Fox News host Mike Huckabee says the Newtown shooting blame should not be on soft gun control laws, but on a lack of God. That the Secular-Progressives have ′systematically removed God′ from our schools. Concepts such as what responsibility means have been lost in our society thanks to Liberals and their political objectives. So is Mike Huckabee correct in his hypothesis that the reason Adam Lanza shot up the Sandy Hook school, killing 6 adult women and 20 First Graders is a lack of God? The issue of gun control laws have already been raised, but could there be a different reason?
Another Fox News contributor, psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow, one of Glenn Beck′s old chums, paints a different picture. For the past two days, he has been beating the drum about the failures of our nation′s mental health system. Ablow contends that there is no real oversight or method for at risk patients to truly get the help they need, nor much of an official trail that police and other government agencies can respond and act with.
As pieces of the puzzle concerning why Adam Lanza committed his crimes are discovered, Dr. Ablow may be on the right track. We now have learned that Lanza′z mother, Nancy, whom Adam murdered first as he began his day of violence, was not a substitute teacher at Sandy Hook as earlier reported. She was a school nurse at a different school, but had quit that job to care for Adam. Reports of earlier confrontations and problems that Adam had while in the Newtown public school system led his mother to pull him out and home school Adam.
Connecticut already has fairly strict gun control laws on their books. All of the weapons used by Lanza were legally purchased by his mother. This includes an AR-15 variant, known as the Bushmaster, which early reports claim was found in the mother′s car Adam drove to the Sandy Hook school. There now seems to be evidence that Adam in fact used the Bushmaster during his rampage. The rifle would have been ′grandfathered′ by the state′s laws concerning ′assault weapons′, military type rifles that are semi-automatic versions and usually have their muzzle breaks and bayonet rings removed to get around legal issues.
That political forces have been busy taking God out of our schools, and society in general, is no secret. Especially during these holiday periods, where groups use the courts to oppose Nativity displays, Christmas trees and other symbols of religious faith. But is this really connected to the Newtown shooting?
Take for example on the very same day, police in Bartlesville, Oklahoma arrested an 18-year old high school student, Sammie Eaglebear Chavez, who plotted to massacre his classmates. Chavez attempted to recruit friends to assist him in trapping students in the high school auditorium, chain the doors, then gun them down. But unlike in Newtown, the intentions of Chavez were made known to police after his friends told school officials. Unlike Chavez, Adam Lanza apparently had no friends he could trust.
There were clear warning signs and in the Chavez case, authorities were made aware of them and acted, preventing another tragedy. One would think that in a small community like Newtown, where most people are known to others, that Adam Lanza would have been on the radar screen. We may find out in the days to come that there were indeed signs, but for some reason, nobody acted in time. One story now floating is that Adam murdered his mother because she was in fact going through the legal process to have him institutionalized. If true, then Dr. Ablow may be right in his position that what we have here is a failure for the process, from diagnosis, to probate courts, to determining a course for treatment.
Mike Huchabee is right that the Newtown shooting blame does not fall on gun control laws. We already have plenty and the system generally works well. Whether the ′systematically removed God′ from public schools is to blame for Adam Lanza and his attack on the Sandy Hook Elementary school is another question. While it is true that Secular-Progressives have been busy with their political agenda, which includes removing what responsibility means, can we blame that? Or is Dr. Keith Ablow, another Fox News contributor, correct in his assessment that what we have here is a breakdown of our national mental health care system? Since the 1960s, the criminally insane with violent tendencies are less likely to be removed from society and instead treated by social workers rather than professional doctors. Is it time we rethink how we deal with such people?










December 16th, 2012 at 7:21 am
First, Huckabee couldn’t wait?
The shooter wasn’t attending school, was he?
And why should God be in school?
They have a school for God, it is called church and it is readily available.
Do they teach math at church?
No, because that is not the curriculum.
Perhaps we should look into every child being raised on Ritalin and then transitioning to Adderall.
Ask anyone from the ages of 15 to 27 about how many of their friends are taking Adderall or Strattera.
There is your problem.
God? Heck I wonder how many of these shooters think God told them to do it.
December 16th, 2012 at 7:43 am
Following that logic, more secular 1st world countries should be having mass murders more often than we do.
I’m glad we are taking God out of public schools – because they are PUBLIC SCHOOLS. I wouldn’t want my kids to be indoctrinated by schools paid for by taxes. Kids can pray in schools, they can bring their bibles and read them during break, etc, but teachers can’t push God onto kids and that’s a good thing. We are a nation with the freedom of religion, so why should be cater to a specific one? Would you like teachers to indoctrinate kids into the Muslim faith just because that’s what they believe?
Also, like Buzz said, there’s a place to learn about God called churches, there are also religious schools.
I find it disgusting that people are speaking for ‘God’ and saying that this massacre happened because God is not in the school system. If that’s the case then God is one DISGUSTING fellow and I’d rather burn in hell anyway.
December 16th, 2012 at 7:51 am
Here’s Morgan Freeman’s take:
“You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here’s why.
It’s because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he’ll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.
CNN’s article says that if the body count “holds up”, this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer’s face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer’s identity? None that I’ve seen yet. Because they don’t sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you’ve just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.
You can help by forgetting you ever read this man’s name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news.”
December 16th, 2012 at 7:53 am
I kind of agree with you, Buzz. Huckabee is an idiot. Never liked him and I still don’t think much about him.
On the issue of blaming a ‘lack of God’, well, that is another matter. Since I do not know as of yet what the religious affiliation and habits were of the Lanza family, there is no point in arguing.
From my own experience, having been raised a Catholic, I flirted with atheism for a time. That is the old joke, most atheists are former Catholics. I remember first hearing about evolution in the 4th grade and being a science geek, took to it like a fish to water.
But as time went on, it became very clear to me that science has its limitations. Or maybe I should say the human mind is limited to the norms of our society and culture. Last night, on BBC America, they replayed the final, 2-part episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where Picard’s old nemesis, Q, had him shifting about in different time periods. The moral of the story being that for one brief moment, with Q’s help, Picard achieved a small slice of enlightenment.
Which, I have to say, proudly, is my goal in life! Enlightenment! Humans are never going to know everything. Where science and reason ends, faith and religion takes over, but only to a point. Since the early 1970s, I’ve tried just about everything, from transcendental meditation to fasting to five LSD trips seek out and search for enlightenment. The best results were my last LSD trip in 1981 where I did become ‘one with the universe’ and later in 1992 when I became ‘born again’ in my belief of God.
This is why I have no trouble compartmentalizing the realms of science and religion. God created the universe and gave it a nice set of laws to function with. If you watch the rerun of the Neil Cavuto special today at 3pm Eastern on the Apollo program, you’ll see that most of our astronauts believe in God, or if you prefer, ‘Intelligent Design.’
These are people steeped in science, engineering and plenty of self-confidence. Astronauts, especially the old-fashion ones, are not exactly personalities who cling to the Bible as a ‘buffer’ to reality. They are ‘hands-on’ guys who have no problem trusting in their skills as they operate a deadly, hurtling piece of complex machinery.
I think I’m starting to babble, so I’ll end it at here and see other others feel on the subject.
December 16th, 2012 at 7:57 am
Ah, should have double-checked the sources before submtting. According to snopes Freeman didn’t say that, but the message still stands.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:04 am
Oh, Snow! First off, not everyone at Fox News is doing as you say. Judge Janine Pero (sp?) has made it a point not to say Lanza’s name during her program. I think one or two other hosts during their ‘news’ broadcasts also avoid giving any of these crazy shooters extra publicity. As for showing pictures, ABC News was the first to air one of Lanza.
As for the old issue of religion and government, our Founding Fathers never intended complete separation of God and government. We see over and over again terms like ‘divine providence’ in our founding documents.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:06 am
God should not be in schools. Period. There is a place for that, and it’s not in public schools.
Kids should (and are) be allowed to pray, but schools should not indoctrinate kids, that’s not their job.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:07 am
We may as well also talk about the impact of these violent computer and video games. Ever since the creation of DOOM, we have see that many of these mass shooting suspects were involved in playing such games.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:08 am
Also, I’m not a fan of mainstream media (liberal or conservative), so I don’t give a crap who did what first, that’s just useless finger-pointing. All news channels are sensationalizing this to death, even if a few personalities don’t follow suit.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:14 am
LOL! Schools should not indoctrinate kids??? What do you think they do all day? I believe that the Latin origins of Education, ‘edu’ means to conduct, to channel. Our education system is all about indoctrination. THAT is the problem!
I think we would all be better off doing away with the current school system and allow children to be taught by wise men, philosophers, in parks and playgrounds. People who instruct children to develop genuine thinking skills and allow them to figure things out on their own.
What we have now in public schools is basically just a prison to keep kids off the streets for a few hours a day. To learn by rote and vomit back whatever nonsense the teachers tell them so they can pass a test. Not very enlightening!
December 16th, 2012 at 8:15 am
Don’t you think the media itself may be a big reason for this? They create famous villans out of these sickos, which seems like a good deal if you’re an evil sh*t-stain. All you have to do is be more heinous than the last sicko and you will be remembered forever. Like the quote above says, can you name a single victim of the Columbine shootings? The Aurora shootings? Probably not without looking it up on the internet, but you probably know the names of the shooters, and you probably wont forget.
If we are going to blame video games, then we should blame violence on TV, right?
December 16th, 2012 at 8:16 am
To invoke GOD into a tragedy like Sandy Hook massacre opens the door to blame. America has been busy rejecting the notion of GOD in every part of their lives, school, government, public functions, with the notion that there are no laws or commandments that any society should teach other than those set forth by man. When all traces of GOD and the ten commandments are gone, who does anyone think will replace him? Whether a person chooses to believe in GOD or not is their own choice, but to choose to remove the ten commandments or any trace of scripture that teach good, moral guidelines for any society, shows the ignorance of those that cannot see beyond their own reason.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:16 am
What we have now in public schools is basically just a prison to keep kids off the streets for a few hours a day. To learn by rote and vomit back whatever nonsense the teachers tell them so they can pass a test. Not very enlightening!
I happen to agree with you here. Our school systems do suck.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:21 am
Well, Snow, I myself do not watch horror movies, nor do I watch these shows like ‘The Walking Dead’ nor the whole CSI and Law&Order franchises. After reading a few Stephen King novels, especially ‘The Stand’, I had my fill of that genre, too! If I want to watch crime or see bloodshed, all I have to do is look out my window here in Duh-troit.
Where, BTW, even with armed guards, metal detectors and other precautions, we still have school violence.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:24 am
If we are going to blame video games then we should blame the parents for allowing their kids to play such video games. All video games have an ESRB rating which will tell parents what the game contains.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:24 am
Lets also consider the music kids listen to these days. All the hip-hop, gangsta-rap tunes about killing cops and beating up women. If you want to really try to end this nonsense, there are a whole lot more places to look than just gun control laws.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:28 am
Well, Snow, there you go! Blame the parents!
One of my favorite authors, Robert Heinlein, did the subject best in his classic novel, ‘Starship Troopers’ where all teachers were ex-military. All parents were ex-military. Unless you served and put your own life on the line, taking personal responsibility for the survival of the human race, you could not vote, nor run for office, nor teach in a school nor be allowed to raise a family.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:31 am
Citizenship, good citizenship, is a lot more than just happen to being born somewhere. A lot more than just punching a clock and going home to a fridge full of beer and stick&ball sports on TV. A good citizen is somebody who really wants to be a good citizen and is willing to work on it. Even if it means risking your own life.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:32 am
I don’t believe in gun control. If someone is motivated to do this then they will find a way to obtain guns illegally, or they will find another way to murder.
So are you saying the big gubmint should regulate music, video games and other forms of violent entertainment.
Don’t you think media sensationalism could play a pretty big role?
Millions of people play violent video games and never resort to violence. Perhaps we need better access to heath care, in this case mental heath care?
December 16th, 2012 at 8:34 am
Heinlein is a favorite of mine too. I especially like ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:39 am
Actually, Snow, what I think I’m saying is that it is because of Big Government that we have all of these violent games, movies, books, music, etc. If we governed ourselves more locally, then each community would have its own standards and practices. Then it would be a matter of voting with your feet and living in a community that represented you best. These idiots in Washington do more harm when they try to help us than if they just left us alone.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:41 am
Heinlein was unique. He was that Libertarian bridge between the ‘Far Right’ and the Hippie movement. An amazing guy who really deserves more attention and respect than he gets.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:42 am
I’m having trouble making sense of that. It’s because of big government why we have violent games? Wouldn’t a big government regulate the industry so these violent games couldn’t exist, or they would be harder to access?
December 16th, 2012 at 8:45 am
Theres no way you can competently teach history in any school without God or religion being a major factor in many instances.
For example,one must study Christianity and Islam in order to understand the centuries of middle east unrest.
As far as God being taught as a moral compass to any number of demographics in a public school… thats just retarded.
My reason for never supporting Huckabee, a decent man, was because he’s just too much of an altar boy for my taste in any public office.
As a conservative, hes frightening.
And hes a really shtty bass player.
God might of made a difference in this murderers life but its hardly the fault of our schools for not teaching ten commandments.
December 16th, 2012 at 8:48 am
As for our mental health care system, Snow, that is what Dr. Keith Ablow says is the problem we have. If you think about it, before a number of ACLU-favored court rulings in the 1960s, the violent, criminally insane people were locked away for life. Many were also sterilized, too, just in case whatever made them insane was hereditary.