joey –
on december 14, 1992, one of our own, a bright sweet high school kid from lanesville, galen gibson, was murdered by a classmate at simon’s rock in new york state. the murderer also took down one of their teachers, using a mail order rifle. exactly 20 years later, galen’s parents, greg gibson and anne-marie crotty, were driving home from visiting his grave in seaside cemetery, when they heard the news on the radio of the horror in connecticut.
you can read what greg writes about that at:
The New York Times-
Why America Lets the Killings Continue
in mourning, as are we all
fred buck
Good Morning Gloucester 
So very heartbreaking to learn of the circumstances of Galen Gibson’s death. Thank you for sharing the NYTimes link. I pray this is the catalyst for meaningful legislation for gun control.
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Read Greg’s book, Gone Boy, about his search for closure after his son was killed.
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So very sad….can anyone enlighten me as to why we don’t have to register guns in MA? You, yourself must be registered, but not your weapons. This isn’t the time to discuss it, but it needs to be soon.
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It is way past time for our country to get realistic, strong gun control laws in place; to stop playing political football with the issue; & to wake up to the fact that these laws are desperately needed. What will it take?! Enough is enough. Do people really need assualt rifles?! To what end?!
The USA leads the world in deaths by shooting. Is that a statistic to be proud of? I, for one, think not. Countries, with gun control laws or no guns allowed, have none of the same problems.
Our forefathers lived in a dfiferent time & place when “the right to bear arms” was written into the Constitution. Times have changed, to put it mildly.
I realize the NRA will shut down any & all arguments very quickly; as will others who will say “If someone wants a gun, they’ll get one.” Yes, they may.
But, if our society can be brave enough to enact gun control laws, & commit to making them work — perhaps we can become a better nation — & not ever again lose 20 1st graders for no good reason, or shoppers at a mall, or moviegoers …….
Think about it……..
The time has come. Will we fail again?!
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So good to read Greg’s piece in the NY Times. I can picture Galen’s beautiful face and smile as vividly as when I would see him in a local Youth Group, full of the promise of a bright future. He came to mind as soon as I heard of the CT nightmare, with familiar waves of loss. Every senseless killing rubs salt in our collective psychic wounds. Given that so many gun murders are unintended consequences of legal gun ownership, why does anyone one who owns a gun feel safe?
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Hello – I just stumbled across your blog via a Google search. I started at Simon’s Rock 8 months after the shooting. I just wanted to correct a few things that Fred got wrong:
* Simon’s Rock is located in Great Barrington, MA, not New York
* The shooter killed a professor, but he was not his teacher. All of the victims appeared to have been picked at random.
* The weapon was not mail ordered – he mail ordered the ammo then drove to nearby Pittsfield, MA and bought a semiautomatic assault rifle.
More details in this Hartford Courant article:
http://articles.courant.com/1992-12-20/news/0000107037_1_simon-s-rock-college-wayne-lo-semiautomatic-rifle
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