Salon.com > Newtown school shooting http://www.salon.com Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:21:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Dems introduce high-capacity magazine ban in the House http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/dems_introduce_high_capacity_magazine_ban_in_the_house/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/dems_introduce_high_capacity_magazine_ban_in_the_house/#comments Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:57:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13160889 Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., introduced a ban on high-capacity magazines in the House earlier today, the first day of the new session of Congress.

According to the AP, DeGette introduced the bill with Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed in a 1993 mass shooting on the Long Island Rail Road in New York. From the AP:

[DeGette]'s district includes the site of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. It is also adjacent to last year's Aurora movie theater shooting site. In both of those attacks, the shooters' rifles were modified with high-capacity magazines. Those devices allow attackers to fire dozens of bullets without pausing to reload.

Though it's still unclear whether a ban can pass the Republican-controlled House, there were some promising signs from at least one Republican earlier today.

Rep. Peter King, also from New York, said on "Morning Joe": "I voted for the assault weapon ban back in 1994. My father was a police officer. I really don't know why people need assault weapons."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/dems_introduce_high_capacity_magazine_ban_in_the_house/feed/ 21 Gun group to give armed teacher training in 15 states http://www.salon.com/2013/01/02/gun_group_to_give_armed_teacher_training_in_15_states/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/02/gun_group_to_give_armed_teacher_training_in_15_states/#comments Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:41:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13159931 Although many lawmakers, the president and gun control advocates immediately scoffed at the NRA's suggestion that schools needed more armed personnel to avoid tragedies like that of Sandy Hook Elementary last month, teachers and school staff are voluntarily flocking to arms training courses.

Ohio-based Buckeye Firearms Foundation has launched an Armed Teacher Training curriculum to offer gun training to teachers and school workers. According to Ohio's Fox 19, "As of Wednesday, the Armed Teacher Training Program has attracted more than 600 applicants from several states including Ohio, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and West Virginia." More than one-third of the 600 applicants are female.

According to Fox, the program, which will officially launch in Spring 2013, will take teachers through intensive gun training and will have course attendees take the same firearms test as law enforcement officers.

[h/t Think Progress]

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/02/gun_group_to_give_armed_teacher_training_in_15_states/feed/ 49 High schooler suspended for poem on understanding Adam Lanza http://www.salon.com/2013/01/02/high_schooler_suspended_for_poem_on_understanding_adam_lanza/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/02/high_schooler_suspended_for_poem_on_understanding_adam_lanza/#comments Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:50:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13159468 A 17-year-old high school student in San Francisco has been suspended indefinitely after she wrote a poem in her personal notebook which included the lines, "I understand the killings in Connecticut; I understand why he pulled the trigger."

A teacher at the Life Learning Academy found Courtni Webb's notebook and reported the poem to the principal who suspended the student. The school district is now deciding whether and when Webb can return to the small vocational school. Webb and her mother have reached out to the media to decry the school's actions.

They told NBC's Today that Webb was simply expressing herself and exploring ideas about helplessness and darkness that she believed were behind the Newtown massacre. "Never in my life have I heard that you couldn't mention a tragedy that happened. I didn't say that I agree with it, I said I simply understand it" Webb told Today, noting that the she felt the school was making her look like "a monster." Her mother said that she believes her daughter's free speech is being violated.

Via NBC:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/02/high_schooler_suspended_for_poem_on_understanding_adam_lanza/feed/ 39 A 6-year-old Newtown survivor seeks $100m from Ct. http://www.salon.com/2012/12/30/a_6_year_old_newtown_survivor_seeks_100m_from_ct/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/30/a_6_year_old_newtown_survivor_seeks_100m_from_ct/#comments Sun, 30 Dec 2012 15:56:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13157780 A lawyer who's asking to sue Connecticut for $100 million on behalf of a 6-year-old Newtown school shooting survivor who heard violence over the school's intercom system says the potential claim is about improving school security, not money.

"It's about living in a world that's safe," New Haven attorney Irving Pinsky told The Associated Press on Saturday. "The answer is about protecting the kids."

Pinsky asked this week to sue the state, which has immunity against most lawsuits unless it gives a party permission to go forward with a claim. Connecticut's claims commissioner couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.

Pinksy's client, whom he calls "Jill Doe" in the claim, sustained "emotional and psychological trauma and injury" on Dec. 14 after gunman Adam Lanza forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and gunned down 20 children and six adults inside in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

The child heard "conversations, gunfire and screaming" over Sandy Hook's intercom after someone in the office apparently switched on the system, according to the claim. Pinsky said Saturday he didn't know whether his client saw anyone die.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/30/a_6_year_old_newtown_survivor_seeks_100m_from_ct/feed/ 60 Obama vows to support gun legislation http://www.salon.com/2012/12/30/obama_vows_to_support_gun_legislation/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/30/obama_vows_to_support_gun_legislation/#comments Sun, 30 Dec 2012 15:12:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13157751 During his Sunday appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," President Obama vowed to support legislative efforts to curtail gun violence in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

"I think there are a vast majority of responsible gun owners out there who recognize that we can't have a situation in which somebody with severe psychological problems is able to get the kind of high capacity weapons that this individual in Newtown obtained and gun down our kids. And, yes, it's going to be hard," Obama told host David Gregory, recalling the day he heard of the murder of 20 children in Connecticut as the worst day of his presidency.

Obama also discussed fiscal cliff negotiations. He repeatedly placed the blame on Republicans for failure to reach a compromise, noting the GOP "had trouble saying yes to a number of repeated offers." In contrast, the president defended his own record of spending cuts, telling Gregory:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/30/obama_vows_to_support_gun_legislation/feed/ 4 Do media vultures perpetuate mass shootings? http://www.salon.com/2012/12/29/do_media_vultures_perpetuate_mass_shootings/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/29/do_media_vultures_perpetuate_mass_shootings/#comments Sat, 29 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13152608 Outside Columbine High on the day of the attacks, a photographer standing near me flipped open a phone and cheered, excitement uncontained: "It's Pulitzer time!" This man knew I could hear him. He just didn't care. At the time — and in my shock — I registered disgust, but commercial journalism wasn’t yet my life’s loudest bully. Before the month was over, there would be a Japanese reporter camping out in a car outside my house. When someone from our shattered family came or went, he would scramble out of the car, seeking salable dirt on the shooters. They had been students in one of my mom's classes. My aunt taught English to several of their victims.

My aunt called the reporters “carrion birds.” My mom was too stunned to say much of anything about them. It fell to me to field their calls: “Columbine,” this thing that wounded 24 and killed 13 and almost took my mother, was an all-day, wall-to-wall media happening. A pair of journalists from the New York Times even used an enrolled student as a ruse. My mom arrived at a coffee shop to tutor a boy who’d been unable to return to school, and there they were, tagging along. Interrupting education. Seeking any small anecdote on murderers the 24-hour news cycle had already turned forever into figures of anti-heroic intrigue.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/29/do_media_vultures_perpetuate_mass_shootings/feed/ 21 Doodles lead to high schooler’s arrest http://www.salon.com/2012/12/28/doodles_lead_to_high_schoolers_arrest/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/28/doodles_lead_to_high_schoolers_arrest/#comments Fri, 28 Dec 2012 20:17:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13156795 This month in our Orwellian nightmares come true, a 16-year-old high schooler in Egg Harbor City, NJ, was arrested after doodling in his notebook what may have been either weapons or a magic hand with flames coming off it, or perhaps something else.

Concerned by the boy's notebook, a Cedar Creek High School staff member called the local police, who searched the school and the teen's home with sniffer dogs. When police found chemicals in the house which, when combined -- although they were not combined and are found in many households -- could be used in an explosive device as well as a number of electronics, the boy was charged with possession of a weapon, an explosive device, and was placed in Harborfields Detention Center before being released and having charges dropped.

The boy's mother explained that her son, who had no history of violence or threat-making, regularly assembled and dissambled electronics as a hobby. “He takes the parts and he builds things with them,” she told Fox. “Good things.” And as the local police chief affirmed, “There was no indication he was making a bomb, or using a bomb or detonating a bomb,” and the boy didn’t issue any threats.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/28/doodles_lead_to_high_schoolers_arrest/feed/ 10 FBI arrests woman for alleged Newtown fundraising scam http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/fbi_arrests_woman_for_alleged_newtown_fundraising_scam/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/fbi_arrests_woman_for_alleged_newtown_fundraising_scam/#comments Thu, 27 Dec 2012 22:01:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13155996 The FBI has arrested a Bronx woman for allegedly exploiting the Newtown school shootings by posing as a family member of one of the victims on Facebook, soliciting donations for the funeral, and then lying to federal agents about it.

Nouel Alba was arrested and arraigned in a Hartford court on Thursday, on charges that she lied to federal agents about an alleged fraud scheme connected to the shootings.

From NBC Connecticut:

Last week, NBC’s Jeff Rossen reported that Alba posted a solicitation on Facebook within hours of the shooting, identifying herself as an aunt of Noah Pozner, a 6-year-old victim.

Later, as families were grieving and the nation was looking for any and every way to help the victims’ families, she asked for funds to pay for the funeral, Rossen reported.

At Alba's instruction on the Facebook page "Victorian Glam Fairys," donors sent money to a PayPal account that Alba controlled and accessed, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/fbi_arrests_woman_for_alleged_newtown_fundraising_scam/feed/ 2 Mother of youngest Sandy Hook victim gives interview http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/mother_of_youngest_sandy_hook_victim_gives_interview/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/mother_of_youngest_sandy_hook_victim_gives_interview/#comments Thu, 27 Dec 2012 19:42:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13155947 Since Noah Pozner, 6, was shot dead by a semiautomatic rifle in Sandy Hook Elementary School, his mother Veronique has had persistent nightmares of running through abandoned building desperately looking for her son.

In an interview with the Jewish Daily Forward, Veronique Pozner shares this alongside other intimate and painful details about her mourning, her son and his relationship with his twin and other siblings.

The six-year-old -- the first Sandy Hook student to be buried because of a Jewish tradition to conduct funerals swiftly -- is described as energetic and academically gifted:

He already knew how to read; he had a vocabulary well beyond his years, using words like “DNA” and “dynamic.”

“He excelled academically,” says [his half-sister] Danielle. “His teachers said he was really, really, smart.”

He was on a constant path of discovery. “It was always, ‘How does this work? Why does this happen?’ He wanted to understand cause and effect,” says Veronique.

Noah also wondered about God, asking his mother, “If God exists then who created God?”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/mother_of_youngest_sandy_hook_victim_gives_interview/feed/ 13 Push to arm teachers may be picking up momentum http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/push_to_arm_teachers_may_be_picking_up_momentum/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/push_to_arm_teachers_may_be_picking_up_momentum/#comments Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:14:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13155552 Ever since the shootings in Newtown, Conn., gun rights advocates have been pushing for teachers to be armed as a way to prevent future school shootings. Now, local gun advocacy groups are offering teachers easy ways to make it happen.

CBS News reports:

The Utah Shooting Sports Council said it would waive its $50 fee for concealed-weapons training for the teachers. Instruction featuring plastic guns was to start Thursday inside a conference room at Maverick Center, a hockey arena in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Valley.

It's an idea gaining traction in the aftermath of the Connecticut school shooting.

In Ohio, the Buckeye Firearms Association said it was launching a test program in tactical firearms training for 24 teachers initially.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/push_to_arm_teachers_may_be_picking_up_momentum/feed/ 13 Anti-Westboro Baptist petition the most popular ever http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/anti_westboro_baptist_petition_the_most_popular_ever/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/anti_westboro_baptist_petition_the_most_popular_ever/#comments Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:55:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13155511 A petition to label Westboro Baptist Church a hate group has accumulated more than 260,000 signatures, making it the most popular petition to the Obama Administration's We the People program, Politico reported. Several other petitions urging that the church be stripped of its tax-exempt status have also accumulated tens of thousands of signatures.

Topeka, Kan.,-based Westboro Baptist Church, better known as those "God Hates Fags" creeps, is already considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Most recently it made news for threatening to picket the funerals of the Newtown massacre victims. The hacker group Anonymous responded with attacks on the church's online presence.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/anti_westboro_baptist_petition_the_most_popular_ever/feed/ 13 Arizona AG: Let’s arm one employee in every school http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/arizona_ag_lets_arm_one_employee_in_every_school/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/arizona_ag_lets_arm_one_employee_in_every_school/#comments Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:39:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13155009 Arizona's Attorney General Tom Horne, R, has proposed a program to train and arm one school employee as a way to prevent another shooting like the one in Newtown, Conn.

In a statement Wednesday, Horne said that the "ideal solution" would be to have an armed police officer in each school, but "budget considerations" make that unfeasible.

On Friday, the NRA's Wayne LaPierre also proposed putting "armed police officers in every single school in this nation," in response to the Sandy Hook school shootings.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/arizona_ag_lets_arm_one_employee_in_every_school/feed/ 6 Lawyer outs journalists who released gun permit holder data http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/lawyer_outs_journalists_who_released_gun_permit_holder_data/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/lawyer_outs_journalists_who_released_gun_permit_holder_data/#comments Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13154950 A New York newspaper, The Journal News, sparked outrage among conservatives earlier this week when it posted an interactive feature showing the addresses and names of individuals who hold gun permits in New York's Westchester and Rockland counties (screenshot above). The paper notes that "the data does not include owners of long guns — rifles or shotguns — which can be purchased without a permit. Being included in this map does not mean the individual at a specific location owns a weapon, just that they are licensed to do so."

The Journal News submitted requests for records "for all permit categories," citing the Freedom of Information Act, as part of a larger feature aimed at reexamining the area's gun ownership in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shootings.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/lawyer_outs_journalists_who_released_gun_permit_holder_data/feed/ 51 New York shooter used same weapon as shooter in Newtown http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/new_york_shooter_used_same_weapon_as_shooter_in_newtown/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/new_york_shooter_used_same_weapon_as_shooter_in_newtown/#comments Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:27:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13154724 The Associated Press reports that William Spengler, the shooter who opened fire on firefighters in Webster, New York, used the same weapon as the shooter in Newtown, Conn.

Police recovered a .223-caliber semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle, which Spengler used to kill two firefighters and wound two others. “He was equipped to go to war and kill a lot of innocent people,” said Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering.

Spengler also wrote a several page note before setting fire to his home: "I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down, and do what I like doing best, killing people."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/new_york_shooter_used_same_weapon_as_shooter_in_newtown/feed/ 3 Lawmakers look to restrict gun magazine capacity http://www.salon.com/2012/12/24/lawmakers_look_to_restrict_gun_magazine_capacity_2/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/24/lawmakers_look_to_restrict_gun_magazine_capacity_2/#comments Mon, 24 Dec 2012 20:59:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13154292 WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers from both parties voiced their willingness Sunday to pursue some changes to the nation's gun laws, but adamant opposition from the National Rifle Association has made clear than any such effort will face significant obstacles.

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre dismissed efforts to revive a ban on assault weapons as a "phony piece of legislation" that's built on lies.

Democratic lawmakers in Congress have become more adamant about the need for stricter gun laws since the shooting of 20 children and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California is promising to push for a renewal of expired legislation that banned certain weapons and limited the number of bullets a gun magazine could hold to 10.

"I think we ought to be looking at where the real danger is, like those large clips," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

"I think we need a comprehensive approach," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., a longtime gun rights supporter. "I'll look at all the proposals. . I think it looks at mental health, I think it looks at protecting our schools but I also think it looks at these high-volume magazines, you know, that can fire off so many rounds."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/24/lawmakers_look_to_restrict_gun_magazine_capacity_2/feed/ 19 NRA blames entertainment industry for gun violence http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/nra_blames_entertainment_industry_for_gun_violence/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/nra_blames_entertainment_industry_for_gun_violence/#comments Fri, 21 Dec 2012 21:20:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13152571 The NRA emerged today after a week of silence regarding the Newtown, Conn. shootings, leaving many of those still grieving wishing that the organization hadn't bothered to say anything at all. NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre held a press conference in which he argued that the solution to ending gun violence like that in Newtown, Conn. last week is to "put armed police officers in every school" immediately.

With a staggering lack of self-awareness, LaPierre blamed public shootings on "genuine monsters" (without questioning how easy it is for these "monsters" to get access to guns), laying the blame squarely on the entertainment industry and the media, whose aim, he said is to "violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes — every minute of every day of every month of every year."  He said:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/nra_blames_entertainment_industry_for_gun_violence/feed/ 32 Newtown Congressman calls NRA statement “revolting” http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/newtown_congressman_calls_nra_statement_revolting/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/newtown_congressman_calls_nra_statement_revolting/#comments Fri, 21 Dec 2012 18:17:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13152271 In a tweet, Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., whose district encompasses Newtown, called NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre's press conference "revolting" and "tone deaf."

[embedtweet id="282175384257196033"]

Other politicians reacted similarly to LaPierre's speech, which called for "armed police officers in every single school in this nation.”

"It is beyond belief that following the Newtown tragedy, the National Rifle Association’s leaders want to fill our communities with guns and arm more Americans, said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., in a statement."The NRA points the finger of blame everywhere and anywhere it can, but they cannot escape the devastating effects of their reckless comments and irresponsible lobbying tactics."

[embedtweet id="282171873700241408"]

[embedtweet id="282156014776774656"]

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/newtown_congressman_calls_nra_statement_revolting/feed/ 3 NRA: “Put armed police officers in every single school in this nation.” http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/nra_put_armed_police_officers_in_every_single_school_in_this_nation/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/nra_put_armed_police_officers_in_every_single_school_in_this_nation/#comments Fri, 21 Dec 2012 16:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13152117 In a stunning press conference this morning, Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association CEO, called for Congress to "appropriate everything that is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation."

Blaming everyone from the media ("co-conspirators") to video games ("Grand Theft Auto"), music videos (they "portray life as a joke, and portray murder as a way of life"), and movies ("American Psycho"), LaPierre said that in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, the NRA "must speak for the safety of our nation's children."
He continued:
"Nobody has addressed the most important pressing and immediate question we face: How do we protect our children right now, starting today, in a way that we know works? The only way to answer that question is to face the truth: Politicians passed laws for gun free school zones, they issued press releases bragging about them, they posted signs advertising them. And in doing so they tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk. How have our nation's priorities gotten so out of order?"
LaPierre added that there's "another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal: There exists in this country, sadly, a callous and corrupting shadow industry that sells violence against its people," including video games, movies and music videos. "Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?"
"Rather than face their own moral failings, the media demonizes gun owners," LaPierre continued, calling for Congress to fund armed police officers in every school in the nation. "The only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan for absolute protection. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."
During the press conference, protesters from Code Pink interrupted LaPierre's remarks with shouts of "it's the NRA and assault weapons that are killing our children."
LaPierre did not take questions, but will appear on Meet The Press this Sunday. And the NRA's Twitter feed finally broke its social media silence:

[embedtweet id="282159362770866178"]

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/nra_put_armed_police_officers_in_every_single_school_in_this_nation/feed/ 93 NRA protestor: “NRA Killing Our Kids” http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/nra_protestor_nra_killing_our_kids/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/nra_protestor_nra_killing_our_kids/#comments Fri, 21 Dec 2012 16:28:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13152121 Hacktivist organization Anonynous tweeted the above photo of a protester's sign that reads, "NRA Killing Our Kids."  The protester was "forced out" after yelling at NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, who spoke this morning at a press conference in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. shooting. LaPierre argued that "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," and is calling to arm schools in America with police.

Watch the video below:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/nra_protestor_nra_killing_our_kids/feed/ 6 MPAA ready to talk about gun violence http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/mpaa_ready_to_talk_about_gun_violence/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/mpaa_ready_to_talk_about_gun_violence/#comments Fri, 21 Dec 2012 13:35:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13151965 One day after President Obama assigned a task force to examine "a culture that too often glorifies guns and violence," The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has broken its silence and come forward with support. MPAA CEO Chris Dodd, also a former U.S. Senator from Connecticut, yesterday announced that Hollywood's largest lobbyist is ready to participate in a national conversation about gun control:

"As chairman of the MPAA and on behalf of the motion picture and television studios we represent, we join all Americans in expressing our sympathy as well as our horror and outrage at this senseless act of violence. Thus, I have reached out to the Administration to express our support for the President's efforts in the wake of the Newtown tragedy. Those of us in the motion picture and television industry want to do our part to help America heal. We stand ready to be part of the national conversation."

Dodd added that as a native of Connecticut, the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Conn. struck close to home. "As a citizen of Connecticut, and having represented the people there for 36 years in Washington, I have been shocked and profoundly saddened by this tragedy," Dodd said.

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