Maybe some sensitivity and politeness would be welcome in this world after all we have witnessed.
Brook. You mean "Ask the parents of SURVIVING Columbine children if armed security could have been a factor in their children being alive." Duh.
Ask the parents of those surviving children, if they would rather have had their kids DEAD. Killed by "friendly fire" of an all out free-for-all gun fight, by other students who were "packing" but could not hit the broad side of a barn.
Why? Are you really that dumb or is your post driven solely by racism? Just curious.
I'm a PROUD LIBERAL, but I do agree that we need to have a few armed teachers. This guy could have been stopped. Instead, he just mowed them down – sitting ducks until the police arrived. I wonder if anyone yelled out – "DROP YOUR WEAPON OR I'LL SHOOT!"
Worked well Ft Hood, one of the most heavily armed installations in the country. Not to mention Columbine. Armed teachers is just an idiotic idea. Armed security paid for by taxes on guns and ammo on the other hand, is 1 small step in the right direction.
I suppose choosing the gun free zone at Ft. Hood made sense for maximum carnage. Those who returned fire with folding tables or chairs, very brave indeed, were killed or seriously wounded. This man did not choose the MP station, the armories, the ranges or even guard posts. No. He chose an area with unarmed soldiers not as heavily guarded.
Once an armed person did arrive, the shooting was ended with the disgraced Major heading to a wheelchair...where he'll spend the rest of his, hopefully short, life.
Why would he drop his weapon? He was planning to die. I don't see armed guards being much of a deterrent when nutjobs are planning to die anyway.
Many of these killers have body armor on, only a clean head or neck shot would kill them, even taking out the legs could cause them to stumble into a room and sit on the floor shooting everything in site until he bleeds to death.
Maybe Newtown can donate some of their "gifts" to needy children when they regroup. They need emotional support, not winter coats and mittens.
Right, but they are overwhelmed with grief right now to have to manage any of the logistics required for this. I think it was a great message to put out -donate directly to the needy in their name. Never forget your blessings either -try to even imagine their life for even just a minute...
true, but when you live thousands of miles away from them, some people show their emotional support by sending them mittens.
I live a few towns away, so we are getting a lot more coverage in our local paper than you'll see in CNN. They have actually been doing this for several days now, and they'll be donating a lot more to needy kids and families once the memorials are taken down.
My way of supporting the families was to spend a little extra this Christmas on charities where there are little children and adults facing hard times. We can do no more for the little ones gone but can pass on blessing to those less fortunate.
What a horrible thing to say! Do you really feel that "rich white yuppies" feel less pain when their children are murdered? Your comment is heartless, nasty and should come down. Shame on you.
It's a good thing we have you to judge right from wrong... GFY
I guess if we ban guns all together...even the President won't need "Armed" body guards.....
After all....more guns arn't the answer.....so they say !!!
Our way of handling the horror of Newtown is to put an armed security guard at every school or arm the teachers??? Who really benefits from that. . . except gun manufacturers, you know, the ones the NRA is in bed with. Before you know it, they'll convince everyone in America to either have armed security in front of their homes or guns in their houses, and open carry in Every Town, USA. Let's see, what other countries are like that. Oh yeah. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria.
Only those who has lost a child can feel what these parents feel and the rest of us can pray to God, in Jesus's name that their hearts be comforted & peace to enter their minds. It isn't just the parents, but siblings, friends, classmates, falculty, & loved ones. They all need to be kept in our prayers, remember the families, the staff & students prayer & prayfor safer, stricter gun laws.
I have no idea what you are saying, referring to or meaning.