Newtown parents reject NRA plan

NEWTOWN, Conn. When Adam Lanza started his lethal attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School, Andrei Nikitchyuk's eight year-old son and another third grader were on their way to the principal's office. It was their turn to bring the daily attendance sheet to the front office, near where principal Dawn Hochsprung and psychologist Mary Sherlach would become the first casualties inside the school.

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"When they got close to the office, they heard the shots fired, my son saying that the bullets were flying by him," Nikitchyuk recalled in an interview with CBS News. "I don't think he saw the bullets, but probably he saw the hits in the wall next to them."

Within moments, second grade teacher Abbey Clements pulled the boys into her classroom, where she had already hidden 19 children behind a wall, and locked the door.

"She really is a hero, and we are indebted to her," Nikitchyuk said. "She saved those two kids."

Nikitchyuk's son, nicknamed Bear, is his third child to attend Sandy Hook Elementary, following the path of his two older sisters. As the whole suburban town of 28,000 residents continues to struggle with the shock and grief of the shooting spree that claimed the lives 20 first-graders, 6 adults, and the killer's mother, Nikitchyuk has channeled his emotions into action for greater gun control.

"I will do whatever is in my power to change the situation," he said. "What I don't understand is how the gun manufacturing lobby can argue with a tragedy like this. I don't know how they are looking in the faces of their children. I would like them to make personal statements that they will do whatever it takes to make sure that our children are safe. I want to tell Wall Street to not expect the same type profits of arms manufacturers like they had before."

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Nikitchyuk, who immigrated from Russia 22 years ago, is a former Soviet military officer who was trained to fire the Russian-made AK-47 machine gun (sold in U.S. under the trade name Saiga). CBS News has reported that Adam Lanza had a Saiga shotgun in the trunk of the car he drove to the school - the only one of four guns he possessed that he did not bring inside.

"Why are we allowing sales of weapons as terrible as this in this country?" Nikitchyuk asked. "Can you tell me what sport could use such a weapon. If you want to use guns for hunting, that's one thing. You don't need an AK 47."

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Lanza committed the 26 murders at the school with a .223 caliber Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle and emptied at least three 30-bullet magazines. He also carried a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol (the same model issued to Secret Service agents), and a Glock 10mm semi-automatic pistol (issued to park rangers to shot wild game), which he used to kill himself once police arrived on the scene.

"This is insanity," said Nikitchyuk. "We have an escalation of weapons in this country. This is a civilian country. Why do we give these kind of military-grade munitions in the hands of people that are as unstable as that person was?"

On Tuesday Nikitchyuk went public by attending a news conference at the Capitol, in Washington, along with many families victimized by other mass shootings, from Columbine High School in 1999 to the Aurora movie massacre this past summer. The event was organized by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Nikitchyuk later attended a White House meeting with Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

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"We know that the President is committed," he said.

Nikitchyuk appealed to pro-gun rights members of Congress to support the President's proposals to ban the sale of assault weapons and gun magazines that hold more than ten bullets, while expanding background checks to all guns buyers, including at gun shows.

"There is nothing wrong about changing your opinion when you have a really strong evidence. What can be stronger than what happened in Sandy Hook?" Nikitchyuk said. "As a country, we cannot move forward unless we change our gun laws."

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[aclark1950]

My son was murdered, shot five time in the neck at point blank range during the Clinton assault weapon ban by a two time felon who traded meth for the gun. NO LAWS BROKEN HERE????? The only logical way to confront the problem is exactly the way NRA has said, a good guy with a gun will stop a bad guy. A coward will not go to an area that is protected! This is what the NRA is saying. Weapon Free Zones are areas of no resistance for cowards!
Here are two options: NO WEAPONS BEYOND THIS POINT, what we have now! Second choice, ANY ATTEMPT TO HARM A CHILD OR STAFF WILL BE MET WITH DEADLY FORCE! Where is the coward going to go?
With all the money the Obama Administration wasted on bail outs and failed business...can't find money to protect our children? Come on America...take action, join the NRA!

[ds_biswas]

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50137395n
Hello ACLARK1950 : Sorry to hear what happened to your child. It was not due to "Clinton assault weapon ba " but having the access of weapon (to bad guys) on the 1st place. BtW, the "Obama Administration wasted on bail outs" to save US companies not for destroying other countries like Iraq ( who had nothing to do on 9/11). President Bush received a treasure with surplus budget ( from Clinton Administration). Bush-Chenny squandered that wealth into war & tax-exemption to rich and allowed the housing bubble to build and brought the unwanted recession. Obama Administration was asked to clean up that mess !! We all are paying for that mess of Bush-Chenny with low return of our 401K & house price in deep red. Do not underestimate Obama just because his skin color is black. Thank GOD, we did not have a President (Romney) who is an advocate of wall street , not for main-street. If you are super rich you may not understand what I mean. That's OK. Wishing you happy holidays & merry x-mass. Kindest regards,

[ds_biswas]

--- http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50137395n ---
Hello ACLARK1950 : Sorry to hear what happened to your child. It was not due to "Clinton assault weapon ba " but having the access of weapon (to bad guys) on the 1st place. BtW, the "Obama Administration wasted on bail outs" to save US companies not for destroying other countries like Iraq ( who had nothing to do on 9/11). President Bush received a treasure with surplus budget ( from Clinton Administration). Bush-Chenny squandered that wealth into war & tax-exemption to rich and allowed the housing bubble to build and brought the unwanted recession. Obama Administration was asked to clean up that mess !! We all are paying for that mess of Bush-Chenny with low return of our 401K & house price in deep red. Do not underestimate Obama just because his skin color is black. Thank GOD, we did not have a President (Romney) who is an advocate of wall street , not for main-street. If you are super rich you may not understand what I mean. That's OK. Wishing you happy holidays & merry x-mass. Kindest regards,

[ds_biswas]

<< the beautiful thing about the 2nd Amendment is that it simply says "arms". The simplicity is wonderful.>>
Hello RKJ98765: Apropos your above "beautiful" explanation of 2nd Amendment, I should be able to carry "arms" which may deliver 40-rounds with the pull of one trigger, or deliver a mortar or a nerve gas canister or even a dirty-nuclear-bomb !! Right ?? If *not* then would you please refrain from preaching the above "beautiful" explanation of 2nd Amendment? I would really appreciate your common sense. The time when the asynchronous 2nd Amendment was passed, human civilization & US in particular was in dark age (low ratio of human vs carnivorous-animal population) in a sparsely populated hostile new continent. The US population at that time (1791) was ~5million vs 300+ million of today . We have moved far ahead towards +ve direction. Do you want to return to those days, when the UK, not USA used to be the global leader? When the British Union-Jack never used to see the sun set ? When women were not allowed to vote ? When Afro-Americans were treated as slaves (forget about being a Secretary of States or Army General, top base ball player or heck even a President) ? Do you want to return to that era?? I am really interested to know if you are missing that era, my dear RKJ98765 ! If *not* then please grow up, RKJ98765. If you do *not* want to see that that asynchronous 2nd Amendment be scrapped in near future, by popular votes, then PLEASE support total ban of assault weapons which are often used in mass killing. I respect your right to bear arms. But I do *not* support your right to bear *any* "arms" like assault weapons (e.g. bushmaster rifles, Kalashnikov, AK47 etc.. ). Hope you appreciate our point. Only law enforcement agency folks should be allowed to use those assault weapons, to tackle the 'bad' guys. Do you know, why in Afghanistan, Pakistan Somalia, there will never be peace ? Because folks out there can there bear all kind of "arms" of any type !! Do you want to see our USA to slip to that low ?? Our police officers are competent enough to tackle 'bad' guys effectively, provided those 'bad' guys have no access to assault weapon (like bushmaster rifles, Kalashnikov, AK47 etc.. ).. We are not asking you to surrender your "arms". We are just suggesting to confiscate all assault weapons (like bushmaster rifles, Kalashnikov, AK47 etc.. ) from any one. Only law enforcement agency (police , border petrol, military ) should have those. Hope you see our simple point and help our common goal as keeping the USA the greatest country of the whole entire world and in the history of human civilization. That's the reason we or our forefathers left our old lands and came to this new land of hope & prosperity. For many gun victims that dreams was taken away by the brute force of assault weapon. If we do not agree with each other, lets agree to disagree but not use assault weapon, which cause huge collateral damage to folks who are in 100 meters of radius of our disagreements. My kindest regards & my best wishes of merry x-mass with your friends & family.

[RollotheNorman]

Yah, and it also gives the reason freedom to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed: A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state. IOW if you are in the National Guard or one of the Federal Armed Services, your right to keep and bear arms is unfettered except by the orders of the officers appointed over you. Everybody else, your ownership of and use of firearms governed by applicable law. Before Scalia that's the way the SCOTUS saw it in previous rulings. My guess is after the wingnut contingent leaves the Court it will revert back, as Alito, Scalia, Thomas's, Kennedy, and Roberts ruling completely ignores precedent.

[freeb22]

I'm not against posting an armed guard at schools. But I would demand that the training, salary, benefits, liability insurance, etc, for those guards be paid for by a special tax that only NRA must pay.

[WhereisOT]

lapierre calls Feinstein's proposed bill a "phony piece of legislation .....built on lies"

A greed driven liar, fear monger, Government of the The People hater knows all about the finer points of lying...no doubt....
Most Insulting of all is when those who make millions on acts of terror...Use lies, twist facts and act as though they have no blood on their hands...Knowing full well what their hate/fear driven campaign has done to those dumb enough to pay attention...all the while their sickening game of lies filling their bank amounts to the brim..

(April 14, 2012)
"we live in the most dangerous of times...We will never surrender our guns"

Says laIdiot...
Who is "we"....Will the "we" be those who train up the armies in Schools, in Hospitals, in Churches, in Theaters, in Malls...as the moron "wants"..

[RollotheNorman]

You know, I have yet to figure out how loons like La Pierre gained control of what was once a sportsman's organization. I am an NRA member who doesn't agree with the CEO, as I understand the majority of the membership doesn't. I know the membership is not voting, but it should be. Or, perhaps the people like myself, who do not agree with the AK-47 toting crowd, should break off and form a organization that truly represents recreational gun owners and users.

[pleaseletitbeso]

What seems to be offered as a solution to violence is exactly what the Nazi party proposed in WWII, first came registration then confiscation. Ask the Jewish community how that worked out for them.

Registering the law abiding firearms owners will do nothing to stop the violent criminal. There truly is no way to disarm evil.

We have an enormous amount of laws on the books that supposedly deals with violence, yet they do not seem to deter the violent offender. In cases of murder most will spend 25+ years living off of the taxpayer funds, watching television, working out in the gym, taking law school correspondence courses, all while playing the court system looking for a loop hole to gain freedom, the lucky ones get to go to the mental institutions and again live off the taxpayers while they are given drugs every day, etc.

Their victims are dead

What exactly is the deterrent here ?

The system is totally corrupted and favors the perpetrator over the victim, again there really is no deterrent to keep an individual from a life of crime, it is glorified in movies, music, and violent video games and until we can limit the young children's exposure to these types of influences nothing much will change.

We have a larger problem in this Country with the annual automobile fatalities, yet the operators are licensed, insured, and periodically tested.

With 11% fewer automobiles (than firearms) on the streets we have 26% higher fatality rate than firearms produce, and figures on children under 18 are neck and neck.

The solution is not firearm registration, it is in enforcing deterrents to violent crimes.

[shurch4truth]

...Today in upstate NY, 4 firemen have been shot at the scene of a fire - two died.

What's the NRA going to propose now? That there be armed guards at all fires?

To follow this logic is to say that there needs to be armed guards at all movie theaters, shopping malls, churches, colleges, so on and so forth until the USA looks like a third world country in a civil war.

The NRA serves the needs of certain gun owners who need to compensate for their intellectual insecurities and inadequacies by having a lot of fire power with guns.

P.S. I'm a gun owner, hunter and a former L.E. officer and I have no problem with dealing with sensible gun rules if it means innocent children and firemen are not going to get murdered because the gun rules in this country are inadequate.

[baileycccc]

The NRA is like republicans, out of touch with mainstream society.

[mjvr2c]

Too Bad!Had the plan been in place they would all be still alive. Makes one wonder!

[Don-TN]

"On December 17, 2012, Senator Feinstein announced the key provisions of the bill she intends to introduce. The proposed legislation will ban the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of over 100 specific firearms. Also banned will be certain named semiautomatic rifles, handguns and shotguns that can use a detachable magazine, as well as fixed magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds.

The sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of other ammunition feeding devices that can accept more than 10 rounds will also be banned."

http://www.decodedscience.com/new-assault-weapons-ban-no-gun-seizure/22871

You better read it and read it well for more then 100 different guns Many Many Many More then just AR15.....it is hand guns, shot guns, and rifles, so on.... Wake Up

[darkhorseky]

Guns in schools?
America and all the rights are protected by guns. So how is it a shock that they would call armed guards in schools?