AUGUSTA, Maine — Mainers, including Gov. Paul LePage, congressional leaders, school and gun control officials, reacted with sadness to the tragic school shooting deaths Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
President Obama issued a proclamation ordering flags be lowered in respect for the victims, and LePage issued an order at 4 p.m. for both the United States and State of Maine flags to be flown at half-staff starting immediately through sunset on Tuesday, Dec.18.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families, friends, and community affected by this horrific event this morning in Connecticut,” LePage said in a statement. “It is difficult to comprehend the loss of so many innocent lives.
“Ann and I will continue to pray for the families of the children and staff members who lost their lives in what should be the safest of places, their school,” the governor said.
U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe called the events that unfolded at the elementary school in Western Connecticut an act of “senseless violence.”
“Like all Americans, I am shocked and sickened at this reprehensible, heinous act at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut,” she said in a press release. “Such senseless violence is simply unimaginable and has no place in this great country of ours. As we struggle to comprehend this national tragedy, we stand united in holding the families and loved ones of those lost in our thoughts, and we pray for the full recovery of everyone who has been injured.”
The longtime senator, who gave her farewell speech to the Senate on Wednesday, is not alone in her shock.
“What happened this morning is every parent’s worst nightmare,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a statement. “Our schools should be a safe place and no parent should ever worry that their son or daughter might not come home at the end of the day. My thoughts and prayers are with the families in that community.”
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins described the deadly shooting as a “horrific tragedy.”
“My heart is filled with sorrow for the victims, particularly the little children, whose lives were cut short today, for their loved ones who are enduring unspeakable grief, and for the entire community which is struggling to comprehend this shocking act of violence,” she said.
The age of those killed in the violence hit U.S. Rep Mike Michaud like a punch, he said in a statement.
“There are so many victims, and too many of them are young, innocent children,” he said. “It’s hard to even comprehend how something like this could take place. Words cannot begin to express the shock and sadness felt by those directly impacted by this tragedy or the sympathy that all of us feel for those who lost so much today.
“I know I join all Mainers in sending my thoughts and prayers to the families, friends and schoolmates of the victims and the entire community that was so drastically impacted by this heinous act,” Michaud said.
House Speaker Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, said he is grieving for those “whose lives have changed forever by this unbelievable tragedy.”
“Like so many parents across the nation, I will find solace in hugging my children and tucking them in tonight,” he said. “As a state and nation, we must come together to support the community of Newtown as they mourn this unspeakable loss.”
Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen echoed the statements.
“It is tremendously sad news,” he said. “Our hearts go out to the families and the community.”
Today is a day people should be thinking about the grieving families, said David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the Department of Education.
“We’re trying to make the day just about the families,” he said. “We just need some time to talk through it. There will be time [early next week] to talk about protocols … what we would do after something like this.”
All schools in Maine are required to have a comprehensive hazards plan that cover protocols for security incidents, chemical spills, weather related hazards and other school situations.
Two anti-gun groups pointed to Friday’s tragedy as an example for why more legislation is needed.
“Gun violence in American is out of control,” John Rosenthal, gun owner and founder of Stop Handgun Violence, said in a statement. “Over 150 people are shot and 83 are killed including eight children every day. With 27 people killed including 18 innocent children at an elementary school today in [Conneticut], it’s time to renew the federal assault weapons ban and require criminal background checks for all gun sales. If not now — when?”
Karen A D’Andrea, Executive Director Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence said, “We call on our elected officials from Maine and across the US to take action and prevent the senseless taking of innocent lives.”
Portland school Superintendent Emmanuel Caulk said in a statement that employees had Newtown in their thoughts and prayers. Social workers will be available on Monday for any Portland students who need support, he said.
“No words can truly convey the sadness we feel for the students and families affected by this event,” Caulk said.
Brewer Superintendent Daniel Lee, who described Friday’s shooting as “the most horrific thing to think about,” stressed that parents should talk with their children about the tragedy.
“They need reassurance that they’re safe,” he said.
Lee said the school department will be issuing a letter to parents on Monday about how to talk to their children about violence.
“Senseless violence is hard for anybody to understand,” he said. “Kids need to understand that sometimes people do horrific thing to others.”
For more information on helping your child cope with this event, please see the National Child Traumatic Stress Network at http://www.nctsnet.org/trauma-types/terrorism.
Not a single person listed in the article above, opinion is any more worthly then any other comment placed by readers in the main story..
Maine leaders I hope you learned something from this horrific event. Kids are suppose to be safe in schools. you need to keep our communities safe! Maybe this isn’t a good time to be cutting mental health programs. you have the NRA behind you mental health and the NRA is a bad mix.. Maybe people need to start suing the state, for any gun related mental heath issue.
How about holding people responsible for their own actions, instead of blaming the state, their teachers, their mommies, the NRA, etc.
sounds good but.. the problem is to many crazy people are getting a hold of these guns.. someone needs to start being held accountable.
Yeah, like THE PEOPLE THAT COMMIT THE CRIME
whoever will get a weapon gun or not, this is a tragedy that can hardly be averted unless people can report to seeing. We must be more vigilant in watching.
The fact is that of all the mass murders we have had in the last few years, none of the offenders had a criminal history or a history of mental disorder. This is something that has to be addresses by people who are pro-gun and anti-gun. Maybe by working together they can come up with a solution.
Precisely. We need a cross section of society to put their heads together on this national issue and attempt to find a solution to a horrific problem.
You make a good point. Cutting mental health services is not the answer! Why do I imagine that many of those who post and are most concerned about their gun rights, are also for cutting mental health services!
We need to mourn rather than blame at this time, a weapon does not have a conscience.
While I can see how you might come to that conclusion, I feel funding for the mentally ill should be increased. I see it everyday whether I’m in Bangor, Portland, Boston, Manchester or Portsmouth the number of mentally ill people just seems to increase by the day. And they are only the visably mentally ill folks. Any civilized country should do a better job taking care of these folks.
Wow, this site is working horribly lately! (Hope they resolve their computer issues of the past 3 days or so soon.)
I agree with what you wrote here. I just am very upset about this tragedy as are many. I have a personal connection to that part of the state. (CT)
Something has to be done, besides “wringing of hands.”. Imagine being the parents of those children. I don’t think gun ownership is the first thing on their minds right now.
This killer was said to not get along with people ,etc. There may have been signs, red flags….but how could someone forsee that an individual would be capable of such horror.
Many walk a fine line, so easily crossed without any prior indication of problems.
Sorry for the loss of all the precious souls that were took today. As we look forward. we must start the work to end access to high-powered guns in our communities.
There sure are a lot of gun lovers here….. The 2nd amendment is out of date.
It’s not high power anything, it’s angry people with easy access. This kid was not nuts. He was angry at mommy & daddy. How do I know he wasn’t nut’s, cause he was wearing a bullet proof vest.
The trap is to neatly label everything under a ‘mental illness’, it’s been miss used and over used because every person alive will go through a mental illness off and on through out their lives.
The key is to control your emotions, learn anger management and not let any perceived slights or injustices cross over into psychosis.
The reason for the body armor was to help him stay alive until he was done killing. How’s that fit your assumption?
No, it was because he didn’t want to die. Did he have issues, why of course, so do you and I. The difference is we don’t act on them. Yes he needed counseling, but more deprogramming then anything.
Never even met this kid, but I know the culture they have grown up in.
If you ever really want to know or see what real ‘mental illness’ is come visit us at Riverview.
The big hole in your theory is the fact that he eventually killed himself. This was a planned, executed mission, cold and calculated. He knew exactly what he was doing, just as the shooter in Colorado and the one in Texas.
It’s not a theory. The act is the ‘statement’. It’s the anger, justified or perceived. If he wanted to kill himself he goes off and does it.
Your damn right he knew what he was doing, you didn’t think he was nuts did ya..
High Powered guns? Which ones? Not the 9mm which was proven to be lacking by the FBI, enough so that most of law enforcement switched away. Or the .223 AR type rifle, chambered for a round much of our military finds ineffective. Most hunting rifles are far more “high powered” than most “assault weapons”. Please just refer to all guns instead of using unwarranted modifiers where they don’t belong.
We need to take a serious look at this world we’ve created.
Huh? Apparently there are at least five “negative” people and one child (see Eric Jackson’s comment 3 comments below) who actually like what we’ve created. They must be full of the Christmas spirit!
Unbelievable, isn’t it? You said it, and they probably disagreed with you on some point six months ago, so now you can’t get anything right.
I agree – putting that down arrow on was mega-stupid.
Likely a down vote because you relate the actions of one mentally deficient person to the entire world. The reality is that the vast majority of people would not condone or committ such an act. Everyone will blame guns, videogames, movies, etc. yet millions of people use those items without committing murder. We need to find ways to identify mentally ill people and institute tighter restrictions on them directly. Further laws that only law abiding people will obey may feel good but will not solve the problem.
No. I relate the growing sad reality of life in America to be what it is, sick and worthy of self-reflection and in need of many improvements. On the other hand, now you give me reason to discuss paranoia. A primary sign of paranoia is when a person exhibits an ability to transform anything one hears or reads into something ominous against oneself or one’s own beliefs. Thus often leading them to strike out at others in ways that those with healthy minds just can’t comprehend.
Or are you talking to me here simply to deflect the conversation to something you wanted to talk about (movies, games, and guns)? That would be odd, but looking at the bright side maybe you’re not actually paranoid, just oddly manipulative.
:-). I just gave you down vote #6 so I can manipulate you into re-editing your followup post, Mwahahahaha
Thanks for the update. It certainly makes it easier figuring out who the negative folks are here. However in your case, I think that’s something I’d already concluded. Ho..Ho..Ho!
Identifying a person with obvious mental problems is not all that difficult. Getting treatment is.
Treatment Plan: Step 1. Assign a padded room. Step 2…
Oversimplification of a major problem.
Maybe because many realize that statement is just fluff? Does anyone think we can really eradicate all the evil people and their methods of inflicting pain? How about offering some useful ideas instead of making a Utopian statement and becoming indignant when people see your statement for what it is: feel good, but lacking any true substance.
AMEN
The sad truth is that there are just too many whackjobs with all too easy access to guns. When are we going to stand up as a nation and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH? I hear the old argument that “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” In my humble opinion, it should be changed to read “Guns don’t kill people, but angry/crazy people with guns kill (all too many) people more easily with guns”.
http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/qn5nLwDT9RJqVk5ZJNRAEA–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MTQ2Nztjcj0xO2N3PTIyMDA7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTQyMTtxPTg1O3c9NjMw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2012-12-14T211650Z_1544320213_GM1E8CF0EJW01_RTRMADP_3_USA-SHOOTING-CONNECTICUT.JPG
Very well said..
His mother owned the guns so are you calling his dead mother a whack job?
She bought 5 guns. Didn’tr help her much.
Yeah, but it sure made it easy for him. Just imagine if it was 5 knives, 5 stones, 5 sticks.
Na, I’m sure no one could have gotten close enough to him to stop him, I heard he was an expert ‘knife thrower’
There is only 1 reason why someone owns a semi automatic weapon and it’s not to kill 20 deer at one time….it’s to kill 20 people at one time….
Sorry to burst your bubble but you’re just plan wrong. It’s that kind of totally out in left field thinking that makes legal firearms owners fear gun control. Instead of having a reasonable conversation about these issues, both sides go to the extreme ends and hurl ridiculous arguments out, merely widening the divide, not helping the problem at all.
If you read my post more carefully, you will see that I actually referred to whackjobs with ACCESS TO GUNS.
I would not say she was a whackjob, she was a victim. On the other hand, she is the one who bought the guns and who reportedly brought her sons to the firing range. Given that the son who commited this horrendous crime had mental health issues, was this really the best choice of family activities?
Guns and locking doors are NOT the answer, and I repeat myself, guns and locked doors are NOT the answer… Money for Mental Illness is, your only recourse!!! When the greedy politicians get that in their thick heads, we might begin to address the real problem, of mass murders; which will become the new NORM in this great Nation!! This is what I believe!!!!
The sadder truth is that we all know people who have gone beyond reasonable limits, and we look away instead of reporting them.
Once again, it is not quite that easy.
Reporting someone you believe to be on the edge, is not enough.
Attempting to commit someone to a mental institution requires a lot of paper work, endless talks, and prolonged family misery. A lot of the problem is due to the fact that not all that long ago, it was easy to point a finger and have someone locked away for life.
Although families and friends may attest to the odd behaviour of a person, usually a family member, it is never enough to commit someone for psychiatric observation.
Psychiatric care is expensive and at least I note here in the state of Maine, not easy to get. For awhile I had phone number similar to the Midcoast Maine Mental Health Hotline. I got calls at ALL hours of the day and night. People who had no place to go, no one to talk to, and quite a few scarey crazy ones (not sad, just nuts).
This is very hard to do, but there needs to be some recourse and often times just letting the police know is a step. I note that family often becomes deadened to the behavior of a disturbed person. And a mother will ‘protect’ her ‘baby’ even as she tries to get help for them. I can’t say if these people need ‘locking up’ as so many are saying, but really there needs to be viable alternatives. This discussion is not just about guns.
Unless the person becomes violent the police are powerless. The committal process has been made more difficult by amendments created to save someone from being committed for life. Years ago this happened, sometimes very easily..
It is almost impossible for a mother to commit a loved one to a psychiatric facility. Mothers, fathers, and the whole family suffers rather than face the enormity of such a task.
My heart and prayers go out to those with loved ones involved and to society as a whole. So what or who do we blame? Will it accomplish anything by blaming? We are not going to rid society of weapons or those far worse than guns so what is the answer? I just went next door to a neighbor who has done everything possible to make my life miserable over a right of way which I won in court. It suddenly doesn’t see like a big deal. We are our brother’s keeper whether we have nothing in common or not.
If we can’t entirely rid America of guns, we could massively reduce the number of them in circulation. That in turn would reduce the number of suicides, for starters, and make it less likely that any family would have weapons around the house capable of wiping out a classroom of little kids.
And what have Gov. LePage and our current US Senators and Reps done to try to control the availability of guns beyond their cheap rhetoric today and earlier? I recall nothing. They would NEVER say anything remotely critical of the NRA. Nothing will come from today’s tragedy.
You are probably right. Republicans in particular are strong supporters and members of the NRA.
So if we just made it illegal to kill a child, today would not have happened? Oh wait, it is illegal. Do you really think a law would stop someone intent on committing a criminal act? By definition, they do not adhere to laws. Only the people you don’t need to worry about are impacted by such legislation. There are hundreds of videos on youtube showing you how to build a firearm from hardware store parts. Even more instructions are out there on how to make bombs/IEDs/etc. What about some fertilizer and heating oil ala Timothy McVeigh. You could confiscate every firearm in the world and this stuff, or even worse, would continue to happen.
So it’s useless to outlaw killing children?
Not exactly a brilliant argument.
Are you stating that it is legal right now to kill kids?
People in a state of psychotic irrationality and devoid of conscience and all other restraints commit these atrocities without regard of the laws we create in the shock of aftermath.
Children instinctively know that if a mean man is shooting at my classmates and me we’d want a good adult with a gun to save us.
God be with these children and their families and all of us.
legal to kill kids?
Are you really that dense?
Your robotic resistance to any inconvenience to your hobby is disgusting. YOU seem irrational and devoid of conscience!
Thank you for your social civility. We’ll remember the source.
Sounds like a threat. That’s your idea of rational?
You’re making my point.
Huh, his basic concept was beyond your ability? Laws do not prevent those intent on committing these acts. Would a mass murderer fear illegal firearms possession? The problem is with the man, not the object.
Right! Outlaws flout the law.
That gives cops the right to arrest illegally armed felons and nut jobs without waiting for them to use the gun on an honest citizen.
Our country is the most militaristic on earth, outspending the next 14 or so countries combined. Our last two presidents have maintained “kill lists”, opted for indefinite detainment, bombed tens of thousands of people with no more than a casual connection with “terrorists”, the latter being people we’ve whipped up into a frenzy by squatting on their part of the world for energy resources. Our local police departments have been getting ever more militarized themselves, with para military-looking uniforms, special weapons, and even para-military vehicles. Don’t kid yourself that our youth don’t notice all this. There is a reason this kid put on military clothing. I see it all the time working with at-risk youth, they adore violence and the violent look, whether it be a street-tough look, or a military one.
People will blame guns and the Second Amendment, but when one looks at how government in the US has been promoting and participating in lawless violence over the past decade especially, do you really want to give the government an even bigger monopoly on militarism and weaponry? It wasn’t all government influence that makes kids like Lanza adore miltary-style raids, clothing, and weapons (though the handguns don’t seem so para-military), it was Hollywood too, but if we want to reduce these monster attacks, we have to start addressing how our government and society is so over-the-top militaristic, glorifying all that, for our kids, to begin with.
Our culture glorifies and promotes violence, wealth and sex. And then we wonder why these types of things happen? Look in the mirror, folks.
Words of wisdom for sure. Our culture is severely broken. The world is a violent place. Hate to say it but things happens that are similar but much worse all over the world, all the time. What do we try to do to stop it? We use violence. Violence begets violence. :(
The responsibility here is obviously with the slain mother who for some reason bought her mentally unstable son these weapons. Nothing else.
Psychopaths are a distinctive subgroup . . . They are egocentric, manipulative, deceptive, callous individuals lacking remorse and affective depth (e.g., Hart & Hare, 1997).
Kinda brings to mind the clueless, egocentric, manipulative, deceptive, callous NRA.
Tell me what is “well-regulated” about a national “militia” in which everyone young and old can easily get assault weapons, no training is required, and there’s no national registry of either the guns of their owners.
This state of affairs violates the 2nd amendment of the Constitution.
As someone commented last night, a ban on weapons would be fruitless.
There are hundreds of thousands of guns – automatic-semi-automatic -already in the public’s hands. A ban on assault weapons might stop the flow among the general populace, but would not control the vast assortment of weapons that are already in people’s hands.
However, something has to be done without bending the NRA and its membership out of shape. Just what? Perhaps the NRA and government leaders should sit down and discuss this issue of how to prevent such madness.
A real tough topic. This shooter and the two involved in prior shootings, were just young kids. They got access to weapons solely to kill people. How could anyone have prevented them from carrying out their mission. How does anyone know that the person pushing past them in a Mall or sitting next to them in a movie theater, are seconds away from whipping out a weapon to start killing people?
I have no qualms about “bending the NRA and its membership out of shape.”
They have let a group formerly dedicated to sportsmen and hunting become a stooge of the weapons manufacturers–whose only interest is selling lots more guns to make lots more money.
I agree. But unless we can get Congress, civic leaders, and the gun people to sit and talk, we’ll be going through these horrific experiences forever.
No one should be able to carry an automatic or semi-automatic weapon, unless they are in the service. Such weapons are made for one specific purpose. With banana magazines such weapons double their firepower. No civilian needs them.
Neither of our present US Senators have the guts to stand up to the NRA and ban assault weapons. Neither do most of our cowardly elected officials. Lives are less important than votes. The same goes for those calling for a ban. Put your money where your mouth is and stand up to these NRA gun nuts. Those with a vitriolic response to this; well I just don’t want to hear it.
The mother left her job as a teacher to care for this son who needed her constantly. She should not have had guns in her house given his mental issues. He felt no pain physically, and was a genius, and graduated high school 3 years early. Even if she had used the best technology to lock those guns away, he would have found a way to manipulate the safe storage and gotten those guns. There should not have been any guns in that house. Yes he could have stolen them from a neighbor, but maybe he might have been caught in that home instead of making it to the school and doing this? :(
You make some very good points. The readily availability of guns to someone experiencing Inner conflicts should be prevented. In this case, knowing of her son’s mental instability, it was a tragedy waiting to happen.
The unspoken tragedy is the refusal of health care for the mentally ill. Here in Maine as well as nationwide the mentally ill are being executed by the police. Our veterans are returning untreated from military service where there is now the highest incidence of suicide in its history. Our lack of understanding of mental illness and its causes coupled with our refusal to provide treatment is the underlying tragedy of this nation.
Man Stabs 22 Children in China
via NYT > Home Page by By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on 12/14/12A man wielding a knife wounded 22 children and one adult outside a primary school in the village of Chengping, as students were arriving for classes on Friday.
Will these tragedies ever make sense? I just don’t know… and I grieve.
We have had at least two tragic deaths of veterans seeking help for PTSD., only to be shot and killed by law enforcement authorities.
One wounded Marine vet’ was shot down as he took pot shots outside Togus Veterans Hospital. A former Ranger was shot and killed as he approached a police officer with a knife. Both had sought treatment. The state attorney general ruled that both law enforcement officers acted judiciously.
Time to pick your poison:
We all know the disproportional influence of the NRA and gun rights groups have on those we elect. Try to change anything there and stand the chance of starting a war.
Then we have layer after layer of law enforcement who’s job it is to protect the population and they seem to be unable to do anything to stop those who rage with weapons carrying unlimited ammo and the result is ….WE get caught in the cross fire.
Someone’s got to be wrong about who is protecting who?
Is it any wonder why folks are fed up with government’s inability to focus on anything except their next election? Those elected quit telling us how sorry you are and do something to actually solve this problem because it’s becoming all to obvious you either don’t care or are clueless in regards to this horrible madness.
“Someone’s got to be wrong about who is protecting who?”
Go look in the mirror, that’s who is responsible for protecting you. The police are reactive in nature, like the FD or insurance. Sure they can prevent some crimes, but not all, in fact not most. When seconds count, they’re minutes away. Think about that, really break it down, unless there’s armed people every where sworn to protect everyone, than there will always be times and places where they have to react, not prevent. Schools are places where we cannot rely on the individuals to protect themselves, so we must take greater protective measures, be they lock-out measures, school assigned police or armed (trained?) teachers.
The guns didn’t commit this heinous act, two parents son did. Maybe banning kids would slow the tide of mental illness? Sure millions of innocent people would be forced to pay the price of a few, but this in fact is more likely to stop violence than banning a single type of weapon. Think of the other problems it would solve…
Last time I checked I have never EVER had to protect myself ever as a civilian. I believe in live and let live. Now we have nuts with assault weapons and this is moving freedom ahead? Sorry we can do better than this and I except nothing you say about arming all, its freaking crazy and you know it, we trade the “privilege” of carrying assault weapons for a police state …. no thanks.
Well there’s a many victims of violence who cannot say the same. pray you are never the victim of random violence (or any for that matter). I’m lost of the “trading of assault weapons for a police state”? It’s not the weapon, it’s the person and more importantly that persons mind.
And therein lies the rub, the system is broken, the weapon should not be in the hands of the person who’s mind is as broken as the system.
Schools are “Gun Free Zones” and are “Open Season” for any nut bag who wants to establish a legacy for himself. ARM THE SCHOOL STAFF and the nut bags will look elswhere.
How did this guy get into the school?
The GOP offers condolences but it is BOUGHT and Paid for by the NRA…