54% of the Senate voted for background checks, and they together represented roughly 63% of America’s population. But because the Senate is not a democratic body, majority support wasn’t enough to win that vote. The world’s greatest deliberative body, ladies and gentlemen.
Seized from Adam Lanza’s house: Gawker has a breakdown of the unsealed search warrants from after the Newtown shooting. This is one of many lists of the things acquired from the home.
Alissa Parker told “CBS This Morning” in an excerpt of an interview that aired Thursday that she wanted to meet with Adam Lanza’s father, Peter Lanza, to tell him “something” she needed to get out of her system.
It was unclear what they discussed or when the meeting took place. CBS plans to show the rest of the interview with Alissa and Robbie Parker on Friday morning, revealing more details about their meeting with Peter Lanza.
Lanza’s mother was killed during the shooting rampage.
» A caveat: Be careful not to overly lean on this speculation, however. After CBS published their story, they added this note: “In response to this piece, Lt. J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police told CBS News that the investigation into the motive for the Newtown shooting has not been completed and therefore any statements about the shooter’s intent are mere speculation.”
Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. The families of Newtown deserve a vote. The families of Aurora deserve a vote. The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence – they deserve a simple vote.President Obama, urging congress—more specifically, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, to put his gun control proposals to a vote.
Since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, more than a half million cards, letters, and drawings have been sent to the people of Newtown, Connecticut, from around the world. These messages of love, sadness, and hope have been on display in the town hall and viewed there by many residents and visitors. Now they’ll have a permanent home — on Tumblr. Brought to you by Mother Jones, in partnership with Tumblr’s Storyboard.
A reminder of the value of a well-considered concept and a little hard work. Spend a few minutes here today. You will gain a lot from this.
Gabrielle Giffords to Senate on gun control: ‘You must act’
JUST IN: Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords addressed a U.S. Senate committee hearing on gun control, saying “speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important. Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something.”
Giffords continued: “It will be hard, but the time is now. You must act. Be bold, be courageous. Americans are counting on you.”
Live video and updates on the hearing are available now on BreakingNews.com: http://www.breakingnews.com/topic/senate-judiciary-committee-hearing-on-gun-violence-jan-30-2013
Photo: NBC News
“Americans are counting on you.”
Today, President Obama announced sweeping set of policies, including 23 executive orders, aimed at reducing gun violence. The unveiling was the result of the Joe Biden-led task force Obama formed last month in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, and proposed policies include an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, and improved access to mental health care. The Washington Post calls it “the most expansive gun-control policies in a generation,” and the fact that the president issued no less than 23 executive orders suggests that he wants to avoid congress as much as possible with this (which, given his first term, is understandable). Here’s the flashy White House document outlining the proposals, here’s a list of the executive orders (one of which, somewhat amusingly, is “Nominate an ATF director”), and here’s audio of the event (courtesy of Matt Keys). Photo credit: AP source
Connecticut school may get named after Sandy Hook victim: Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old teacher who died while shielding her students from a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary, is likely to be honored by nearby Stratford, Connecticut. The town’s mayor, John Harkins, has recommended naming the town’s new school after Soto, who lived in Stratford and graduated from Stratford High School. The town will vote on the proposal tonight.
There is a surprising, so far, a surprising recurrence of suggestions that we have universal background checks. Not just close the gun show loophole, but total, universal background checks, including private sales.Joe Biden re: the proposals being considered by his gun control task force. John Hickenlooper, the Democratic Governor of Colorado, echoed this same sentiment today. In addition, Biden said that he’s “never quite heard as much talk about the need to do something about high-capacity magazines as I’ve heard spontaneously from every group that we’ve met with so far,” and said that the president has given him until Tuesday to present a set of recommendations as to how best prevent future incidents like the one in Newtown. source
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A Connecticut newspaper ran an ad for a gun show next to a story about Sandy Hook today.
As a former newspaper guy, let me emphasize that in situations like these, you can generally check the ad stacks and change things to avoid situations like this.
Earlier today, the New York Post put up a story discussing Ryan Lanza’s Facebook page and statements that he allegedly made to the newspaper, the first made since his brother committed the Newtown shooting (something he was initially falsely accused of). Funny story about that: They got duped and ran with a story based on a fake page with the username “Official.RyanLanza01”, because clearly the New York Post can’t figure out that a Facebook page was created this week. (Apparently the statements were made through Facebook chat, on top of that.) Good work dragging this kid’s name through the mud all over again.
And here’s another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal. There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people. Through vicious, violent video games with names like ‘Bullet Storm,’ ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ ‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Splatterhouse.’National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre • Taking a swipe at a number of video games during his speech on Friday—where he also suggested that the solution to school shootings was having armed policemen at each school. Mind you, two of these games, Splatterhouse and Mortal Kombat, have each been around in various forms for two decades or longer, though both have had relatively recent entries. Anyway, can we call them the National Retro Association? It’s like they traveled back in time and pulled these lines out of the mouths of analysts in the wake of Columbine.
Nation set to observe moment of silence for Newtown victims
At 9:30 a.m. EST, many people in the United States are joining Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy’s call for a moment of silence to remember the victims of last week’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
NBC News reports thousands of churches are set to ring their bells 26 times at 9:30 a.m.
Photo: A police officer puts his hands together and bows his head before the funeral for 6-year-old shooting victim Catherine Hubbard at Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 20, 2012. (Joshua Lott / Reuters)
Start your moment of silence as soon as you read this. We plan to start ours as soon as we hit the reblog button.
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