Raising Adam Lanza (2013)

Post by **bunniefuu** » 01/31/26 17:46

It's been a week since the sh**ting.

[bell tolling] For most of the journalists in

this newsroom, they've never covered anything that came close

to being as horrific as this.

It is a singular event in the history of Connecticut.

[bell tolls] NARRATOR: A week after Adam

Lanza massacred children and six adults at Sandy Hook

Elementary School, church bells tolled across the state.

Memorials were erected to the victims.

President Obama read out names.

But there was a th person m*rder*d that day-- the g*nman's

mother, Nancy Lanza.

Nancy Lanza is the person Adam was closest to in the

world.

She was the first person he k*lled.

He shot her four times in the head while she was in bed, and

then he went off to Sandy Hook Elementary School.

If we can begin to understand Adam's relationship with Nancy,

we probably can begin to understand Adam.

One of the things that Josh and I talked about early on when

we were given this assignment is the fact that it didn't seem

like Nancy was ever really mentioned as a victim in this

case.

We had heard a lot of different things about her through other

news outlets.

We weren't even sure if they were true.

We come to find out later that some of them weren't.

We knew there was some diagnosis, some... deficit, some

social deficiency, and how that complicated their relationship

and what it took to bring this kid along, and some... to some

degree what happened, those were our marching orders.

There are going to be many obstacles in reporting the

story.

The cops aren't saying much, they're still sort of holding

back.

The family members in this case are very reluctant to talk.

And Adam left very little behind.

It's surprising that someone in this era where almost everything

makes an imprint can still leave very few imprints along the way.

There's been this firestorm of coverage and some of it was

right, some of it was wrong.

People are just worn out from having reporters knocking

on their doors, calling their house.

They see another reporter and they think, why would

I want to talk to you after all we've been through?

When I found out about the Connecticut shootings,

I closed the door to my office and just started to shake.

NARRATOR: From the outset, the question was raised again

and again in the media: was Nancy a victim or was she to

blame?

Are there firearms around your house?

Oh, my goodness, no.

Having the child that I have I would never own a firearm.

I would never have firearms in my house.

And I think that's just a responsibility issue.

NARRATOR: The story begins in Kingston, New Hampshire.

Nancy Jean Champion grew up here, and in would marry

Peter Lanza.

Eventually they built this house on the Champion family's land.

They had a son, Ryan, in .

And four years later, along came Adam.

The person that we're going to talk to, he described himself

as a dear friend.

He seems to have been involved with her a lot before she left

New Hampshire so I think he can tell us about life with Adam in

the early days.

NARRATOR: This is the first time that Marvin Lafontaine has

spoken to the media.

Tell me how you first met Nancy?

Through the scouts.

Okay, do you remember what year she actually joined the Cub

Scouts with the boys, what year it was?

', '.

-.

Nancy was there for every single meeting with her kids.

She never missed one.

Those kids were everything to her and she was very, very

protective over them and I understand that.

I was very protective over mine too.

Just in terms of Adam, what do you remember seeing?

Just a quiet kid.

Kept to himself.

There was a weirdness about him and Nancy warned me once at one

of the scout meetings.

She said, just so you know, and she said I know you wouldn't do

this, but just so you know, don't touch Adam.

I go, well, I wouldn't touch him.

She goes, I don't mean like that but I mean like don't do "at a

boy" thing or shake his hand and say "Way to go, brother."

She said, "He just can't stand that."

Did you ever see a reaction to touching?

Yeah, he'd become upset.

Usually it would be one of the other kids, you know, one of the

kids-- they're kids, you know, they don't care and they touch

him and, um, I don't know, he was angry with them.

NARRATOR: Marvin's and Nancy's young children were

friends through the Cub Scouts.

In this exclusive home video filmed by Marvin, Nancy helps

her brother James, a police officer, set up a demonstration

for the scouts.

[Adam imitating dog bark] He sounds like a dog.

NARRATOR: That's Adam, age four and a half, walking towards

the camera.

Did she talk about special programs Adam was in at

school?

She said he was coded.

And describe coded to me?

IEP, individual education plan.

I could see it was bringing her down.

She didn't know what to do and, um, there's a lot of counseling

help available but not all of it's good and she was very

particular about who she would bring him to.

She often didn't trust, you know, the intentions of some

counselors, that maybe they didn't know what they were doing

or they didn't understand the situation enough to help.

NARRATOR: Children with disabilities are entitled to an

individualized education program, known as an IEP.

For Nancy, it would be the first of many efforts over the next

decade and a half to keep a struggling Adam on track.

And then they decide to go to Connecticut.

It was her husband's idea, and she didn't want to go at

first.

Was it because he got the job at GE?

Is that what it was?

Yeah, he got the job.

He made a lot of money, he was very successful.

The good thing is that she said she thought the schools in

Connecticut were better.

There was more stuff there to help him versus New Hampshire,

and she was very pleased about that.

NARRATOR: It was when Peter's job took the family to

the affluent suburb of Newtown.

They settled into the spacious home where Nancy and Adam would

spend the rest of their lives.

Nancy and Marvin kept in touch by e-mail.

Friday, May , , Nancy writes to Marvin:

"Adam is in two plays next week.

Ryan was in one last night.

It has been so cute to watch them rehearse.

Adam has taken it very seriously... even practicing

facial expressions in the mirror!"

The e-mails at one point do turn a little dark.

She does talk about how she was ailing.

She doesn't specify what her disease is, but on Thursday,

July , , she writes: "My diagnosis was not good.

There isn't a fancy name for my problem, just a genetically

flawed autoimmune system.

When it happened to my grandfather, it was so quick

that nothing could be done.

Six weeks.

It's like living on top of a time b*mb.

I have told very few people"-- and she highlights "very" in

all caps-- "and have not told even some people

in my family to try to save people from unnecessary

worry."

NARRATOR: It has been reported Nancy had multiple

sclerosis, but Frontlineand the Hartford Courantwere unable

to confirm.

Wednesday, March , , Nancy writes: "Ryan's

and Adam's birthdays are coming up.

Ryan is having an "Old Friend" party and a "New Friend" party.

Adam is having only a "New Friend" party, but he has new

friends!

Adam is doing well here, and seems to enjoy the new school."

What an adorable class, huh?

And where's your son?

Wait, don't tell me.

I'm gonna guess, I'm gonna guess.

There.

No, that's Adam.

Oh, that's Adam?

Yeah.

NARRATOR: The new school Adam was so fond of was Sandy Hook

Elementary School.

He was six years old and in the first grade.

Wendy Wipprecht's son Miles, who is autistic, was in Adam's class

at Sandy Hook.

And was invited to his "new friend's" birthday party.

Wendy now has Parkinson's.

Adam had his sixth birthday party and invited a group of

kids to go.

That's where I remember talking with Nancy.

Nancy was concerned about Adam.

He was shy, a little withdrawn, quiet.

She was worried that perhaps he had some kind of neurobiological

condition.

Wendy, were there any support groups?

>>Oh, sure.

Did you ever participate in any?

Sure.

Did you ever hear whether Nancy did?

None of the ones that I was in, but she was talking about

sending Adam to St. Rose because classes were smaller and she

thought he might do better there.

Did she say why she thought he needed...

I think it was his shyness and uncomfortableness, I guess,

in large social situations.

A class of people is a lot for a six-year-old to handle.

So did he not have a one-on- one aide like Miles did?

No.

He may not have been diagnosed with anything at the time.

What can pass inspection at six often is not going to pass

inspection, say, at nine.

But at whatever age, even if you're merely suspicious, it's a

kind of awful thing to have to deal with.

So Nancy, she sort of did it on her own.

What do you think that would have been like for you to do it

on your own?

Oh, impossible.

NARRATOR: Soon after moving to Newtown, tensions develop

between Nancy and her husband Peter.

In her e-mails to Marvin LaFontaine, she described him

working -hour days and growing distant.

[on phone]: This is Alaine Griffin calling from the

Hartford Courant.

NARRATOR: The Hartford Couranthas made repeated

attempts to reach Peter Lanza.

It's probably tough to talk to the media, but we were hoping

to get in touch with you because we feel you can help us to

correct what has been reported out there in terms of this

story.

We have reached out to multiple family members.

There wasn't anybody that wanted to go on the record and speak

with us but we developed along the line was a family member who

was willing to give us an e-mail that gave us some really good

information about Adam that had not been out there before.

We learned through this e-mail that while Peter and Nancy did

get divorced in , Peter actually had been out of the

house in .

Peter Lanza continued to support his family

financially.

NARRATOR: The e-mail also said that Adam as a young boy

had been diagnosed with sensory integration disorder-- a not

widely accepted diagnosis involving difficulties

processing and reacting to stimuli.

Later, in middle school, the family member said Adam would

receive another diagnosis: Asperger's, a form of autism

that interferes with social interan.

I want to talk a little bit about the middle school years.

Because isn't this when we start to hear about Adam having

problems that go beyond just the diagnosis of sensory

integration?

We were told around middle school... the middle school

years.

Right.

There was the initial diagnosis, and then the diagnosis of

Asperger's.

And that goes to... social isolation, inability to

communicate with others.

But there's nothing, there's nothing that connects Asperger's

to the kind of violence we saw at...

Absolutely nothing by itself, absolutely nothing.

Family members have told us that when middle school came

upon Adam and the whole idea of changing classes and being in

the hallways, that was too much for him.

Why? Do we know why?

The noise and the chaos disrupted him, is what we were

told.

So she moves him out of the public school system and into

St. Rose of Lima?

She didn't move him into parochial school right away.

Initially she had this special program set up for him.

He was under the supervision of Newtown schools, but he would do

some of his work offsite and at home.

And then he would later return to the school when the rest of

the students weren't there.

Okay.

And after St. Rose of Lima, though, back to Newtown High

School, which is a big school.

So why if movement and, and people being around him are a

problem is he back at Newtown High?

I don't know.

We don't know?

NARRATOR: Changing schools again, Adam arrives at Newtown

High School in and receives special education help.

Though painfully shy and awkward, he joins the school

technology club at the urging of the club's advisor, Richard

Novia.

I knew him for about four years, between the middle school

and the high school.

I identified him as a person who would be likely to be

bullied or picked on and that's when I began to interact with

his mother.

How was it that she was dealing with him and what could I do?

And what did she say about that?

She was failing at bringing him out of his little world.

And I said that I think I can help him.

What was her reaction to that?

She didn't think it would work.

How often do you recall Nancy being on campus on a

weekly basis?

There were periods of time where I think I saw her two or

three times a week, and then you'd have a good month or two

and I'd see her once.

Why would she typically be there on a two or three...?

Adam had episodes, it was the best way I can describe them to

you... uh, where he would completely withdraw.

He would become accustomed to certain things and when you try

to raise that level or bar, he would pull back.

You mean a change?

Yeah.

He would avoid the crowds in the halls.

People rushing to the cafeteria, rushing to get to classes-- that

would make him nervous.

Where he felt fearful of other people.

But over time I was able to get closer and closer to him to a

point where I felt I could sit next to him and he wouldn't

pull away.

He wouldn't withdraw.

Did Nancy acknowledge that and let you know that she

recognized that?

Yes, she saw it working.

Did you get a sense that in his development he was at a

crossroad?

I think Adam had come a long ways.

There's a picture out there that shows him standing up with the

other kids.

There's this funny little face on him.

He's not quite smiling.

I was there when those pictures were taken and I can tell you

that to have Adam stand for that picture proves there was

success.

So the problem happens after.

He goes backwards.

NARRATOR: These photographs were obtained exclusively by

Frontline.

News reports to the contrary, Nancy never spoke of

disagreements with the school and believed Adam would grow up

to be a functional adult, according to the family member's

email.

The relative went on to describe Adam as brilliant, saying he

played the saxophone and studied Mandarin Chinese.

And yet, in Nancy removes him from Newtown High.

When you left for other pursuits in July of ,

did you learn that Nancy took Adam out of high school?

Yes.

Why do you think she pulled him out?

I don't know.

I've pondered this issue for a long time, I've often wondered

if she felt one of his main support networks was no longer

there.

I don't know.

So you don't feel like you're in a position to know

whether that was a good idea or a bad idea?

It was a bad idea either way.

You have a boy who was receiving a tremendous amount of support.

Suddenly when she pulls him out of there, he loses all those

support groups.

That's where he would have fallen farther and farther into

his problems because he didn't have the mental health support

group that he once had.

Richard, when it was observed that Adam in high school was

playing violent video games, did anyone try to dissuade him?

A lot of kids were playing violent video games.

Adam had shown at that point early on some high interest

in the violent aspect of those games.

You know that first hand?

I remember that he would love to... he would opt to sit on the

computer playing games like that rather than to go play DDR,

which is Dance Dance Revolution.

You would remember what game he may have played?

My best of my recollection, and some people have said

there are other games too, but it was World of Warcraft

at that time.

There's a lot better games now.

Did it ever come to your attention that Nancy was into

sh**ting sports?

No, that shocked me to hear that Nancy would have

had anything to do with g*ns.

What we understand is that she did sh**t with Ryan and Adam

at a range.

Yes, that was a mistake.

Why, Richard?

I have a child who loves to do the hot rod driving simulator

on the TV, playing the video games.

I should have been able to foresee that my son loved the

speed when I bought him his first car.

And it wasn't a couple of weeks after that that he got ticketed

for -and-something miles per hour on a town street in Newtown

and I went well, okay, that was my mistake.

You own firearms?

Yes, I do.

And you believe sh**ting with Ryan and Adam was a mistake?

Yes I think it was a mistake on her part.

And it cost her her life, and that's the sad thing.

It cost her her life, that mistake.

NARRATOR: Having left Newtown High, Adam, who was still only

years old, begins taking classes at Western Connecticut

State University.

The email from a family member says Nancy was pleased to see

him in a more adult environment.

But soon Adam withdraws from that school, too.

What we're looking at is this string of changes, and we

understand that change wouldn't have sat well with Adam

because of his disposition, his disorder.

His life was marked by change.

Nancy struggled to find an educational fit.

Public school, private school, public school again.

Home school, high school, no high school, college,

no college.

, the divorce happens after years of being separated.

comes and Adam cuts off his relationship with his dad.

He didn't have much to do with Ryan after that either.

So there is some isolation there.

NARRATOR: After Adam leaves college, information about his

life is hard to come by.

This part of his life was difficult to get a fix on

because he wasn't in a place where others could say, "Yeah,

I saw him, yeah, I did this with him, yeah, he did that."

We understand that he worked at a computer shop.

We haven't been able to find the one that hired him.

No, I didn't see him in here.

But it could have been someone's house, it could have

been a small shop.

We did learn that Nancy was working to make her son more

independent.

She was going on trips and leaving Adam at home.

She was very excited at the fact that he got his driver's license

in .

She was the dominant and perhaps only significant

relationship in his life.

Until the end.

NARRATOR: The Couranthas learned that investigators have

speculated privately that Adam may have carried out the

sh**ting in a manner consistent with video gaming, changing his

weapon's magazine frequently, even though it was not empty.

Federal agents have told reporters that Nancy and Adam

visited sh**ting ranges together as recently as several

months ago.

She was doing a lot of work on her house.

We talked to a contractor who spoke about Nancy taking the

boys to the range.

She excitedly showed him a r*fle that she had acquired in a case,

a beautifully crafted piece that he said she was very

enthusiastic about.

NARRATOR: Starting in , she purchased g*ns that Adam

would use at Sandy Hook Elementary School, including

the Bushmaster as*ault r*fle.

But g*ns were nothing new for Nancy Lanza.

Nancy knew how to use g*ns.

Her father trained her.

I have acres and I got a sand pit out there

and I have r*fles, and we'd sh**t together.

In fact, one of the activities at the cub overnight weekends

was sh**ting s at a r*fle range.

I think that was the first exposure the kids had

to a firearm, and they found it's fun.

Target sh**ting is fun.

Did Adam sh**t?

Yeah, they all did.

And Adam aspired to be like his uncle.

Really?

Yeah.

He was in the military and she was very proud of that and she

allowed him to believe that, "Yeah, you're gonna be like

your uncle."

Depending on how he turned out.

Sometimes people can overcome that with medication,

counseling, whatever.

They can and do.

And I think maybe she was hoping for that.

And then one day I think she realized, probably not too long

ago, there's no way this kid could do this.

It's not for him.

When she realized that, I think she started to discourage him.

Nancy had a group of friends that she hung out with at a

restaurant in Newtown, and many in that group feel that Nancy

has been forgotten in all of this.

Mark, the owner of the restaurant, he said there were

about four friends that probably would be willing to talk to us.

And John is one of them.

Are there any other posts we could look at that Nancy wrote?

She did not post a lot.

She didn't, huh?

She posted on my page, but they're so far down...

NARRATOR: John Bergquist first met Nancy at My Place

two years ago.

In the first media frenzy, you'd see a lot of things pop up

on your TV or in the papers that just, you know, they rushed

to get these facts out that weren't accurate.

She's been described as some sort of g*n nut or survivalist,

and maybe another misconception that she was a bad mother, but

she did everything she could.

Did she talk to you about Adam?

She did.

Did she ever specifically tell you that he had Asperger's?

Yes, she told me he had Asperger's.

But did you get a sense that it was time consuming or emotion

consuming?

She was always very positive, never talked about having

a rough day.

That could be that when she came into the bar, that was her

release and maybe she didn't want to talk about things like

that, but I can't ever remember Nancy having a rough day

and just unloading on me.

John, was it your impression that not a lot of people went

into the house?

Not a lot of visitors, even friends, or did they go into the

house?

No, not a lot of people went into the house.

Nancy was very particular, just like me.

I'm a little bit of a neat freak and I just assumed that

she was towards the more extreme end,

but I don't think that was it.

Maybe that was a little bit of an excuse and I think that

Adam was uncomfortable having too many people around.

Do you think that it would have been reasonable to question

whether the firearms and his exposure on the range and the

sh**ting was anything but enjoyable to him, or anything

that he appeared not to want, that she would have continued?

That thought never crossed my mind because he was never

violent, she never feared him.

It was a way for them to bond.

I think it was one way that she could connect with Adam because

they have a very hard time connecting with people and maybe

finding an activity that they both enjoyed was her way of

bonding with her son.

Did you ever get the sense that she was in denial of his

Asperger's, or do you think she fully embraced the diagnosis?

I think she fully embraced that diagnosis and she was

taking it on the way that she thought was best, making sure he

was going to lead as normal life as possible.

How do you know that?

I know she was a planning on, you know, going wherever he

wanted to go in the country to go to college.

She was talking about Washington State.

I don't know a specific school, but I don't think it was

against his will.

I think it was either his decision or something that

perhaps they discussed.

And I don't think that it was a factor in using him to snap.

If he said that he didn't want to go,

she wouldn't have insisted.

NARRATOR: Planning for the move was in advanced stages

according to Mark Tambascio, owner of My Place, who declined

to speak on camera.

She used to say, "Mark, I really hope Adam gets to a

point where he can take care of himself and I don't have to be

there all the time."

She'd been looking for a school for him, a special school so he

could finish out his college.

She told you that?

Yeah, for a couple of years she's been looking.

Did she actually find something rock solid?

I think so because she said she had sold her tickets.

Sold her...

She was like the biggest Red Sox fan ever, so...

NARRATOR: Nancy loved the Boston Red Sox.

She and Peter had season tickets and split them, one of the few

things spelled out in their divorce agreement.

Frontlineand The Courant have made numerous attempts

to identify which school Nancy was planning to enroll Adam in,

but were unable to confirm.

Over the month since the tragedy in Newtown, we've heard

from so many, and obviously none have affected us more than the

families of those gorgeous children, and their teachers and

guardians, who were lost.

Change would not sit well with him.

Something as profound as moving from Newtown would be disturbing

for a kid who has trouble walking down a crowded hallway.

A contractor told us that she had wanted to sell the house

for a couple of years.

So I don't think that was something that came up,

this idea of moving, right before the tragedy.

The question is was he driving it or was she driving it?

Everything we've heard points to the fact that they were

getting ready to go someplace.

We really don't know if he wanted what she was planning.

Has anyone raised the possibility that he shot her

because he didn't want to go where she was taking him?

No one's ever talked about it, but she really wanted him

to get a degree.

And surprisingly, he didn't want to major in science

or computers, he wanted to major in history.

When a family member questioned, "You're going to move

out of New England?", she told the family member,

"You never turn your back on your kids."

She was a decisive woman.

She chose, we think, not to be involved in the groups in

Newtown of parents who have autistic and Asperger's kids.

Well, wouldn't you think that would be to both his and her

benefit to get involved with those groups?

You would.

It could have been an issue of ignorance.

It could have also been an issue of denial.

So do we know anything about the few days leading up to Sandy

Hook, leading up to Friday, as far as Adam went?

Nothing?

What about Nancy?

We do know she was in the a fine dining room of a hotel.

She Facebooked her friend John Bergquist.

I'll read it to you, Josh.

She says, "I am sitting at dinner at a place that requires

formal attire.

The young couple next to me, dressed to k*ll but covered in

tattoos, too funny!"

And then John mentions, "Hopefully we can get together

soon for dinner during the holidays."

And then she says, "That would be fun, let me know, just be

forewarned, tattoo girl has talked me into a dragon tattoo."

So was she considering getting a dragon tattoo?

No, that was her humor.

I'm sure she didn't even talk to the couple, but she was just

being funny there.

I see, I see.

She had an excellent sense of humor.

NARRATOR: The following day, Nancy came back from New

Hampshire to the house she still shared with her

-year-old son.

What happened next is still a mystery-- the investigation may

take months-- but that night, Nancy went to sleep in her own

bed.

At some point before she awoke, Adam went to her g*n collection.

Passing up the semiautomatic weapons he would use later, Adam

picked up Nancy's . caliber r*fle, the kind of g*n he first

learned to sh**t.

And at close range while she slept, he shot the woman who

raised him four times in the head.

Then he got in the car his mother taught him to drive

and headed towards his old elementary school.

[bell tolling]

[bell tolling]

...police responded...

...tragedy of unspeakable...

...police confirmed what we feared, that the children...

They got an automated phone message from the school that the

schools were in lockdown.

And then we got the news that there had been a report of a

sh**ting at Sandy Hook School.

And I ran out the door, I just... I headed to the school

quickly.

There's a firehouse down the street from the school where

they were having everybody assemble.

And they were bringing all the students and personnel out of

the school and having us meet there.

And my friend Melissa had collected her second grader and

she asked her husband to pick him up and bring him home.

And I said tMelissa, "You should go home and be with him."

And she said, "Oh no, I'll stay with you until you get Daniel."

And then finally the Governor came and said, "If you're

missing someone, they didn't survive."

We have funerals for Olivia Engel at : at Saint Rosa Lima

and Dylan Hockley in Bethel.

Same thing we've been doing-- just be outside, respectful

distance.

Is there anything else we need in Newtown daily developments

beyond that happening, anything we know of?

Yeah, one of the teachers, her stepfather is a reporter

here.

And I think as sort of a defense mechanism I thought, "It

couldn't be," you know?

"We'd know already something."

And eventually it was confirmed.

So, you know, a story that was difficult enough for all of us

to report anyway was, you know, that much more emotional, that

much more difficult.

The sort of overarching issue that I'm looking at is whether

or not Sandy Hook truly is a tipping point in the debate over

g*n violence, and that whatever the solutions are out there,

these innocent children lost, this will make a difference.

And I'm sort of examining that optimism against the reality

that the g*n control debate in America is exceedingly divisive.

It is a sad honor to be here today.

It's been one month since I lost my son Dylan, and other

families lost their loved ones.

The Sandy Hook Promise is the start of our change.

This is a promise to do everything in our power to be

remembered not as the town filled with grief and victims,

but as the place where real change began.

This is a promise to be open to all possibilities.

There is no agenda other than to make our communities and our

nation a safer, better place.

Yeah, I'm Matthew Kauffman with the Hartford Courant.

Can you give us a sense of how active you intend to be?

Do you anticipate a point at which Sandy Hook Promise would

actually be testifying, lobbying, if you will?

We have to take the time to educate ourselves.

We have to take the time to have that dialogue.

But absolutely, there's going to become a moment in time where

we're going to take those positions.

We're a platform for people to come together with one voice and

actions to move us forward.

Some of us who came together to start Sandy Hook Promise are

g*n owners.

We hunt, we target sh**t, we protect our homes, we're

collectors, we teach our sons and daughters how to use g*ns

safely.

Passing a new law and then moving on is not the answer.

We have to fundamentally change our approach.

[g*nsh*t]

So that's... that's pretty dead center.

Pretty dead center.

A lot of people were surprised at how many g*ns Nancy

Lanza owned and the type of g*ns that they were.

But in fact there's a strong g*n culture in Newtown.

A lot of hunters, a lot of target shooters, a lot of g*n

owners.

After December th, everybody's been asking, has it

changed how I felt about firearms?

And to be honest, no.

I mean, this is how I've thought.

Do you feel yourself sort of under attack as a

responsible firearms owner?

I have friends who are devout NRA members who believe that the

Second Amendment gives everybody the right to own any firearm.

Vice versa, I have friends here in town who believe that all

firearms should be confiscated and destroyed.

And I'm somewhere in the middle.

As far as a ban on -round clips, it's a common sense law

that would absolutely save lives.

And there's going to be a bunch of people upset that I said

that.

Do you feel, "Oh, no, I'm betraying, you know, the g*n

enthusiast community here"?

I will lose friends.

I'm sure of it.

We are heading to the home of a gentleman named Scott

Ostrosky.

Newtown resident, has kind of a private amateur sh**ting range

on his property that has been the subject of a number of

complaints by folks who live in the neighborhood.

We've gotten complaints of noise, because we have a

neighbor that's been more sensitive to the sh**ting in the

past couple of years.

And the police have been over here many times.

They have saidt was safe, and we've become buddies with them.

And there are complaints that are from all over the town going

to the police.

Is there something that changed in Newtown?

Yes.

A lot more people live here now.

And a lot more outsiders have moved in.

And these are people that moving to Newtown is big country to

them.

These are people that, in my opinion, came from New York

City, or the suburbs of New York City, or any urban environment,

and they're not used to what goes on in Newtown, or what has

been going on.

And then you get that conflict.

It's just, you know, growing pains in a situation like this.

Each of these red dots represents a home from which a

complaint was lodged with the police about the sound of

g*nf*re near these homes.

I think this was to the first part of .

noise complaints related to sh**ting, spread pretty broadly

throughout the town.

So last year the town decided to do something about it.

Joel, how are you?

Nice to see you.

Come in.

Thanks.

I think it had just reached sort of a critical mass of a

number of complaints.

So we set this ordinance up, and it would say, "Look, you cannot

sh**t a g*n in Newtown unless you're doing legitimate hunting,

or you have a legitimate sh**ting range."

Did this feel like controversial legislation

ordinance to you?

As you were drafting it, did you think...

Not in the least.

Absolutely not in the least.

I never expected that there would be any significant

opposition to it.

They had two public hearings on it, and there were a lot of

people there, and they were very vocal in opposition to the

ordinance.

These are the minutes of the meetings that were held.

"Necessity should be the standard, not simply prudence."

You know, "g*nf*re is a reminder of freedom."

One person notes that no one in attendance has spoken in favor

of the ordinance.

So really, you know, very strong emotions over, again, what I

think the town thought was a noise ordinance.

And it all had to do with their ability to maintain arms,

and somehow this would infringe their Second Amendment rights.

Any inkling at all that you might be opening up a Second

Amendment debate here?

No, because the Second Amendment has nothing to do with

sh**ting ranges.

It doesn't say the right to have a sh**ting range shall not be

infringed.

This all happened in the months before the shootings, and

only a handful of people showed up in support of the ordinance.

The town meetings were dominated by pro g*n enthusiasts, and the

ordinance was tabled.

And that really illustrated the long history that Newtown has

with g*ns.

In fact, the trade group for the whole g*n industry is located

right here-- the National sh**ting Sports Foundation.

Within Newtown, is the NSSF known?

I've talked to a number of people in town that said, "I had

no idea they were here."

Well, Connecticut is not well known now for being a state of

great firearms ownership.

But ironically, Connecticut is where the firearms industry got

its beginning.

All the major manufacturers of firearms and ammunition were

generally centered in the Connecticut River Valley during

the Industrial Revolution.

And that's why the National sh**ting Sports Foundation is in

Connecticut.

marks the th anniversary of the Shot Show.

This year, over , square feet of exhibit space, and more

than , industry professionals.

[cheers and applause]

Ladies and gentlemen, the state of our industry tonight,

in a word, is misunderstood.

Now, who among us has not been moved by that unspeakable

tragedy that was inflicted by a deranged man upon the children

of Newtown, Connecticut, our very home at the NSSF?

You had said the state of the industry is misunderstood.

What's the biggest misunderstanding about it?

There are many.

According to the media we are nothing but a bunch of greedy

fat cats who could care less about anything but making

profit.

We're in this business because we love it.

Rather than say that g*ns are bad what we say is g*ns are

here.

g*ns are part of the fabric of our society.

And so what we need to do is to make sure that responsible g*n

owners make sure that they're not accessible to children or at

risk individuals.

If this woman had safely stored her g*ns, inaccessible to her

son when they were not in use, this sh**ting would not have

occurred.

In the month since precious children and six brave

adults were violently taken from us at Sandy Hook Elementary,

more than of our fellow Americans have reportedly died

at the end of a g*n.

So I'm putting forward a specific set of proposals.

And in the days ahead, I intend to use whatever weight this

office holds to make them a reality.

[cheers and applause]

Our government is treading a thin, thin line of becoming

tyrannical.

Whether it's King George or Barack Hussein Obama, oppression

is oppression.

g*n control isn't about g*ns.

It's about control.

I only have one comment-- I will not comply.

Historically with the pro-g*n lobby, they've really become

entrenched when challenged.

One of the questions I think is, do dead first graders change

that equation?

So far it hasn't.

And I think what makes this such an intractable issue is even

after Sandy Hook, there are two camps.

The two camps are what we need to make our community safer is

fewer g*ns, and the other camp saying no, what we need to make

our community safer is more g*ns.

I don't know where the common ground is on this when it starts

that far apart.

We're days past today.

When did you start thinking you have a larger role to play here?

I feel like we've been forced onto a platform.

And I think it... I feel, we feel, a sense of responsibility

and a feel of obligation, a sense of obligation now to do

whatever we can.

We're not political, Mark and I.

We're not, you know, confrontational people.

But I think we can't allow ourselves to become complacent

and just say, "That's how it is in the United States."

You know, "These things happen."

That's unacceptable.

I have felt guilt and shame about the fact that in this

particular topic I have never done a single thing.

I've been awakened, and I will not be caught napping on the job

from here on out.

I just need to do something.

Because I'm like so many other people.

I can't stop thinking about what happened.

So...

I'm Richard Marotto.

I have a first grader at Sandy Hook.

By the grace of God she was shoved in the bathroom along

with her friends and her teacher.

I won't begin to tell you the things that she says and draws

right now.

And it's progressively getting worse.

So anything we can do for our community.

But I think we need to get in the same page.

And if someone does speak tomorrow, let's all be on the

same page.

There's a huge silent majority out there that I

believe is easily motivated not to be silent any more if we give

them the tools.

And that's what we're working towards.

When you go out and you advocate, your power is , to

one, because people aren't showing up.

And the fact that you're from Newtown is even more important.

I feel like our grief puts us in a unique position of power.

And I actually believe that we can, with that power, help level

the playing field with the special interests that are out

there.

And I do think the tide is turning, but our window right

now is extremely limited.

This is going to move very, very quickly.

I've never had to wait in line to get in the legislative

office building.

I've never had to walk through a metal detector to get in the

legislative office building.

So this is most definitely a moment in my state and the

nation as well.

My name is Raymond Maza.

I'm a resident of Farmington, Connecticut.

I come here in strong opposition of the proposed legislation,

including but not limited to House Bill , Senate Bill

, Senate Bill , Senate Bill ...

My daughter was a student in Victoria Soto's first grade

class.

She survived.

She and eight other children ran from that room directly past

him, but not before witnessing her friends and her teacher

slaughtered in front of her.

So here we are again.

Another mass sh**ting, another deranged perpetrator, and the

response is yet again ban g*ns.

Something needs to change.

We need to be able to send our kids to school without fear.

As much as you might detest this thought, at the end of the

day, the only protection against a bad man with a g*n is a good

man or woman with a g*n in the right place at the right time.

g*ns are a fault line in the sort of varied American

experience.

And they have this capacity to sort of create this emotional

cleave in a way that I think maybe ab*rtion comes close to,

but other than that, no other issue really separates the

nation this substantially.

If the principal had come out of her office with a g*n in her

hand she might have at least mitigated the carnage.

We are incredulous at the types of as*ault and

semi-automatic weapons and magazine clips that are

considered legal.

A lot of people on both sides think that some change will

come.

But it will come not as the result of a meeting of the minds

of these two far-apart camps, but simply because one side or

the other musters sufficient political power to get their

way.

Thank you.

Thank you.