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Joe Raedle / Getty Images file
A Bushmaster XM-15 .223-caliber rifle, the type of weapon that authorities say Sandy Hook Elementary School gunman Adam Lanza used to inflict most of the fatalities.
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- The three guns carried by the gunman in the bloody Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting were all purchased by his mother since 2010, law enforcement sources told NBC News on Tuesday.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Nancy Lanza, who friends described as a gun enthusiast, purchased the weapons legally over a three-year period, beginning in 2010 with a Bushmaster XM-15 .223-caliber semi-automatic assault-style rifle -- the weapon that authorities say 20-year-old Adam Lanza used to mow down the victims in Friday’s rampage. She then bought a 9 mm Sig Sauer pistol in 2011, followed by a 10 mm Glock pistol in January 2012. Both weapons also were in Adam Lanza’s possession during his attack on the school, and he used the latter to kill himself when police arrived on the scene, authorities say.
Adam Lanza killed his 52-year-old mother at the home they shared before driving to the school and forcing his way in. Once inside, he killed 20 children and six adults before committing suicide, authorities say.
In addition to the weapons recovered at the crime scene, including a shotgun recovered from the trunk of the car the gunman drove to the school, the Associated Press reported that authorities investigating the shooting recovered three other weapons -- a Henry repeating rifle, an Enfield rifle and a shotgun. It was not clear where those weapons were found.
Meantime, the sources said investigators have found no evidence that Adam Lanza visited area shooting ranges in the last six months.
Federal agents have been examining records at the ranges to see if Adam Lanza had been practicing his marksmanship in the months leading up to the attack, which could indicate that he had planned the massacre well in advance of carrying it out.
Michael Isikoff is NBC News national investigative correspondent; NBC News’ Justice Correspondent Pete Williams also contributed to this report.
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Exactly what the hell difference does it make as to the timeline of when these weapons were legally purchased. They were purchased by the mother, who had no criminal record, who was a respected teacher in the area and who passed every background check required in a state that has some of the most strict gun ownership restrictions in the country. Let's keep in mind that she was also murdered by her mentally ill son prior to him absconding with the weapons. The media and some of the posts I've read make it seem like she gave her son permission to take the guns with full knowledge of what he was going to do. Does any right thinking person out there believe that she would have willingly let him take those guns. He had to kill her in order to get them. For all we know she may have tried to stop him.
The truth of the matter is that she knew her son needed help. She reached out to relatives and social services for assistance. She was in the process of getting conservatorship over him and having him committed. There is speculation that it was her intention to institutionalize him that sent him over the edge. Seems to me like she did everything she could to rectify her son's issues. How in any way, shape or form does her legal purchase of firearms make her responsible for the actions of a madman; whether it be her son or not.
I've got the answer if you love guns? Join the military? Are we becoming more civilized or more barbarick. There is a God and the other and you cannot take it with you when you die.
@ terry
i did join the military, i spent 20 years in the airforce, served my country. now you want to say i can no longer own a firearm? i like to hunt and fish. i came home after i retired and took over the family farm when my grandfather died. on that farm a gun is a required tool. i have seen a pack of coyotes 6-20 of them, pull a calf out of a birthing cow, then kill the calf and the cow. i use a mini 14 ranch rifle in .223 to kill the coyotes around, to protect my farm from predators. so now if you have your way i will just have to watch my cows die?
Did too and fought in Vietnam. I wouldn't own a gun to even kill a sick dog. I go to a vet. WAKEUPAMERICA. At some point you have to trust in God? After all...
Yep, the vet will be great for killing coyotes. Just go to a vet Eric...
Ppl who buys guns are scared little cowards
Conservativism IS cowardice. Afraid to change anything, afraid that something bad might happen if we try a new direction. Their leaders play on their cowardice and control them by playing to their irrational fears.
ljarosak
They sure are. That way they don't have to be scared little cowards anymore. Funny how that works. That little gun turns them from scared little cowards & victims into people that defend themselves . To bad the coward thugs don't find that out untill it's to late.
ljarosak
People who believe the law will be there to protect them before they get shot are stupid.
maybe before they buy them, after I am not so sure. My sister lives in NY and was raped and got an std from it he almost killed her. After she recovered she went to self defense class and bought a gun she vowed never again that would happen.
to tom102553 i will awnser you but first that quetion is like asking if i bought a lottery ticket would i win but your answer is yes it would have and the mom would have more than likly been at the school working only to agrivating him maybe even more you and i cannot say either way..but the fact that murder is illigal that didnt stop him so how hard do you really think it is to get your hands on a very deadly weapon not even a gun just a deadly weapon hell he could have set off the entire fire sprinkler system in that school plugged in faulty equipment and killed everyone in that school i know i work with this stuff frequently and am always concerned about it he could have stabbed everyone just like in china so dont say it cant or wont happen or is even harder to carry out if they are going to do it they are goin to do it and that is where we all need to be right there to help them not do it
A family with a million dollar annual income can't find mental health care for their psycho son. He steals a rifle from his mother and kills her, then goes on a rampage. Good reason to disarm millions. Same thing happened in Australia. A man with a long history of mental illness illegally obtained 2 semi-auto rifles killing 35 people. Solution to the insanity? Confiscate over 600,00 weapons in the country. End result? The homicide trends were unchanged, but the suicide rate dropped (somewhat). Apparently dealing with psychos and criminals is hard, disarming people is easy, even if it has little impact. It would be nice to see us help those who need the help most, before they kill others or themselves, no matter what they choose as their instrument of "expression." Always easier to blame those folks who have nothing to do with this (gun owners) or the victims (the mother) instead of focusing on the person who did the crime and the other mentally ill who, through media drum beating, will kill next. BTW, gun sales before this event were setting records. After this? New records. Something is happening in America, and its not about gun ownership, it is about fear for the future as we follow this current course. Over 10 million guns sold in 2011....
The real issue is gun owners "enjoy" weapons. Until that changes from the heart of humanity, no amount of regulation will ever prevent tragedies. And though there are many who enjoy guns, there are many that despise them and want nothing to do with them. We wait for the day when: ”…they will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.”
Sonny didn't want to go to the loonie bin. Mommy enabled him 3 years too long.
At least he didn't use a Holder 'fast & furious' weapon like killed the model in Mexico.
this report is now saying the bushmaster .223 did all the killings? what can you believe? earlier reports where saying that he did the shootings with 2 9 millimeters with mulitple clips being fired and the bushmaster was found in the trunk of his car. i dont know, but this confuses me. i hate our media now adays, its hard to make an informed decisions since they cant seem to get the facts straight.
Of course it does, that's no surprise.
Here, let me explain. When something like this happens, a few "facts" are available, but they're not always reliable because there's a lot of confusion to be sorted through and evidence processing to be done.
Some may not be facts at all, and are later proven to be false. Then, the real "facts", the ones backed up by evidence, are reported.
There now, eric. Still confused? It shouldn't be TOO hard to understand, shall I explain it again?
@ god
i remember in the past that the news agencies prided them selves on giving the facts, on not going to story until the facts had been gathered and checked. you do remember good ole walter right? i think sensationalist news is part of the problem on things like this happening.
God I agree with you but don't belittle eric who is rightly confused. The Media has become bad and most of their stories have to go oput fast with rumor and half truths. All new stories I have been involfved had some problem with the truth. Lets fight the gun nuts instead. The ones explaining why killing 6-7 yr old kids can be explained.
I am a firm believer that until all Violent Video games that train and teach young minds how to kill and what weapons to use be it guns, Bombs, Chemicals etc that this carnage will not end. They callus the infirm of mind and educate them on the ways of war and death.
Then Extremely Violent Movies that are made by gun hating movie stars need to be outlawed.
Third the media needs to quit blasting us with all of the miss quotes, wrong information, and sensationalizing 24/7 all this just leads upto and creates more people with the goal to be the best with all the information to go out and be the one who killed the most , the infirm of mind feed off of this type of information. Plus give the victims and familys some time and space to heal and recover it don't need to be blasting out of every tv or radio.
exactly, i have owned a gun since 1982 my piont is you never herd of this kind of stuff before the modern video game
This argument is a great one if you want TV ratings or to
make yourself look good after a violent crime just happened, however it will do
nothing to solve the problems we really face. Although it will be tough to
believe, I am a supporter of tougher gun laws, I believe it is far too easy to
obtain a gun and believe that after you do purchase one, there are too few laws regarding the care and custody of that gun. However, gun control will do little
if anything to resolve the issue facing America and here is why:
In 2009, the State of California required the Attorney
General to submit a report on Gun Violence and Gun Related deaths within California.
Of the guns used in crimes, 81.6% were handguns, 8.8% were riffles, 7% shot
guns, 5.4% were assault weapons (as defined by the state of California laws)
and 2% were machine guns. These statistics remained approximately the same
(within +/- 1%) when speaking about homicides.
Of the 81.6% of the handguns used, 30% represented 9 mm
handguns, 11% represented .22 rimfire pistols, 11% represented a .40 caliber
and 10% represented 380 auto while the balance represented various other
weapons in smaller percentages.
The reason I bring this up is simple. Dianne
Feinstein yesterday and now the President said they would seek a ban on assault type weapons. I presume this will costs tax payers millions upon millions in fights. To be honest, I am
of the opinion that assault type weapons are fun to shoot, however if they were
banned it would not affect me in any real way. However spending tax money
trying to ban something that represents 5.4% of total crime committed in a
state which is a fair representation of our country (population and crime wise)
seems like a waste of money.
It would seem to me to make much more sense to ban handguns, which are much less likely
to gain the support of the voters and are not as much fun to parade in front of
cameras. Saying you will ban a .22 pistol (the same caliber used by Boy Scouts
for target practice competitions) will seem much less exciting to a CNN crew
than bringing out a black, composite stock, semi automatic 223 riffle will. And
that brings me to my point.
These people who kill the masses do not do it to simply kill, if that was their goal they would
break into house and shoot neighbors or drive to cities and shoot large groups,
they do it for the attention. These people know that to be what we call “news”
worthy they need to be more shocking than the last guy. To be worthy of CNN or
Fox’s time, you need to kill people in such a manner that it shocks us all and
we are hard to shock.
It is hard to shock a people when they see clips of death on a daily basis. It is hard to
shock a people where the horrible news is repeated over and over, 24 hours per
day.. To do it you need to do something so shocking it will bump all the other “normal”
killings and bring you to the front of the pack, you need to shoot a theater of
innocent movie goers or after that has been done, you need to kill the most
innocent among us.
What the mainstream media will never say is these people confuse fame for infamy. These
people do not kill to kill, they kill to become, in their mind “famous” and our
media is all too eager to help. Putting a killers (such as the idiot in
Colorado or this most recent idiot) on TV, the internet or the paper is as bad
as putting the gun in the hands of the next guy who is sitting at home, alone,
longing for his name to be mentioned on TV as well.
Perhaps it is time for our “leaders” to put a stop to it as the “news” outlets never will.
Perhaps it is time that we stop saying the names of these people and putting
their photos on TV for all to see. Perhaps it should be illegal for anyone to
release the name of one of these “suspects” until they have been convicted or
three years after the crime, long after we have all stopped caring about who he
is.
This is just mythought. To me it seems like a whole lot better use of time and tax money
rather than more gun control that will control no guns.
@ oatis
i think you have maybe just hit the nail on the head there oatis.
.
Guns are being sold faster than they can be made. Thousands flying off the shelves. The knee jerk response of our Government has armed more people in the last few days than all year. Then they won't get $hit done. This could get any better. One San Diego gun store said they sold more in the last three day period than any week in over twenty years.
Also Politicians need to bring God back into society, schools, etc
A change in Morals would also help greatly
yes, the first moral thing to do is change the god forsaken gun laws
Tell ya what, RCCP, if god agrees to bring back to life the children gunned down at Sandy Hook, you have got yourself a deal!
and guns?
another arsenal, another slaughter of innocents
you know what really gets me. most of these people wanting to ban guns, believe that abortion is ok. so here is my solution, i will agree to ban assault weapon type guns, if you will put a provision in that abortions shall be banned along with it. i think that is a fair compromise.
its ok to kill an unborn child, cause they are unwanted
The mother of this murderer was obsessed with guns,especially high powered ones. She took her mentally unstable son to a shooting range more then once! Then she failed to properly secure her weapons! These 20 dead school children would be alive today if she had NO weapons,and at the very least properly secured so her pyscho son couldn't get them.
Not necessarily. Who knows what backup plans the killer had?
Aborting gun nuts and NRA members is ok with most Americans.
tony
Define 'GunNut'
The majority of fetuses aborted would never survive birth due to severe medical conditions,others would live a life of misery due to severe handicaps,so the abortion BS is pure BS. And none of your business,nobody died and made you God! Not your call!
TONYWARVET
That's a bunch of BS and you know it...
He is only speaking for his family.
Hollow points are less deadly than soft points. You don't know much about bullets do you?
sea2see
How many bullets can I have a month?
It all doesn't matter. Buy what you want before the laws go in effect. Keep your mouth shut. Keep a couple for protection & bury the rest in 6" PVC. (well oiled of coarse) If they are ever needed. Get the shovel. They will never disarm the American People. It's all Bull $hit. Our Government is making the gun Companies sell more guns now than ever before. Maybe this is the new stimulus package?
Deerhunterbow1
12/21/12 Maybe it's True... A New Begining.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
this has been going on for a very long time. this nut did this with a bold action rifle. he didn't need an assult weapon. Its time to jail all the mentaly ill. don't forget a transistor radio brought down pan am 103
I already explained that to you, Solar... you sure are dense! Here, I'll explain it again:
That's comparing apples to oranges.
He was barricaded, shooting from a raised position with a 360º field of view and there were no confined victims. He also did his shooting from long range, not the width of a classroom. That situation is made for a bolt-action rifle, as any sniper will tell you.
If someone had a school in lockdown for that long with the kids inside and a semi-AK or AR he'd be able to kill hundreds.
If you'd ever served, you'd know the difference.
and as i stated earlier any homicidal maniac will will find the means. that was his means.
Drug test everyone any drugs found jail them, Make them pay for all the drug related crime. time to clear out death row innocent till proven guilty hasn't worked for us so far. Speedy trial hasn't either ask all those people in gitmo. Drugs kill more people than guns and drugs are illegal. make every person caught with drugs pay and jail them.
SolarIstheWay
Is your house solar powered?
It's bullsh!t powered.
Worth posting again; www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2012/02/21/disarming-the-myths-promoted-by-the-gun-control-lobby/2/
I am sure that someone will question Forbes credibility, but I must say I really like the poster who derided another for posting an outdoor life study on how many times guns stopped crimes, then claimed guns never stopped crimes and you were more likely to get shot by your own gun (false) and to back HIS claim posted a study done only from police reports that resulted in injuries! Lolololol!
What's the old saying, 98% of statistics are made up on the spot? I guess you can find a study to say anything you want it to say, it's just whoever yells loudest wins...
So true . IF IT IS ON THE INTERNET IT MUST BE TRUE ?
If you are in the middle of nowhere by all means own a weapon .
I would !
Assault weapons are created for one reason and one reason only.
To shoot numerous bullets in seconds.
They are created for profit to take advantage of the video game craze
. Anyone who can not look into the faces of
the innocent children who were killed without remorse has lost touch with reality.
Gun Control does not mean the elimination of guns. It means better control of guns.
I live in a house in a close knit area and we all watch out for each other.
I will know someone is on my property in an instant with my outside lights.
I have not owned weapons for 35 years and I am not the least bit worried.
I have numerous items in my house I can use for a weapon.
I might be out gunned . I will have the advantage of surpise.
Of course more than likely the coward will leave when the lights go on.
So when all you so called patriots are afraid that you will lose your weapons.
Just get a picture of those young innocent children etched in your mind and think about it ?
I'm got the faces of the kids killed by Tim McVeigh in my mind. I'm still waiting for vans and trucks/diesel fuel/fertilizer to be under control. Are you with me? We can ban fire accellerants such as oxygen. That would insure fires cannot burn the children.
Get a grip and understand we need to refuse to let the actions of a maniac criminal control the way free, law abiding American people live their lives.
I am seriously trying to understand the people calling for more gun restrictions, but I can't. It would help if there was some definition of "reasonable restrictions", which there isnt, but even outside of that fact there are a few things that don't make sense.
I could talk about the larger than known percentage of people who if they have 911 access, are more than a 20 minute response time away. I could talk about the fact that a gun will protect a woman a hellva lot more than a restraining order. The five mountain ranges we have and the fact that if the biggest gun hater was there and saw a 1000 pound moose or bear charge not only would they want a gun, but one that fired as much ammo as possible. Never mind these or all of the regular arguements, toss it all aside.
A 17 year old gang banger gets caught with an illegal weapon. Any idea what his punishment is people? In more cases than not, he's back on the street in a week. Why? We DON'T enforce the gun laws we already have.
The ironic thing, is most of the people calling for more restrictions don't want them enforced!
Enforcing gun laws that are current, will put the biggest strain on the poor and minorities. A call will come out that we are imprisoning too many young african-american males. Then, a young man with a promising future will make a mistake one night. The ACLU, Al Sharpton, and the rest of the ThrowTheRaceCardOut whores will join in. It will be said that these laws are products of racist people in "Lily-white" suburbs. All your liberal guilt kicks in, along with the fear of being callled racist, and then you'll all fold like a house of cards.
Then were right back where we started.
My feeling on all this call for change is that its nothing more than FeelGood-ism.
So heres my proposal:
Call your Congressmen, your DA's, have ralleys to support enforcement of current gun laws. Demand more policing of our borders, where drugs, human trafficing and the majority of illegal weapons are brought into the country occur. (Sorry people you HAVE to pick...DO you hate the fence more or the guns more?). Stand your ground when the racist accusations start. (The fact most of you cant state how many african youth were killed by guns last year but 20 white kids die and now you really care won't help your arguement, but I'll defend you anyway. I am sure it was an oversight on your part. Yeah, an oversight). Be bold in your commitment to a safer society. Not just for a day or a week, give it a good 3 to 5 years.
I GUARENTEE if you do this, gun violence will drop in our country. If it hasnt dropped to your liking, I bet EVERY LEGAL gun owner in the US would have no problems pulling up a chair at the table to discuss further restrictions, sensibly, with you.
The reality is, most of you won't do anything. You'll post rants, name call, then when the next crisis or political football is punted, go troll there.
interesting murder stats
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/homicide/race.cfm