27 shot dead in Conneticut school

[GeneChing]

There's a vid, which I didn't watch, if you follow the link.

Posted: Wed 12:13 AM, Feb 13, 2013
Reporter: Jorge Lopez Email
Updated: Wed 12:35 PM, Feb 13, 2013
Back to News - Home & Family
Local martial arts group says it can help prevent school violence tragedies

News 12 at 11 o'clock / Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013

EVANS, Ga. (WRDW) -- Members of a local martial arts group say they have the tools to help prevent school tragedies like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary in December.

Superior Academy will be hosting a free seminar for Lewiston Elementary students on Feb. 25 and Feb. 26. Group members say they want to prepare kids physically, emotionally and mentally to handle potentially deadly situations at school.

The students are learning Jeet Kune Do. It's a martial arts system developed by Bruce Lee.

Jason Herrera has been in the martial arts business for a long time, but after all the recent tragedies, especially the ones involving children, he wanted to do something.

"Some of the primary issues going on including mental and emotional disturbances," Herrera said.

Herrera, says those can be the triggers that cause people to do something out of the norm. He says his program has the steps to help kids overcome issues before they become serious.

"Situations like Sandy Hook occur because of the lack of emotional mastery in people, young people especially," Herrera said.

So, later this month, he's taking his program to Lewiston Elementary. It's simple and straight to the point.

"The martial arts and the self-defense teach you self control," he said.

And parents agree.

"If you are prepared mentally and physically by martial arts, for example, that would help a lot," said one parent.

Jason Linticum is a Columbia County school physiologist. He says he's looking forward to seeing the program in action and preparing students for any type of situation.

"There's huge benefit to knowing how you're going to react to a situation. Whether it's self-defense or something on a larger scale," Linticum said.

As for Herrera, he says his group is excited about the seminar at Lewiston Elementary and about teaching students these potentially life-saving skills.

And another...

Mountain View Martial Arts offers free self-defense classes for teachers, school staff

CONNIE KRAMBERG, a teacher in the Kelso School District, demonstrates a self-defense move with Mike Sonners, a student at Mountain View Martial Arts. Kramberg is also a current student at the facility. Photo courtesy of 4Ever Photography.

Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 9:00 am
Joanna Michaud staff reporter

Starting Feb. 16, Mountain View Martial Arts & Fitness in Battle Ground will begin offering free self-defense classes to area school teachers, faculty and staff. The classes will be offered the third Saturday of each month at 9 a.m., at Mountain View Martial Arts, 807 E. Main St., Battle Ground.

The only requirement to be able to attend the free classes is that participants must show their proof of employment at any school in the surrounding area.

“We want to make this as simple and as inclusive as possible,” said Celenea Mitchell, a Battle Ground resident who took it upon herself to get the free self-defense classes going.

Mitchell, who is a mother, said that after what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, she was filled with “such unbearable sadness and fear” and said she was “irate” that something like that was still able to happen. She said she was thinking of homeschooling her children when she realized she wanted to somehow help all children be safe. Mitchell said she volunteers at her children’s school twice a week, and she helps out other mothers and fathers with babysitting.

“I love them, I love all the staff,” she said. “Truly, I had to do something, not just for my little family, but for all of us.”

So, Mitchell decided to make up some fliers and passed them out at surrounding schools, taking a poll of how many staff members and teachers would be interested if free self-defense classes were offered somewhere. She said she called around and talked to the PTA president of her children’s’ school, the staff at the Battle Ground School District office, the Battle Ground Community Education staff and numerous martial arts instructors.

“I finally found one (a martial arts instructor), David Mason, probably the best one for the job, willing to put out his hand and help the community in a very meaningful way,” Mitchell said. “Before that day, I was starting to feel defeated, it seemed no one was willing to help with the actual teaching of the self defense. I wanted to cry tears of joy and I was elated when he said he would do this.”

Master David Mason, head instructor and owner of Mountain View Martial Arts, will run the self-defense classes for teachers and school staff each month.

“I am very honored and extremely happy to be able to help our school teachers in any way I can,” Mason said.

Mitchell said the self-defense classes will be basically the same each month and school staff can attend as many times as they want, honing the skills they learn or just once, with the idea to practice what they have learned at home. She also said Mason has tailored the class specifically for school staff. Mitchell said they will continue to offer the class for as long as there is a demand for it.

Teachers and/or school staff who wish to participate in the classes can just drop in if they want to, but Mitchell said a phone call or email would be appreciated in order to get an idea of how many people will be attending. Those wishing to participate can contact Mitchell at (360) 566-7068 or by email at 4celenea.mitchell@gmail.com, or they can call Mountain View Martial Arts at (360) 601-7713.

“I know this is not the whole answer to all of the school violence, but I look at it as possible damage control and a gift of empowerment to those who want it,” Mitchell said. “I hope the word spreads and other communities do this. But in the mean time, we are accepting anyone from anywhere who works in a school. I feel it’s the least I can do. They should be treasured and afforded this opportunity, if they so choose.”

[Syn7]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCxRl5vglqU


The dems and their non existent cajones have done so well with the new bill so far.

Kinda sad. I don't believe they will even get the background checks in any meaningful and effective way.

[Scott R. Brown]

If people were really serious about saving lives they would ban alcohol, it kills more people and destroys more lives BY FAR than anything else!

Then work on banning cars!

[Lee Chiang Po]

Of the 6 million jews gassed and burned during WW2, a huge number were children. Look at the number of people that were doing this deed. People with children of their own that they loved dearly would without a second thought gas and burn the children of others. These were people that would be determined as completely sane. Most people can easily justify the things they do. The original sin was not murder by the way, it was simply disobedience. Eating of the forbidden fruit when told not to. How evil is that? Satan does not ask you to fornicate or murder, but simply to worship him, and he will give you all worldly things within his power. But then this is all BS. Fact is, the human brain works by chemical reaction. That is why we are all different. Of every 10 people it is difficult to find even 2 that have the same beliefs about everything. They will agree on some things, but not on everything. If we all worked the same we would all think exactly the same. These killers are not insane as such, but just have a rather different way of looking at things. There is nothing we can do to prevent such acts. As long as they have hands that can grip an object they can use it to kill with.

[Syn7]

If people were really serious about saving lives they would ban alcohol, it kills more people and destroys more lives BY FAR than anything else!

Then work on banning cars!

Yeah, it's a bit different.


I'm not for disarming people altogether or anything like that. I don't even have issue with semi auto rifles. Just close loopholes, have realistic background checks for ALL transfers, and basically enforce the laws already there. These giant clips are dumb too, but easy to make. I dunno how that will be enforced. And control ammunition. I.D. and firearm license for all purchases to also be recorded and archived. While I found the registry in Canada to be ridiculous, I see it could actually be useful in the US. If you aren't doing anything wrong, who cares. You register lots of stuff, why is it so bad when it's a gun? In Canada it was mostly a waste of money, not because it's a bad thiong, just cause we don't have enough gun crime to justify the cost. You guys do.

[Scott R. Brown]

Just like alcohol age limits stops underage drinking and drunk driving laws stop drunk drivers, right?

People who want guns will get them. We know for a certainty throughout the history of man, that once something is illegal that people will want, it creates a criminal underworld that will provide it for them.

If all these people who want gun control really cared about saving lives the would be even more rabid about getting rid of alcohol.

The fact is more people are killed due to alcohol use then are killed with firearms alone, by far.

These people want to keep their own vices but seek to keep others from owning weapons.

They are hypocrites one and all. Once these bloody do gooders get rid of alcohol, then perhaps they will say something worth listening too.

After all, it isn't people that drink, it is the alcohol that does it to them, therefore, in order to protect themselves from their own irresponsible behavior and my own family and children, we should ban alcohol FIRST, then begin discussions about what to do about firearm safety!

[Syn7]

Not the same. Trans fats kill more people than alcohol. But then non hydrogenated oils change with heat. Maybe we can ban heat too. Silly argument. Obviously you have to draw a line somewhere. Going to one extreme or the other is ridiculous and so is using it as an argument against sensible rules. And as long as education standards keep going downhill, a legal approach will be needed to hold back the tide while yall handle that. You can start by actually appointing an ATF director. No wonder the laws aren't being enforced.

Who said anything about prohibition? All I said was background checks, regulate ammo, simple registry, safety course and oh I dunno, maybe enforce some of the laws already in place. You wanna gun? No problem, go buy one legally. Simple. We regulate and register cars and DL's, what's the difference?

Rather than jumping to the party lines, why not address what I actually said.


None of what I said comes anywhere near prohibition. I have no problem with guns, not even semi auto rifles. And magazine restrictions are never gonna work, too easy to make on your own. But like cars, if you can't pass muster your ass shouldn't drive.

And the 2nd amendment specifically refers to arms in regards to militias. And guess what... your police force is very well armed.



I don't understand why people are so afraid that somebody is going to come take their guns. We all know that shit won't happen anytime soon. And nobody worth mentioning is proposing any such thing.

Of course their are some weapons that should be prohibited. No reason why any civilian needs a like a 50 cal machine gun,LAW's or anything like that. Obviously the same goes for military vehicles armed to the tits too.



I like guns, I grew up with guns, I have guns, I've built guns, I've done some cool mods/fab... I have no problem doing any of the things I mentioned above. I agree some people over react and have unrealistic goals. But you can't lump everyone into two groups, for and against. Many people like me are long time gun owners and stand somewhere in the middle. We like guns but we also agree that some measures need to be taken to keep things under control.

I have also owned illegal guns and had the option to purchase nasty shit. It's way too easy, even here in Canada where we don't have anywhere near the problem the US has. But the US style gun culture bullshit is slowly seeping across the border. Most of our illegal guns that aren't stolen from homes come from south of the 49th. At the very least, keep that shit outta my back yard.


As an ex CO, I would think you would have at least some appreciation for weapon restrictions.






Did anyone hear about the guy who shot himself at the gun safety class? I think it was in Wa.

[Syn7]

And do you really believe everything should be done consecutively? If the world worked that way we wouldn't get anything done.

Alcohol is regulated and if you look at enforcement stats you will see that things like education and road checks have decreased the number of alcohol related vehicular deaths by a significant amount. Why not with guns? Education and checks. Simple.

I don't understand what the big deal is with filling out a form? People do it all the time for all sorts of things and they don't get their panties in a tywist the way it does with this issue. To me it's straight up weird.

[Scott R. Brown]

You are the one not addressing my original point and keep changing the subject.

To be clear, here, I own no guns.

However, if people who wish increase gun regulation don't seek to address the greater problem of alcohol abuse, because presumably, they care about the children and saving lives, then they are being hypocrites.

People have their pet projects and do not consider the greater picture of their hypocrisy. Gun deaths are lower than deaths from alcoholism and other alcohol related deaths. That is a simple fact. But heaven forbid anyone should have to give up their beer. So what if enforcement has decreased deaths and ruined Iives by a minute amount, the total still far out weighs deaths from guns alone, because most violent crimes involve some sort of substance abuse.

Your example of transfats only makes my own point for me but using a different example. Automobile deaths would also be a good example.

It is unimportant which you use. Most people wont give up their cars, their trannsfats or their alcohol even though each one of these causes more suffering and death than gun deaths!

So, people need to get their priorities in order. First, get rid of alcohol and all other mind altering drugs, then watch gun violence and other kinds of violence decline as a result.

Then talk about guns.

But they won't, because people don't want to give up their right to get drunk.

You can't complain about guns if you wont complain about these other great risks to life and limb. Well, of course you can (and I mean you as in society not you in particular ), but you'd be a blooming hypocrite.

[Syn7]

Not the same thing.

I do agree that addiction isn't taken as seriously as it should be. Like 90% of the crimes people go to prison for are related to addiction. And mos def many lives would be saved if we addressed that issue properly.

I don't really drink. If it disappeared my life wouldn't change at all. And I don't eat crap food either, for that matter.

The difference between car deaths and gun deaths is that cars serve a greater purpose for our quality of life than a well armed citizenry. Cars also serve a useful usually peaceful function, guns do not. Especially in the hands of idiots. But hey, if I had it my way there are lots of things idiots wouldn't be allowed to do.

[RenDaHai]

If people were really serious about saving lives they would ban alcohol, it kills more people and destroys more lives BY FAR than anything else!

Then work on banning cars!

But you miss the point.

You don't force alcohol on another person.

Dying from alcohol abuse is completely under your own power and control, it is your decision.

Dying from being shot is not. Guns is a way of influencing other people where as alcohol is only influencing yourself. Taking decisions away from people.

Cars are different. I wouldn't allow people who are really stupid to drive gigantic trucks. It is a serious weapon and in China road safety is a gigantic problem.

It is also the most hideous death. Getting hit by a truck.

If we can invent an iPad surely we can make cars safe. And invent a reasonable alternative to petrol. This is priroity number 1.

[LFJ]

Cars are different. I wouldn't allow people who are really stupid to drive gigantic trucks. It is a serious weapon and in China road safety is a gigantic problem.

They have a new scam going where guys on scooters will wait at a street corner for a car to come along beside them to take a right turn. Then they'll purposely collide with the side of the cars and demand money from the "careless driver" that hit them. They often come away with a couple hundred Yuan per "accident".

I travel underground though, subway, but crossing the street when I get out is the scariest part of my day.

[Jimbo]

But you miss the point.

You don't force alcohol on another person.

Dying from alcohol abuse is completely under your own power and control, it is your decision.

Dying from being shot is not. Guns is a way of influencing other people where as alcohol is only influencing yourself. Taking decisions away from people.

Every year, many people are seriously injured or killed indirectly as a result of alcohol, by drunk drivers. It would be one thing if the only people suffering the consequences are the drinkers themselves, but all too often it's not. For that matter, I definitely put texting/talking on the phone while driving in that same category.

[Syn7]

Every year, many people are seriously injured or killed indirectly as a result of alcohol, by drunk drivers. It would be one thing if the only people suffering the consequences are the drinkers themselves, but all too often it's not. For that matter, I definitely put texting/talking on the phone while driving in that same category.

Word, and more strict enforcement and education that was brought in a few decades ago has reduced the number of deaths... by far. Look it up. All that counterattack stuff made a big difference.

[Scott R. Brown]

Not the same thing.

I do agree that addiction isn't taken as seriously as it should be. Like 90% of the crimes people go to prison for are related to addiction. And mos def many lives would be saved if we addressed that issue properly.

I don't really drink. If it disappeared my life wouldn't change at all. And I don't eat crap food either, for that matter.

The difference between car deaths and gun deaths is that cars serve a greater purpose for our quality of life than a well armed citizenry. Cars also serve a useful usually peaceful function, guns do not. Especially in the hands of idiots. But hey, if I had it my way there are lots of things idiots wouldn't be allowed to do.

Guns do serve a greater purpose, they protect the weak from the strong. There is no other defense better for the elderly, the handicapped, small people, and the weak against the strong. The police do not protect they show up later and pick up the pieces.

Not to mention the Koreans during the L. A. riots used firearms to protect their businesses legally.

Firearms are a necessary part of living a life not oppressed by others. Including the government. Governments, throughout history are noted for their oppression. You may trust your government, that is fine I guess, until they take something from you, you u want to keep.

Outlaw alcohol and many if not most violent crime will be greatly reduced.

Or perhaps increase regulation: no one can buy or use alcohol if they are younger than 40. Anyone who drinks underage or drives after drinking no matter how much loses their driving privilege permanently. Anyone who buys alcohol must register everytime they purchase in a National data base to track how much they are drinking. No one can drink more than 2 drinks per day of 8 oz or less. There must be a 2 day waiting period before receiving your alcohol. No alcohol for convicted felons.