Twenty Little Children Have Been Murdered
…and one of them could have been my son (who is about the same age as the victims and only a few miles away). Or yours. Let me be frank: We’ve done nothing as a nation to prevent gun violence from reaching these children… or any children. And kids are being shot every day. Earlier this week, someone I know told me her nephew had been shot and killed in New Haven. A day or two later, a local NPR program focused on gun violence in New Haven and its toll on the African American community, particularly young men.
We ignore this violence at our peril, and the horror in Newtown is proof of that. It’s also proof that violence doesn’t magically stop at the borders of affluent neighborhoods.
Today, parishioners at St. Rosa de Lima Church in Newtown were evacuated during Mass. Someone had made violent threats against the church.
When will this end?
Adam Lanza’s Mother
There’s a Huffington Post piece called “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother” making its rounds on the Internet, with those who post it drawing the conclusions its author does: That her experience with her mentally ill thirteen-year-old son represents what Nancy Lanza was going through with Adam.
I’m not sure I agree.
True, we don’t know at this point a whole lot about Adam Lanza and his mother, but we do know this: Adam Lanza had what his mother termed developmental issues. She took him out of school and home schooled him for his last couple of years of high school. Nancy Lanza was divorced from her husband; she and Adam lived in their large Colonial house alone. She apparently had a lot of money, but she didn’t work. An older son, Ryan, 24, didn’t live with them.
Nancy was a gun enthusiast who took her son to practice with her at shooting ranges. She had several guns and ammunition in her home. The guns Adam used to murder her, along with teachers and administrators and twenty little kids at Sandy Hook Elementary School, were hers.
Nancy Lanza made some bad decisions.
Liza Long, who bravely wrote the piece I mentioned, tells a harrowing story about her son, a thirteen-year-old b0y who is precocious and articulate, happy much of the time, but dangerous at others. He has attacked and threatened to kill her. When he threatened her with a knife, her other two children, according to her instructions, ran to the car and locked themselves in. She struggled with her son and got the knife away. She then gathered all sharp objects from her home and removed them.
Liza Long has had to commit her son to a mental institution more than once. In my opinion, she is a courageous, strong, and responsible mother, and my heart goes out to her.
I didn’t know Nancy Lanza. I don’t know what it was like to be Nancy Lanza. Maybe I will feel some empathy for Nancy Lanza if and when I learn more about her circumstances. But this won’t change: She was complicit in her own murder and those of the 26 other people who were killed that day. It is partly her fault that there are parents this weekend who will never hold and kiss and whisper “I love you” to their dear little children.
Who trains a mentally ill person to shoot and then gives him access to guns and ammunition?
Support for Gun Legislation in this Country Has Dwindled
…and we—you and I—have to work to do to get it back up again. There’s no excuse for our waiting until 20 young children were murdered; we can’t wait another day. California Senator Dianne Feinstein will be introducing legislation to ban assault weapons. It’s a start. Call your senators. Call your representatives. Call God if you have to. But please, let’s stand up and stand together before any more innocent lives are lost.
Are you with me?
Oh Aviva, so well written, thanks. I hope many will read it even if it is the Christmas season. All the more reason to read it…thanks for writing it. Hugs, Iren
Thanks so much, Iren! Hugs back, for you and your adorable granddaughters.
Yes, I’m with you! It’s 2 in the morning, I can’t sleep, I keep crying. I am with you. Apparently there is a march being organized for Feb 17: https://www.facebook.com/events/385855131507866/
Thanks, Deb. I entirely relate to that response! Thanks for the info about the march. I did see that. I am so tempted to go, but am very uncomfortable in huge crowds… I will probably work from here to advocate for gun control. I’ve written to my senators, representatives in DC and Hartford, and governor. I was so thankful to hear Governor Malloy’s press conference yesterday, in which he stated his support for reinstatement of the Brady bill. But I’ll keep on advocating for stricter gun (and ammo) laws; I truly believe it’s up to us to work to change things for the better.
I so appreciate your reply. Take good care of that kind heart of yours.
I am totally with you on this. I posted a comment on a friend’s FB, making this point about his mother keeping firearms in the house when she knew her son had issues. She replied that most people could never foresee their child committing mass murder, even if they know they have mental health issues. I agreed that while it might not have been reasonable for Nancy Lanza to have anticipated this type of massacre, it should have at least occurred to her that he could harm himself and immediate others. So yes, I hold her significantly, though not wholly, responsible, unless there are some other extenuating circumstances unreported at this point. Along with our barely existent gun and ammo regulations.
Yes, I got some “pushback” on Facebook when I stated she was complicit which, of course, means partly responsible. It seems like a no-brainer to me, and yet people aren’t discussing it. More information will come out over time about what she had in that house (she apparently wouldn’t let anyone inside). I think it’s clear already, though, that she was not thinking clearly, to put it mildly.
Thanks so much for your comment, Diane.
Aviva,
This tragedy effected me in many ways. I think this is so wonderfully written and I hope many people read it and have the strenth to do something to help fight for, protect and support those in need.
Thanks, Beth. We really have to work together — this assault weapons ban is going to have a hard time passing, despite more public support for it than there’s been in a very long time. Sane, rational people have to speak out; otherwise, all we hear are is the insanity.