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Newtown Massacre Recordings Reveal Calm, Anguish and Gunshots (+audio)

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Photo Credit: APA teacher calmly explains she has been shot in the foot. Another woman, sounding anguished, pleads for help. A custodian relays information from officers at the scene to a police operator.

There is also the booming echo of gunshots.

Officials in Newtown, Connecticut, on Wednesday released audio recordings of emergency 911 phone calls from the Connecticut school shooting that killed 20 children and six educators almost a year ago, revealing raw emotion in the voice of the callers.

The audio files may be the final pieces of evidence released about the tragedy that rocked the United States on December 14, 2012, when gunman Adam Lanza, 20, shot dead his mother at home and then went to Sandy Hook Elementary school, where he massacred 26 people before killing himself.

“They’re still running, they’re still shooting,” pleaded one woman, sounding increasingly distraught over the course of the 24-second call. In the final seconds, she grows more insistent, pleading with the 911 operator for help.

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: No Motive Determined in Newtown Shooting

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Photo Credit: Fox News The prosecutor who led the investigation into the Newtown school shooting said it did not determine a motive for the attack that killed 20 children and six women.

State’s Attorney Stephen Sedensky III said there is also no clear indication why he chose Sandy Hook Elementary School as the target for his rampage other than the fact that it was close to his home.

He said the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, had significant mental health issues that affected his ability to live a normal life and interact with others but did not affect his mental state for the crimes. Lanza was obsessed with the 1999 Columbine High School attack, according to a summary report by Sedensky that was released Monday.

He said police went into the school within minutes of the first shots being fired and that along with the actions of teachers inside saved many children’s lives.

“Why did the shooter murder twenty-seven people, including twenty children?” Unfortunately, that question may never be answered conclusively, despite the collection of extensive background information on the shooter through a multitude of interviews and other sources,” investigators said in a long-awaited report released Monday.

Read more from this story HERE.

Families of Newtown Shooting Victims to Receive $281,000 Each

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Photo Credit: APFamilies of the 26 children and educators killed in the Connecticut school shooting last year will receive $281,000 each under a final plan, released Wednesday, for dividing up $7.7 million in donations.

The families of 12 surviving children who witnessed the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School will each get $20,000. Two staff members who were injured will get $75,000 each.

The Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation released the final plan after the draft proposal by a distribution committee of the foundation was recommended last week. The foundation’s board approved the plan Monday.

“The board wishes to express its appreciation for the thorough and thoughtful efforts of the distribution committee,” foundation Chairman Charles Herrick said.

Retired U.S. District Court Judge Alan Nevas, the committee chairman, thanked Kenneth Feinberg for his advice on how to allocate the $7.7 million to the 40 families.

Read more from this story HERE.

Bushmaster CEO Responds to Critics Blaming Him For Newtown Murders

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Photo Credit: Associated Press

Six months ago, the nation was horrified that a deranged man entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 young children and six educators. The man, Adam Lanza, happened to use a Bushmaster brand AR-15-style, semi-automatic rifle in the Newtown, Conn., massacre. Almost instantly, gun-control politicians and activists blamed the weapon, instead of the man.

George Kollitides, the CEO of Freedom Group, which owns Bushmaster, was blamed by some as being complicit in the killings. He has not commented on the controversy, until now.

“It’s very easy to blame an inanimate object. Any kind of instrument in the wrong hands can be put to evil use. This comes down to intent — criminal behavior, accountability and responsibility,” Mr. Kollitides said in an exclusive interview last week. The killer’s mother, Nancy Lanza, taught her son to shoot and is said to have given him access to the gun safes.

“He killed the gun’s owner, stole her car, stole her gun and then went to a school and killed innocent kids. No background checks could have prevented that. He illegally obtained the guns,” he told me in his small New York office. “Only two things could have potentially stopped him: his mother locking up her guns and an armed guard. Even then, he could have driven his stolen car into a playground full of kids. He was intent on killing, which we know is already illegal.”

Nevertheless, the liberal media is intent on blaming the gun company executive personally.

Read more from this story HERE.

Bill Drafted In Secret Would Block Release Of Some Newtown Massacre Records (+video)

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Photo Credit: dipfanThe staffs of the state’s top prosecutor and the governor’s office have been working in secret with General Assembly leaders on legislation to withhold records related to the police investigation into the Dec. 14 Newtown elementary school massacre — including victims’ photos, tapes of 911 calls, and possibly more.

The behind-the-scenes legislative effort came to light Tuesday when The Courant obtained a copy of an email by a top assistant to Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane, Timothy J. Sugrue. Sugrue, an assistant state’s attorney, discussed options considered so far, including blocking release of statements “made by a minor.”

“There is complete agreement regarding photos etc., and audio tapes, although the act may allow the disclosure of audio transcripts,” Sugrue wrote to Kane, two other Kane subordinates and to Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen Sedensky, who is directing the investigation of the killings.

The bill that’s being crafted has not been handled under routine legislative procedures — it hasn’t gone through the committee process, which includes a public hearing, for example. Sugrue’s email Tuesday indicated that a draft of the bill was being worked on by leaders in both the House and Senate, and might be ready as soon as the end of the day.

Read more from this story HERE.

Politicizing Tragedy: Obama asks Newtown Mom to Deliver his Weekly Address

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Photo Credit: Reuters

President Barack Obama has asked a mother whose 6-year-old son was killed in the Newtown, Connecticut massacre to deliver his weekly radio address, an unusual move expected to turn up the pressure on Congress to pass tougher gun control laws.

Francine Wheeler, whose son Ben was one of the 26 people killed by a gunman at an elementary school on December 14, will deliver the Saturday radio address, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Obama brought families of the Newtown victims to Washington on Air Force One on Monday, and they have been meeting with senators to urge them to support new laws that, among other measures, would require more background checks for gun sales.

“He believes their voices and resolve have been critical to the continued progress we’ve seen in the Senate,” Carney said.

Vice President Joe Biden has occasionally delivered the weekly address, but the short message to Americans is traditionally given by the president himself.

Read more from this story HERE.

Newtown Killer Refused to Say If He Was Male or Female: 'I Choose Not to Answer'

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Photo Credit: AP

By Terence P. Jeffrey. Adam Lanza, who murdered 20 first graders and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, refused to identify himself by a gender when registering at college, according to documents obtained by CBS News.

“I choose not to answer,” Lanza said when asked his gender on a form for Western Connecticut State University.

President Barack Obama and others have pointed to Lanza’s act of mass murder as an argument for more strictly controlling access to firearms in the United States.

“We got some intriguing new information and a strange new picture of Lanza today,” anchor Scott Pelley said on the April 1 edition of CBS Evening News.

“His college records were delivered to us after we requested them under the Connecticut open records law,” said Pelley. “Lanza enrolled in courses at Western Connecticut State University. When asked his gender he wrote, ‘I choose not to answer.’ When asked to describe himself, he wrote again ‘I choose not to answer.’ Read more from this story HERE.

Biden Says Gender Part of Gun Background Check; Newtown Shooter Refused to Offer Gender on College Form

By Fred Lucas. Vice President Joe Biden Tuesday highlighted gender among other characteristics a gun purchaser must fill out on a background check form after reports that the Newtown, Conn. school shooter refused to identify his gender on a college form.

“You walk into Dick’s Sporting Goods or any other place, and they hand you a form,” Biden said Tuesday at a White House event with law enforcement officials from around the country endorsing the Obama administration’s gun control measures. “They say you’ve got to fill this in: It’s your name, where you live, where you were born, your gender and your race, and if you want to make it even quicker to get this done, your Social Security number, which you do not have to give.”

CNS News first reported on April 1 that Adam Lanza, the Newtown gunman that murdered 20 first graders and six adults in December, refused to identify his gender on his college registration form at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Conn.

Biden advocated strongly for the Senate to pass gun control measures being considered this week, specifically universal background checks. Lanza did not buy the gun used in the shooting, but got it from his mother. Thus, closing loopholes on background checks would not have affected whether he obtained a gun.

During his speech Tuesday, Biden said the NRA is engaged in misinformation. “They say we – the federal government – want to put every private firearms transaction right under the thumb of the federal government and keep all those names in a massive federal registry,” Biden said. “Kind of scary, man. Black helicopter crowd really is upset.” Read more from this story HERE.

Cops’ Seattle Gun Buyback Transformed Into Gun Show By Eager Private Buyers With Wads of Cash

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In the wake of the Newtown massacre, cities across the United States are funding gun-buybacks in a stated effort to get “guns off the street.” In reality, these efforts are just for show, typically bringing in just a few dozen to a few hundred weapons, many of which are old and inoperable.

Given the enormous number of guns in the U.S., the minuscule number of buyback guns will likely have no statistical impact on gun crime rates. Moreover, many of the folk turning in the guns and collecting gift cards or other trackable means of payment, are unlikely to have criminal records and/or a propensity for violence.

Nevertheless, the photo-op buybacks are providing communities with at least one tangible benefit: the opportunity for 2nd Amendment afficionados to attend the buybacks and bid against the police for seized guns.


This happened at a Tuscon buyback earlier this month as well as the recent Seattle buyback this past Saturday. With respect to Seattle, gun buyers were especially active:

Officers stood by as makeshift gun shows sprang up on the sidewalks, just steps away from the buyback tents, as gun enthusiasts and collectors waved wads of cash for the guns being held by those standing in line.

“I’d prefer they wouldn’t sell them,” [Seattle Police Chief] Diaz said of the people in line making deals with the gun buyers.

Some people saw the event as a way to make some money while others came in the spirit of a gun-buyback program, he said.

Albert Coburn, of Seattle, was standing in line with two rifles from his father, weapons that he had no use for. “Instead of selling them, I’d like to see them get out of circulation.”

Some in the long lines lost patience and gave in to the people who surrounded the parking lot with signs saying “Cash for guns.”

One man jumped out of his vehicle as he was waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic at the buyback and asked how much the gun enthusiasts and collectors were willing to pay for his three guns. He pocketed $500.

Some might argue that these gun-buybacks are not for show but are instead being used to normalize the American people to the concept of the government taking their guns for payment. Whether you believe that or not, there is no denying that the buybacks have – so far – been utter failures from the government’s perspective, less so from the private buyer’s perspective.

Two Cases of Media Malpractice: Newtown and Benghazi

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In the Newtown Connecticut School shooting, when 911 was called, help came.

When Americans called 911 while under attack in Benghazi, no one came to help.

One stays in the headlines of the media, the other one is quickly forgotten.

After watching the Benghazi dog and pony show hearings yesterday in Washington, it is apparent the citizens of the United States will never get the truth out of this administration. The absence of details as to exactly what happened before, during and after the Benghazi murders, is astonishing. Such as: Orders were given to not help Americans under attack in Benghazi. Who gave that order? Why?

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had 4 months to skirt answering any questions on Benghazi. The reasons given: A wine tasting tour in Australia, a bout with the flu, exhaustion, a concussion, a blood clot, and many think she would have come down with the “vapors,” had not her 25 million campaign debt been retired earlier this week.

She appeared at the hearings yesterday ready to not really answer any of the glaring questions, but only to obfuscate and run out the clock. Her quip of: “What difference does it really make” as to why Americans died in Benghazi showed a callous disregard for the disaster that happened under her watch.

Conveniently each politician had only a few minutes to ask a question of Hillary and get an answer. Most of the questioners couldn’t resist their time in the spotlight to get long winded and as a result, didn’t have time to follow up when Hillary gave a non answer.

Was this by design or just incompetence?

The main stream media has been a willing accomplice to this administrations attempt to bury Benghazi and doesn’t have the appetite to upset the apple cart of lies and deceptions.

Only when there was a hint of sex scandal involving CIA chief Petraeus and his paramour, did Benghazi temporarily get elevated to front page news by the “bread and circuses” media.

But the media has been front and center in the war on “assault” rifles.

The Newtown shooting has captured the media’s attention and fits hand in glove with the pre planned assault on the 2nd amendment.

Every detail that fits into the narrative the media is trying to foist on the public, is made known and kept on the front page……Every truth and detail of the Newtown shooting that does not fit the agenda is buried.

Such as where is the drug screen test of the shooters blood? It seems many of these mass shooters had a cocktail of anti depressant/psych meds in their bloodstreams at the time of their crimes. Coincidence?

What other warning signs about the crazed lone gunmen are being overlooked in the rush to assault law abiding citizens gun rights? What violent video games did he obsess on? Did mental health professionals know about his potential violent blow up?

As a result of the Benghazi hearings yesterday, we know we are not being told the truth. We also know we are not being told the whole truth about the Newtown Shooting. Is there any journalistic curiosity left in the main stream media?

That’s what the difference is Hillary, there is a double standard in the media when it comes to what truth they want America to hear.
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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Governor Rick Perry: ‘Disgusted’ By President’s Use of Child Massacre ‘To Advance a Pre-Existing Political Agenda’

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Gov. Rick Perry released the following statement regarding President Obama’s executive actions:

“The Vice President’s committee was appointed in response to the tragedy at Newtown, but very few of his recommendations have anything to do with what happened there.

“Guns require a finger to pull the trigger. The sad young man who did that in Newtown was clearly haunted by demons and no gun law could have saved the children in Sandy Hook Elementary from his terror.

“There is evil prowling in the world – it shows up in our movies, video games and online fascinations, and finds its way into vulnerable hearts and minds. As a free people, let us choose what kind of people we will be. Laws, the only redoubt of secularism, will not suffice. Let us all return to our places of worship and pray for help. Above all, let us pray for our children.

“In fact, the piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally. The second amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president.”

Visit the Governor’s website HERE.