Sandy Hook's children were "butchered" and "brutalized"
Yael T. AbouhalkahA Newtown mom of one child gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School has bravely stepped forward with details about what her child looked like after he was killed.
And as America’s gun lovers keep clinging to their rights to own and use assault weapons, these are the kinds of details that elected officials in Congress and state offices need to know about if we’re ever going to get better, more effective gun control in this country.
Author Naomi Zeveloff interviewed Veronique Pozner, whose son Noah was killed on Dec. 14. Here’s the most chilling passage, which talks about what Noah looked like in his casket:
“We all saw how beautiful he was. He had thick, shiny hair, beautiful long eyelashes that rested on his cheeks. He looked like he was sleeping. But the reality of it was under the cloth he had covering his mouth there was no mouth left. His jaw was blown away. I just want people to know the ugliness of it so we don’t talk about it abstractly, like these little angels just went to heaven. No. They were butchered. They were brutalized. And that is what haunts me at night.”
Veronique Pozner is absolutely right with her “angels” comment. In this country we seem to think that young victims of violent crime just go straight to heaven. It’s easy to issue sappy statements about the victims, as many have done since the deaths.
But in reality, as Noah’s mom said, the assault weapons used in the attack riddled her child and other of the 25 more victims with dozens of bullets, blowing away parts of their bodies.
We need to know that. Congress needs to know that. So do other elected officials.
As Ms. Pozner also noted, she asked Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy to see Noah’s open casket at the funeral home.
“I needed it to have a face for him,” she said. “If there is ever a piece of legislation that comes across his desk, I needed it to be real for him.”
Other Newtown parents have not been as open. They have good reasons to be reticent, including the fact that the murders are still so fresh in their minds, they don’t want to talk about what their sons or daughters really looked like.
They and we prefer to think about the “angels” they all looked like in those oft-repeated images displayed in the national media.
Some of these parents of victims also may not want to be part of the gun debate, to feel as if they are being used by one side or the other as the issue roils America.
However, think about this for a moment.
What if, in addition to printing photos of the 20 children and six adults as they looked when they were alive, the media also printed what the 26 victims looked like after they had been shot.
It’s horrific to even think about. It’s also something that could bring home the truth about the killing machines that assault weapons have become in America.
William R. Nelson
4 months, 2 weeks ago*Sigh.
It obvious to most sane people that, by definition, murder encompasses ‘butchered’ and ‘brutalized.’ It’s why it’s illegal.
Yet, those laws don’t stop criminals or the insane from committing murder anymore than drug laws prevent people from acquiring drugs.
Apparently, some murders are more important than others:
Number of US abortions since Roe v Wade = 54,559,615 (yet, little or no mass outrage for these dead).
Chicago is the murder capital of the U.S. with 506 homocides in 2012. I see Gabby Giffords making a special memorial trip to console the families in Newtown, but not Chicago. Why?
According to the FBI, more people are killed with hammers and clubs each year than rifles, but there’s no demand for a ban on those bloody weapons - or candle light vigils for the victims.
The chance of being killed in a mass shooting are about what they are for being struck by lightning.
Until the Newtown horror, the three worst K–12 school shootings ever took place in either Britain or Germany (where guns are outright banned or severely restricted).
Please let these poor people rest in peace and stop demagoguing their deaths to benefit your misguided politic agenda.
Edward Griffin
4 months, 2 weeks agoI would buy that arguement if not for one glaring thing. Show me just ONE instance where a group of people were killed with a hammer or a club. You can’t, because it won’t happen. Such a thing happens many times a year with an assault rifle, because by it’s nature it is to kill many, and do it quick, something that can’t happen with a club or hammer, as some of the intended victims would take it away from the user and likely use it on the perp. The same can’t be said about the shooting victims who can be killed at a distance of more than arms length like with a hammer. Those who seek to offer that hammers and clubs kill more are only covering half the story, and they are well aware of that fact, too. It makes owning an assault rifle seem justified in their eyes to save themselves from a person with a hammer or a club……at 500 yards….
Mark Hastert
4 months, 2 weeks ago“Please let these poor people rest in peace and stop demagoguing their deaths to benefit your misguided politic agenda.”
If you’re as opposed to abortion as you claim then you ought to be every bit as outraged as everyone else. I suspect those who make this false equation are merely using it for a red herring. Your choice of avatar is revealing.
Matt Henry
4 months, 2 weeks agoThe logic in this piece is so tragically flawed I just don’t quite know how to respond. I’m not sure if he is foolish or awful.
YTA is essentially admitting that what he wants is to whip up an emotional frenzy so that we won’t have a real debate on this issue. You know, don’t let a good tragedy go to waste.
There is no logical connection between the morbidity of these particular remains and whether or not more gun laws will keep these incidents from happening, but it sure does help create blinders that he and his ilk can use to push their narrative. Could I not just as easily use these pictures to advance the idea that “guns are here, they are not going anywhere, and it is high time we stop leaving our children completely defenseless and at the mercy of killers who can do this.” This is how those who control the message, when ideologically corrupt, can stifle debate.
Did YTA call to publish the Kermit Gosnell photos to keep that tragedy from happening again? Some horrible, horrible stuff went down there. Do we need to see it? Would our reaction be smarter, more complete?
YTA waited about 10 seconds after Sandy Hook to exploit the victims who were still in that building, before their parents had even had the chance to see them or come to terms. Now he wants to do it again. I think I’m leaning towards awful.
Reginald Thornton
4 months, 2 weeks agoThose defenseless children were abused by a vile man that thought nothing of stripping away their unique identities to serve his own self-important purpose, without regard to how his actions might impact the loved ones left behind. It’s almost as bad as what Adam Lanza did to them, first. Stay classy, Yael.
Steven Fetter
66223
4 months, 2 weeks agoI have seen heroin and meth addicts that look like Nazi concentration inmates. Lets make these drugs illegal and punish those that would try to obtain them.
Oh wait, we already have. Hows that working out?
JR Beillenhouser
4 months, 2 weeks agohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ooa98FHuaU0
Greg McFarland
4 months, 2 weeks agohttp://abclocal.go.com/kgo/storysection=news/local/san_francisco&id=8646035
Here you go, 5 killed in a home by a hammer.
All many of us gun people want to convey is that gun control is chasing the wing with government money. It would be much better elsewhere trying to save lives.
I was just reading a Forbes article that quoted that 1/3 of homicide rates are due to different states involuntary commitment laws. Seems like there is another huge place where we could save lives without infringing on law abiding gun owners.
Mark Hastert
4 months, 2 weeks ago‘Oh wait, we already have. Hows that working out?’
Well actually pretty well. No ban of guns or drugs will ever be 100% perfect. Let’s not let that stop us from doing what we can to minimize the damage. A ban on high capacity clips, military style weapons, would be a part of the equation. Background checks at gun shows would be helpful. Bans or background checks on the sale of large quantities of high powered ammunition. Sales taxes to fund mental health initiatives, gun liability insurance. all might play a part but the biggest thing we could do is take steps to alter our perverse fixation on firearms. These shooters, and others more benign, aren’t interested in sport, they’re fascinated with the power they think a firearm has. Those are the people we need to reach.
Greg McFarland
4 months, 2 weeks agoMark you are absolutely incorrect that assault rifles or large magazines are the biggest problem. It seems that you cannot get a grasp that there are hundreds of other things that can be done to save more lives than what you are proposing (though mental health is one of them). I guess we can logically try to lead a horse to water but if they are set on getting more people or themselves killed so be it.
George Hunsucker
Northland
4 months, 2 weeks agoYou libs have no sense of decency yt…. I know it makes you feel good, but these children are dead….
2013 journalism=sensationalism ala The National Enquirer….
Greg McFarland
4 months, 2 weeks agoI just realized that my last line may not be interpreted the way i was trying. I was referring to the horse when I say themselves.
Curt A. Hodapp
4 months, 2 weeks agoPray for the parents, family and community; so they might FORGIVE the shooter and begin the healing process. As I was afraid, this article shows just one thing and that is that hate, anger, loss, and bitterness is beginning to take root.
These pollutants of evil are an open sore and will fester like an open wound until it consumes the whole body. Forgiveness is the only way one can let go of the past and begin the healing process.
Pray that they have the strength to Forgive now.
Mark Hastert
4 months, 2 weeks ago“Mark you are absolutely incorrect that assault rifles or large magazines are the biggest problem.”
Funny but at Sandy Hook it was and in Colorado too and if you’ve read my prior posts you’d have seen that I think there are any number of things that ought to be done. Our biggest problem is the perverse gun worship that some gun owners practice. It’s like idol worship.
I don’t want anyone to take my guns away (and no one is going to) but restrictions are not unreasonable. You and I cannot legally own a fully automatic weapon without a special permit and it was perfectly constitutional to restrict them. We cannot own a cut down twelve gauge without a special permit or a silenced weapon in many states. All perfectly constitutional. If we can limit the rate of fire we can reduce the number of deaths in these cases it’s simple math and not unreasonable.
Greg McFarland
4 months, 2 weeks agoI might agree with you but considering that the average police response time is 5-10 minutes and that’s after the call is made, none of what you are asking for would make a difference so whats the point other than just to feel good. Lets do something that might actually work.
George Hunsucker
Northland
4 months, 2 weeks agothat’s what libs want to do Greg, “feel good”… not fix the problem, but “feel good”..
Richard L Wagner
4 months, 2 weeks ago“…misguided political agenda”.
In light of the Sandy Hook massacre, the Aurora CO. massacre, the Arizona shooting of the Sen. Gildord, please enlighten me as to what other agenda can there be?
Gee, we are opposed to massacres by automatic weapons on the public. What other agenda could there be? Interesting as to what agenda the NRA and gun manufactors agenda could be?
George Hunsucker
Northland
4 months, 2 weeks agoWell Richard, it could be 10 of thousands of killings via abortions, but we won’t go there, will we……